Dual battery in-cabin and Solar setup

[67cj5]

Yeah the settings aren't the most easiest in the world to believe honestly. I ordered the remote thermostat with it, only to find out it can't be changed from Celcius, so that was a waste but lesson learned. I'll try a different fridge next time, hopefully I get many years from this guy though.

I have a few fridges and my 2 ARB's are reading spot On but if you was to check out what your fridge is doing I bought a couple of these from Amazon and they are extremely accurate,, Having 2 sensors you can test 2 locations in the fridge at once and they Automatically record the Min and Max and Average Temps,
They have a built in on/off Timer which shuts it down after a certain amount of time but If you Press the Hold button and then press the Power button and release it and then release the Hold button It will turn off the Timer, I have been using these doing Fridge Vs Battery Tests, At -18*c / 0*f the temp in a fridge can be 0*f in the bottom and 6*f in the Top and as A fridge can warm up and it can rise to 8 or 10*f and then it powers up and the temps drop again,

Using one of these with One sensor in the Bottom and one at the Top will help you to find the happy medium where to set the fridge at, Ok.

Hope that helps,

Proster Digital Thermometer Dual Channel Thermometer: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

Proster Digital Thermometer Dual Channel Thermometer: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

www.amazon.co.uk

 

[rustypayne]

I have a few fridges and my 2 ARB's are reading spot On but if you was to check out what your fridge is doing I bought a couple of these from Amazon and they are extremely accurate,, Having 2 sensors you can test 2 locations in the fridge at once and they Automatically record the Min and Max and Average Temps,
They have a built in on/off Timer which shuts it down after a certain amount of time but If you Press the Hold button and then press the Power button and release it and then release the Hold button It will turn off the Timer, I have been using these doing Fridge Vs Battery Tests, At -18*c / 0*f the temp in a fridge can be 0*f in the bottom and 6*f in the Top and as A fridge can warm up and it can rise to 8 or 10*f and then it powers up and the temps drop again,

Using one of these with One sensor in the Bottom and one at the Top will help you to find the happy medium where to set the fridge at, Ok.

Hope that helps,

Proster Digital Thermometer Dual Channel Thermometer: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

Proster Digital Thermometer Dual Channel Thermometer: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

www.amazon.co.uk

Nice! I need to get one of those. I've been very happy with my Dometic but it would be nice to know how much it varies inside.

Here's a US link for anyone interested.

Amazon.com: Proster Digital Thermocouple Temperature Thermometer with Two K-Type Thermocouple Probe Backlight LCD K Type Thermometer Dual Channel for K/J/T/E/R/S/N Type: Home & Kitchen

Buy Proster Digital Thermocouple Temperature Thermometer with Two K-Type Thermocouple Probe Backlight LCD K Type Thermometer Dual Channel for K/J/T/E/R/S/N Type: Digital Thermometers - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

 

[Martinjmpr]

In temps around 60*f you should find that your fridge will only use around 0.25Ah to 0.35Ah per hour

It might be a subject worthy of a new topic (if there isn't already one started) but I'm curious about what temps folks set their fridges at?

We've been using a 12v fridge since 2014 and our normal setting is either 32 or 30 (0 or -1C.) Now, you may say "that's too cold for a fridge, your stuff will freeze" but that actually hasn't been our experience.

I don't know about other fridges but the Indel-B TB-41 that we use seems to have the temp sensor in the very bottom of the freezer (I assume this because whenever we put, say, a frozen steak into the fridge the indicated temperature immediately drops to 25 or less, even if the fridge is set to a higher temp.) We have noticed that even with the fridge packed full (which it normally is when we camp) there is a very wide variation between the temp at the bottom of the fridge and the temp at the top. If we set the temp at 35 or 37, that would ONLY be the temperature at the very bottom of the fridge and the temp near the top (where we keep things like cheese and lunch meat) would likely be above 40 degrees f (4.5 C) which makes spoilage a possibility.

For that reason, we set the temp at 32 or 30 and we find that keeps the food at the top of the fridge below 40.

 

[67cj5]

Nice! I need to get one of those. I've been very happy with my Dometic but it would be nice to know how much it varies inside.

Here's a US link for anyone interested.

Amazon.com: Proster Digital Thermocouple Temperature Thermometer with Two K-Type Thermocouple Probe Backlight LCD K Type Thermometer Dual Channel for K/J/T/E/R/S/N Type: Home & Kitchen

Buy Proster Digital Thermocouple Temperature Thermometer with Two K-Type Thermocouple Probe Backlight LCD K Type Thermometer Dual Channel for K/J/T/E/R/S/N Type: Digital Thermometers - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

Just a word of warning, Where the wires go in to the Yellow plugs they are very sensitive to movement So I slid some tiny Heat Shrink up the wires in to the yellow plugs and then I got some slightly bigger heat shrink and put that over the little cable protectors that come out of the yellow plugs, this has allowed me to move they control box without the numbers going nuts,

But I must say these are fantastic bit of kit, and with a good set of batteries like Energizer or Duracell they will work 24/7 for about 2 or 3 weeks solid, they come with cheap batteries and they lasted non stop for 8 days,

But they are blisteringly accurate, I bought 2 so I could test the top and bottom of the fridge and the dairy area as well as the wall area where the coolent comes in to the element, If you test the walls of your fridge you can expect to see number from about 10 to 12*c colder than what the fridge is set to, So if your Dometic goes down to -22*c you can expect to see the wall temps to get as low as -30*c to -35*c maybe more.

hope that helps,

 

[moose545]

It might be a subject worthy of a new topic (if there isn't already one started) but I'm curious about what temps folks set their fridges at?

We've been using a 12v fridge since 2014 and our normal setting is either 32 or 30 (0 or -1C.) Now, you may say "that's too cold for a fridge, your stuff will freeze" but that actually hasn't been our experience.

I don't know about other fridges but the Indel-B TB-41 that we use seems to have the temp sensor in the very bottom of the freezer (I assume this because whenever we put, say, a frozen steak into the fridge the indicated temperature immediately drops to 25 or less, even if the fridge is set to a higher temp.) We have noticed that even with the fridge packed full (which it normally is when we camp) there is a very wide variation between the temp at the bottom of the fridge and the temp at the top. If we set the temp at 35 or 37, that would ONLY be the temperature at the very bottom of the fridge and the temp near the top (where we keep things like cheese and lunch meat) would likely be above 40 degrees f (4.5 C) which makes spoilage a possibility.

For that reason, we set the temp at 32 or 30 and we find that keeps the food at the top of the fridge below 40.

Good info to know for sure. I was thinking further and reading some reviews on the Victron 712 and a few folks aren't happy with the support from them I'll say, and having the RedArc BCDC1225 already not sure I can switch up now and might give it all a try as my original plan dictates, but I did find Renogy has components and a nice display panel for a variety or components like a charger/solar controller and inverters, etc. Also saw a Renogy 100Ah gel battery for less than the X2 Power 27F, would that be much of a gain, 8Ah more, for $150 less out of the pocket seems like a win to me.

 

[67cj5]

It might be a subject worthy of a new topic (if there isn't already one started) but I'm curious about what temps folks set their fridges at?

We've been using a 12v fridge since 2014 and our normal setting is either 32 or 30 (0 or -1C.) Now, you may say "that's too cold for a fridge, your stuff will freeze" but that actually hasn't been our experience.

I don't know about other fridges but the Indel-B TB-41 that we use seems to have the temp sensor in the very bottom of the freezer (I assume this because whenever we put, say, a frozen steak into the fridge the indicated temperature immediately drops to 25 or less, even if the fridge is set to a higher temp.) We have noticed that even with the fridge packed full (which it normally is when we camp) there is a very wide variation between the temp at the bottom of the fridge and the temp at the top. If we set the temp at 35 or 37, that would ONLY be the temperature at the very bottom of the fridge and the temp near the top (where we keep things like cheese and lunch meat) would likely be above 40 degrees f (4.5 C) which makes spoilage a possibility.

For that reason, we set the temp at 32 or 30 and we find that keeps the food at the top of the fridge below 40.

I have done some power draw tests if you would like me to post them using 3 different power sources and 3 different fridges at 3 different Temps,

 

[rustypayne]

I have done some power draw tests if you would like me to post them using 3 different power sources and 3 different fridges at 3 different Temps,

I would like to see that. I'm in the process of rebuilding my battery box and part of the rebuild will be to add a ground shunt and meter so I can see more accurately where my battery is. Then I want to disconnect the solar and see how far the battery goes down over X hours with the fridge running, and try that at some different temps. Real world would be to open the door for a few minutes a couple times during the test too.

 

[rustypayne]

It might be a subject worthy of a new topic (if there isn't already one started) but I'm curious about what temps folks set their fridges at?

We've been using a 12v fridge since 2014 and our normal setting is either 32 or 30 (0 or -1C.) Now, you may say "that's too cold for a fridge, your stuff will freeze" but that actually hasn't been our experience.

I don't know about other fridges but the Indel-B TB-41 that we use seems to have the temp sensor in the very bottom of the freezer (I assume this because whenever we put, say, a frozen steak into the fridge the indicated temperature immediately drops to 25 or less, even if the fridge is set to a higher temp.) We have noticed that even with the fridge packed full (which it normally is when we camp) there is a very wide variation between the temp at the bottom of the fridge and the temp at the top. If we set the temp at 35 or 37, that would ONLY be the temperature at the very bottom of the fridge and the temp near the top (where we keep things like cheese and lunch meat) would likely be above 40 degrees f (4.5 C) which makes spoilage a possibility.

For that reason, we set the temp at 32 or 30 and we find that keeps the food at the top of the fridge below 40.

My Dometic 50L is similar. Normally my fridge is always in and on, plus the Jeep is my daily driver. Around home when we aren't getting in to it much I leave it set at 37 but if we go on a few days camping trip I'll drop it down to 32 or 34. The more people are getting in to it the harder it is to keep the top as cool as the bottom. Also I like to put frozen meat in the bottom back, that way it will stay mostly frozen for at least a week and stuff I don't want to freeze goes higher or closer to the front. It will also freeze water bottles in the bottom so works like a poor man's dual zone.

 

[67cj5]

I would like to see that. I'm in the process of rebuilding my battery box and part of the rebuild will be to add a ground shunt and meter so I can see more accurately where my battery is. Then I want to disconnect the solar and see how far the battery goes down over X hours with the fridge running, and try that at some different temps. Real world would be to open the door for a few minutes a couple times during the test too.

Ok give me about an hour and I will post it as Three Fridge X three Temp X three Power Test,

 

[67cj5]

I would like to see that. I'm in the process of rebuilding my battery box and part of the rebuild will be to add a ground shunt and meter so I can see more accurately where my battery is. Then I want to disconnect the solar and see how far the battery goes down over X hours with the fridge running, and try that at some different temps. Real world would be to open the door for a few minutes a couple times during the test too.

Her ya go Mate,

Enjoy,

Three Fridge x 3 Power Sources x 3 Temperatures Test

Having a few fridge freezers I decided to test a couple of them to see which worked best as a fridge and which one works best as a freezer, Having seen figures posted by someone in SA I considered their Test as not a fair and just way of doing things because the results were weighted to suit the...

expeditionportal.com

 

[moose545]

Her ya go Mate,

Enjoy,

Three Fridge x 3 Power Sources x 3 Temperatures Test

Having a few fridge freezers I decided to test a couple of them to see which worked best as a fridge and which one works best as a freezer, Having seen figures posted by someone in SA I considered their Test as not a fair and just way of doing things because the results were weighted to suit the...

expeditionportal.com

That's good to know, makes sense with the less frequent cycling and consuming less energy. What type of battery are you using? And what do you think about the 2 different batteries I'm looking at?

 

[67cj5]

That's good to know, makes sense with the less frequent cycling and consuming less energy. What type of battery are you using? And what do you think about the 2 different batteries I'm looking at?

Yes how a fridge cycles has a big effect on how long the battery will last, Due to it being allowed to recover some of it's Voltage during the Off cycle,

The Batteries you listed should be good but it does mean using a Smart Charger of some sort or and MPPT Charge Controller which are not the cheapest, I prefer Deep Cycle batteries because off the beaten track you can pick them up in any store from wall mart to Auto Shops in any Town,

Here's what I have found so far,

Lead Acid are slower than most to recharge by Solar, But If you have 2 or more batteries linked up in parallel and have a small Generator with a good sized Battery Charger in the 30Ah range then you can put back enough power in 4 or 5 hours in to 2 x 115Ah Batteries to last 7 to 10+ days of Fridge running power,

AGM are Cool because using an 80Ah AGM battery a 15Ah Smart Charger like the NOCO G15000 will charge an AGM that is @ 50% SoC in about 2 hours and then it might take another 2 maybe 3 hours to equalize the cells, But if you don't need it to do that then the battery will be at 100% in 2 hours, If you are going to run 2 or 3 AGM Batteries then buy the NOCO G26000 which is a 26Ah Smart Charger

Smart Chargers are pain fully Slow if you use them to Charge normal Deep Cycle batteries So I prefer the normal workshop type Chargers for charging them, and I have just ordered another 35Ah Charger that is more portable than my Wheeled 35Ah Charger,

The Batteries I used in the Test are made to American Specs by Advanced Batteries, which are 115Ah Duel Purpose Deep Cycle Batteries which have a 5 year Guarantee and they can be cycled right down to 30% SoC, The Battery I used on the Test is 2 years and 10 months old and it's Voltage when it has been on Charge and allowed to rest for 24 hours is up around 13. 345 to 13.450 Volts which kind of knocks the theory of a battery being fully charged at 12.7v in to a Tin Hat, These Batteries will Run my ARB 47L for about 6 to 12 Hours before the Voltage drops below 13.0v,

Many folks make bold comments that Duel Purpose batteries are not that great but out of the batteries I have tested I think they are the most useable batteries, I have fitted them in my Truck as starter batteries while I was charging the trucks own battery and it worked fine and it is still working fine now,

Lead Acid Deep Cycle Batteries are Great for prolonged use and can deliver high Amps when Needed as long as you have a few hundred watts of Solar to charge them or use a Generator with a Charger that puts out 20 to 35Ah, Where as AGM batteries are Great because they can be charged faster when using Solar or a Smart Charger,

I love the High Voltage my Lead Acid Batteries have got and with my big 35Ah Chargers I can use 45Ah from two of them hooked up in Parallel and put the power back in to them in 2 to 3 hours Tops,

AGM's are great in Vehicles But If you are Wanting to have Cabin Power then I would be going for Duel Purpose deep Cycle batteries because they can handle the power Draw required to power inverters of 600w and above and a 115Ah Battery contains 1472w X that by 4 batteries is 5888w divide that by 2 so you never run them down below 50% SoC gives you 2944w of useable power, Not only that they are the cheapest form of power when it comes to batteries, along with Most residential Battery instillations use Deep Cycle batteries which is what I would be using in your situation,

I also have 2 portable Lithium Packs which are great and made by Dometic being the PLB-40's and because of how I can charge them from the Cigar socket in the van makes them my Load Up and Go power supply, and they have a built in DC to DC Charger so I can hook up a Solar Panel up to 150w without the need of a Charge Controller,

Hope that helps.

 

[67cj5]

It might be a subject worthy of a new topic (if there isn't already one started) but I'm curious about what temps folks set their fridges at?

We've been using a 12v fridge since 2014 and our normal setting is either 32 or 30 (0 or -1C.) Now, you may say "that's too cold for a fridge, your stuff will freeze" but that actually hasn't been our experience.

I don't know about other fridges but the Indel-B TB-41 that we use seems to have the temp sensor in the very bottom of the freezer (I assume this because whenever we put, say, a frozen steak into the fridge the indicated temperature immediately drops to 25 or less, even if the fridge is set to a higher temp.) We have noticed that even with the fridge packed full (which it normally is when we camp) there is a very wide variation between the temp at the bottom of the fridge and the temp at the top. If we set the temp at 35 or 37, that would ONLY be the temperature at the very bottom of the fridge and the temp near the top (where we keep things like cheese and lunch meat) would likely be above 40 degrees f (4.5 C) which makes spoilage a possibility.

For that reason, we set the temp at 32 or 30 and we find that keeps the food at the top of the fridge below 40.

If you would like to discuss this further we can on that link I posted a couple of posts back ?

 

[67cj5]

That's good to know, makes sense with the less frequent cycling and consuming less energy. What type of battery are you using? And what do you think about the 2 different batteries I'm looking at?

I just tested the run time Vs the power/Volts used Vs the Recovery Vs of my ARB 47L/50Qt

I did this test after the fridge had been running for a few hours and at the start of it's run cycle the battery was reading 13.144v and while it was running the Voltage got down to 12.802v which is a drop of 0.342v then it shut off and the Voltage recovered to 13.053v which means it recovered 0.251v and the Voltage used was 0.091v During it's ON and OFF Duty Cycle of 70 minutes 17 seconds, which means every time it recovers that Voltage of 0.251v it can do another 2.758 complete On and Off Cycles.

Hope that helps.

 

[moose545]

I know the x2 Power 27F is AGM and dual cycle, not sure of the other Renogy battery though. Is there something I’m missing that makes the 27F that much more expensive?