12V Fridges on non-dual battery non-expedition vehicles

Utah KJ

Free State of Florida
I also have the ARB 37qt fridge. It has a low voltage protection circuit, that is settable for various cutoff voltages. The long term problem is that the voltage will go low, it will do as designed and cutoff, but you will lose cooling in the fridge. the second problem is that your primary start battery is probably not a deep cycle, so if you kill it more than a few times (even below 11.4 volts) it won't live a very long life.

I wouldn't recommend doing it on a single battery system, unless that single battery was a deep-cycle type battery (like yellow top, or exide, etc). It's asking for trouble.

That said, I run a multiple battery system on my avalanche - 2 under the hood (start battery and aux, separated with a solenoid) and another group 31 deep cycle in the rear cargo area. The aux battery and the group 31 are parallel and get charged from a secondary alternator. The factory alternator, start battery and factory systems are separated unless I manually "boost" the solenoid, at which point the aux is temporarily paralleld to start the engine if the main start is killed. (which for this application is very rare - only factory systems run from it).

I admit It's overkill for just a fridge, but I run a high-output inverter (~3kW) for a work application and threw the fridge in so I'd always have a cold drink, and use for camping!

Or, you can install the kit I posted. Battery protection and cold food win/win
 

Jay H

servicedriven.org
I use my waeco fridge in my Toyota rav 4 with a single battery. I am running a single
31 sized marine battery. It has more cold cranking amps than the stock battery because it is 2 sizes bigger. It also has enough capacity to run the cdf 35 for 3 days and not hit the 11.8V cut out. A simple cheap and effective solution for my needs.

If you have a fridge with a danfoss Compressor look up the controller and down load the
Schematic. It will show a table of what resistor to use for a given cut out voltage.
 

dstock

Explorer
I installed this system in a single batt JK that is used on many multi-day outtings with a fridge:

DSCF1717.jpg


It makes for an excellent safety net.


Sorry, but what is this?
 

BigSwede

The Credible Hulk
What, you don't recognize the function of a collection of black plastic boxes from a picture? shame... ;)
 

jeepj667

Observer
I'll reply for Utah KJ. He's known for being vague about his magic boxes on our local forum too.

I'm not affiliated with his product in any way. As I understand it his magic boxes monitor battery voltage and automatically start the engine if voltage drops below a set point. Then shuts it off when the battery is re-charged. It also sends you a text, or something, to let you know the trucks running.

Neat idea. I believe he has one local vender selling them.
 

4RunAmok

Explorer
I installed this system in a single batt JK that is used on many multi-day outtings with a fridge:

DSCF1717.jpg


It makes for an excellent safety net.
What is that system?

I'm not sure what the three black boxes/plug sets are, but they look like an Remote Start/Car Alarm system... The blue thing is a Sure Power Low Voltage cutoff. These are unique over other Low Voltage cutoffs in a few ways. 1, it gives you complete control volt by .volt down pretty low, it comes preset at 12.1 volts (labeled as such, but my experience is that they're all over the place unit by unit, so test it). We set our units at 10.8 volts before it shuts down the systems we attach to them. You can set to any voltage (xx.xx volts) within a range.
2, it gives you 45 seconds (or so) warning before it kills the circuit, audible warning and Flashing Red LED.
3 and coolest, it uses a regular 35 amp relay and has a post to hook up to the normally open side and the normally closed side (neat for a number of reasons, including sending voltage to a Remote Start to start your vehicle in case of low voltage. Most Remote Starts are programmable to shut down after so many minutes, so the cycle can repeat)

Available here:
http://www.ase-supply.com/Sure_Power_130512_Low_Voltage_Disconnect_p/sp-130512.htm

Data Sheet here:
http://www.waytekwire.com/datasheet/80029.pdf
 
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Utah KJ

Free State of Florida
I'll reply for Utah KJ. He's known for being vague about his magic boxes on our local forum too.

I'm not affiliated with his product in any way. As I understand it his magic boxes monitor battery voltage and automatically start the engine if voltage drops below a set point. Then shuts it off when the battery is re-charged. It also sends you a text, or something, to let you know the trucks running.

Neat idea. I believe he has one local vender selling them.

And 100 kits shipped to Russia.
 

Montana Cruiser

Adventurer
I'm not sure what the three black boxes/plug sets are, but they look like an Remote Start/Car Alarm system... The blue thing is a Sure Power Low Voltage cutoff. These are unique over other Low Voltage cutoffs in a few ways. 1, it gives you complete control volt by .volt down pretty low, it comes preset at 12.1 volts (labeled as such, but my experience is that they're all over the place unit by unit, so test it). We set our units at 10.8 volts before it shuts down the systems we attach to them. You can set to any voltage (xx.xx volts) within a range.
2, it gives you 45 seconds (or so) warning before it kills the circuit, audible warning and Flashing Red LED.
3 and coolest, it uses a regular 35 amp relay and has a post to hook up to the normally open side and the normally closed side (neat for a number of reasons, including sending voltage to a Remote Start to start your vehicle in case of low voltage. Most Remote Starts are programmable to shut down after so many minutes, so the cycle can repeat)

Available here:
http://www.ase-supply.com/Sure_Power_130512_Low_Voltage_Disconnect_p/sp-130512.htm

Data Sheet here:
http://www.waytekwire.com/datasheet/80029.pdf

Wow, very cool idea and thanks for the info!
 

Utah KJ

Free State of Florida
It's a bit more complex than 4Run is stating and the fact the other boxes are unknown is to him is testiment to that... and if you run down your primary batt to 10.8 volts, you will damage it especially if it's a starter batt.

It is a very excellent idea and you should buy one from me.
 
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4RunAmok

Explorer
It's a bit more complex than 4Run is stating and the fact the other boxes are unknown is to him is testiment to that... and if you run down your primary batt to 10.8 volts, you will damage it especially if it's a starter batt.

It is a very excellent idea and you should buy one from me.

LOL... I did identify them as a remote start system :)

And the systems we run down to 10.8 volts are not house and not starting batteries, they run two computers used for traffic analysis, so no dangers of being stuck here. :) Have a look
deka.jpg

alprs.jpg


I would love to support your work, if I didn't have the know-how to make my own :)
 

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