Ended up buying a Exide group 27 deep cycle with 105 amp hours. Should be plenty for my needs.
ARB fridge questions (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Enigma
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I have a deep cycle group 27 in mine with 110aH, i wanted to 31 but none of the ones i found fit other than the $300 sears platinum. Had it for 2 years now but have damaged the outer case and its leaking acid, need to replace it. Even in its compromised state it keeps the fridge going for 2 days till it hits my power shut of that is set at med.
Group 27 is the biggest I can fit in my piranha trays. I have the fridge setting on low, 2-3 days of no driving is plenty for my camping use age as my truck is my daily driver.
Just use a hot glue gun to fix the baterry.pretty simple safe fix.
Good idea, ill give that a shot. Right now its only about 75% full of water/acid so getting it toped up may improve its performance.
I just used epoxy on mine. Its been a year and it is still fine. Just clean it with alcohol and then dabbed the epoxy onto the hole. I let the epoxy set up a bit before dabbing it onto the holes. Also, sanded the area around the casing with a bit of fine emery paper.
How did you break the case?
The marine batteries are said to be built to take speedboat pounding. Was it an auto or marine battery that broke?
The marine batteries are said to be built to take speedboat pounding. Was it an auto or marine battery that broke?
Its an automotive deep cycle, the battery tie down broke loose and the battery vibrated on a metal edge wile on a 500km mostly off pavement trip.
- Thread starter
- #29
For what it's worth, since this thread is now about battery repairs, the combination of the HI setting and the kids watching a dvd while the truck was on acc was obviously too much.
The fridge has been running steady for a couple days on HI, and I plugged in the solar panel yesterday just to keep it going for the hell of it.
I'll still change the plug end one of these days.
The fridge has been running steady for a couple days on HI, and I plugged in the solar panel yesterday just to keep it going for the hell of it.
I'll still change the plug end one of these days.
Jeff if you need one of those plugs I can send one down for you. I have an extra I bought off of eBay. PM me
Long story short, you'll find a lot of conflicting and wrong info on the net, ie better Ah for 6V (wrong), nothing wrong with 12V but if you have the room you'll spend less and get longer life out of 2 x 6V: http://www.solarrvpanels.com/index.php/6-volt-vs-12-volt-batteries-for-your-rv/
I use 2 x 12V on my FJ and 2 x 6V on my trailer for just under 500Ah total which makes for a nice long weekend with cold beer
The advantage with the 6 V would be size (being able to locate them in the rear quarter panels). The disadvantage is just like a 24V system from 12V batteries in series. If one battery stops charging the same as the other, you'll cook your good battery. The other problem is the AGM 6V batteries are expensive. The deep cycle lead acid ones aren't too expensive, but then you have to find room for them outside the vehicle cabin.
Holy s*** what the hell do you need that much power for?
My solar panel setup weighs 20 lbs with hardware and is a viable option if you have a roof rack. It powers my fridge indefinitely and keeps my batteries fully charged until they die of old age. The 3rd battery option only runs the fridge 3 days and does nothing to keep your starting batteries charged and weighs an additional 35 lbs and you have to find space to locate another 55 lb battery. Unlike the 3rd battery option, the solar setup lasts 20 years and has a resale value -- in the RV market.
Why then is the 3rd battery option so popular.... just asking
Why then is the 3rd battery option so popular.... just asking
Probably because some of us have more power needs than just an ARB fridge. 
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I can get 6 days out of my Coleman X-treme cooler, just sayin....
and on the seventh day, I drink warm beer and like it!
and on the seventh day, I drink warm beer and like it!
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Probably because some of us have more power needs than just an ARB fridge.
So what power requirements do you have in mind ??? 900 watt microwave, sattelite TV, washing machine ?? - you can feed the solar into a RV battery bank for larger peak power requirements while your starting batteries are alway protected and kept fully charged.
That is exactly what I plan to do Glenn. I am pretty sure my CPAP draws a lot more power than a fridge and that is if I do not use the humidifier function. The max off grid for me would be 3 days for the CPAP alone. This I have tested with my 110 AHR third battery.
COLD. BEER.
A power demand calculation like that is a fairly straight forward. For a simple example-- my daily ARB fridge draw is 32 watts (when on) x 24 hrs x 0.45 cycle time = 345 watt-hours/day. A fully charged new Group 27 should have 105 amp-hours, but in practice you get maybe 90% or less - much less for larger draws per hour. So 105 amp-hrs x 12 volts x 0.9 = 1,134 watt-hrs./345 watt/hrs./day = 3.3 days, which is consistent to what people are reporting. The initial charge state of the battery and cycle time will influence actual results.