Duel Battery setup - Dirt Cheap - ..Help me out!
 

Hi All,

I bought a 40L fridge now I am scared for my battery!
I want to run the fridge 24/7 and have the ability to jump start the vehicle from the 2nd battery in an emergency.
That is ALL! and I want to do it as cheaply as physically possible (Whist being safe etc).

Jeep is a WH CRD.
Battery will be housed in a box in the boot, behind the fridge.

I was thinking:
1. Good/but cheap duel battery module.
2. Heavy duty wire kit.
3. Cheap battery box, or one built out of ply.
4. AGM deep cycle.

That is it.
Open to all ideas and brands.
Tell what you have and how much you paid!.

Cheers
Dave

As we speak this is being discussed in 'What did you do to your XJ today'. Similar situation.

Cheers Billnick.

Was more after what components to buy, more then the how.
But it was a good read non the less.

Cheers,
Dave

Better off with a BC/DC charger from Redark
http://www.redarc.com.au/products/pr...ttery-charger/
It WILL do the job, only need size 6 AWG cable & an easier install.
or be like me and have 1 over powered battery for the lot.

not that cheap but simple, compact and lightweight I want one

Check out Home of 12 Volt Mount Barker, good online prices for delivery.
I have this http://www.home12volt.com.au/blue-ap...hicle-kit.html charging my home-made 30Ah battery box. My battery box is a black ABS plastic pelican style case with 2x Home of 12 volt 15Ah Redback batteries, fused, solar regulator, twin USB and ciggy plug (it's for lights and charging phones etc, not a fridge). The charge kit will charge a large AGM in a couple of hours, it does my little 30Ah in about half an hour or less. All up I spent around $150 - $180 on the bits for the battery box (I was off work due to illness for an extended period and wanted a busy-hands project). Buy a bigger box and you could put a bigger battery in it, like said, I'm not running a fridge off it so didn't need much Ah.

When I eventually buy a fridge I will just buy a ready-made battery box from Hof12Volt, stick an 80-100Ah battery in it, strap it down in the back and I have the charge kit all ready to go with Anderson-out, done, easy.

No need to get really complicated, hope this helps,

Cheers, Squire

Just a note on the DC-DC chargers, from what I understand they are very slow at bulk charging - as per the above 6 Amp model trying to bulk charge a flat (between 50-70% or so) 100Ah battery - it's when they (eventually) get the charge right up there that they are good at stepping up the voltage to keep the battery properly maintained like a normal ctek-type one. With the in-car charging system I use it smashes the bulk charging (it's capable of pushing out 50 amps as opposed to 6 on the DC-DC above) but takes longer to bring the battery to optimum charge due to running off the alternator voltage.

For me it was a combination of price and functionality - When I go camping it's for no more than 4 nights and usually a couple of months between trips, so, charge kit for $100, installed easily (even I could do it!) and a ctek charger (.8amp model for my small battery box) for about $60, which is less than half the cost of the DC-DC - the price bit.

The functionality bit is that if my little 10w solar panel can't keep up (clouds, lots of mp3 player usage etc) then a short turn on the car charge will get it back up there nice and quick, then, when I get home I put the battery box on the ctek and it does it's maintenance thing, keeping the battery in top condition.

Your circumstances may differ but I can't think of anything to justify the initial cost of the DC-DC... maybe camper trailer/caravan with a couple of 100Ah AGMs for long trips off the grid and long drives in between stays, then it may make sense coz the DC-DC would keep your batteries in the best condition and you'd have plenty of driving time to bulk charge at a slow rate.

Hope that helps,