Dual battery system recommendations

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maggot3064

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Hey guys I apologise if this has been done to death but I can't find anything on here about it! I just wanted to know what system you guys recommend, 100amp 150amp what brand and so on. I will be running a fridge (which I haven't got just yet) and maybe a winch down the track. So yeah give me your thoughts
Cheers chris
 
I just typed a whole shitload of good info and lost it thanks to my stupid mouse. Let's do an abbreviated version and you can nut out the whys later.

Consider a solar panel. 80W is good, 120W is better. It will mean you can stay wherever indefinitely without a generator or worrying about flattening your battery. Your fridge will be joined by LED lighting, charging the iPad and phone - and maybe a small radio.

The most important thing to do is use HEAVY cabling. Aluminium cable is fantastic at conducting electricity but it's brittle and not what I'd choose first in a mobile environment, so 8Ga copper (Jaycar sells good stuff) would be my minimum, 4Ga if you can stretch it. ALWAYS put a fuse between a cable run and its power source (take that advice VERY literally). The fuse doesn't protect the battery. It doesn't protect the cable. It protects the car from a fire - if you snag the positive cable against the chassis with a stick and it shorts out, your trip is over unless the fuse protects it.

Charging the aux batter SHOULD be done by something that can fully charge it (ie NOT your alternator). The C-Tek D250S would be my first choice, because it's got a solar input as well and if there's something that C-Tek do well, it's battery chargers. They don't do a lot else, actually!

You could also invert the incoming power from the starter battery and use a mains charger (this is how I do it) but you need to isolate this system with a ignition-on switch, so that the aux system isn't using any power while the car engine is not running (that's how mine works). There's a danger with an inverter - it produces 240VAC which is actually worse than the power points at home - at home, you have an RCD that protects you from a massive shock. An inverter will keep pumping the juice into you until you're a crispy critter. If you choose to use one, make sure its live cabling is kept tidily out of the way.

You CAN charge a battery from the alternator (using an isolator) but this method won't fully charge the aux battery - in fact your starter battery would rarely get above 75% charged. When you work out that you're missing 25% of the battery's capacity to the charging system, you can choose between spending the money needed to increase the capacity of the storage by 25%, or choose a better charging method. Still, if money's tight, an isolator is an acceptable way to deal with it.

What size battery? I worked out that a 160A would power a typical Waeco/ARB fridge for 3 days without too much trouble. That's a big battery (in size) - check its dimensions before you choose that path. You might find it better to get a smaller capacity battery and go solar.
 
Ok so I haven't done the dual battery yet but I did just run a 12v power supply to the tub using 8b&s cable and anderson plug for my cf-35. Now instead of a fuse I was told to use a 40amp circuit breaker. I'm hopping someone can tell me that this sounds about right?
Cheers chris
 
Circuit breakers are good. Anything that stops the flow of power if something goes wrong is what's needed. In fact, my electric brake controller and my rear power are both protected by thermal-resetting circuit breakers.

The cable you've chosen is fine, too. About 21 square mm in cross-section - you should lose about 0.3V over 6m of cable (that's what I'm losing in my caravan over that distance on that cable).
 
Cheers tony! That's what the guy told me that the breaker was better because it trips if it detects to much heat or something where as he said he has seen fuses melt and still haven't blown! I just wanted to make sure that it sounded like I had wired it up right and that the 40amp breaker was more then enough! Thanks again mate I appreciate it!
Cheers chris
 
Benefit of breaker is not having to carry spare fuses. I'd recommend a manual reset though, not auto reset cb
 
Hey guys sorry to be a pain in the arse but can any one confirm to me that the 40amp breaker isn't too big for the cf-35 I'm running? I was told on the weekend that it may be way to big?
Cheers chris
 
Breaker protects cable NOT appliance. Fridge will have own fuse, so forget about that.
 
As above. Somewhere in the cable that came with the CF-35 (or built into the unit) you should find a (probably) 10A fuse. The Danfoss compressor shouldn't draw more than about 5 to 6A in that unit, so it ought to be a 10A.
 
Ok well thereis no fuse in the cable any more cause I changed it to an Anderson plug. Should it matter?
 
I think there should be a small fuse in it, but it's a Waeco, so it may have a poly fuse on the control board anyway. Doesn't hurt to be careful though - maybe whack a 10A fuse in its cable to be certain.
 

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