Joined: Mon Nov 05, 2012 9:19 am Posts: 65 Location: Darwin
Vehicle: 99 jimny
Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2024 10:57 pm
I was a bit concerned that I could only fit a 60ah lithium or 70ah deep cycle in the jimny, so I thought I might test what my old CF35 waeco actually draws. I have a 60ah kings lithium I use for my kayak motor so I decided to hook it up for 10 hours, as that's the most I will run a battery without putting charge back in from past experiences. Starting fully charged, it was at 13.5v. After 10 hours running on full, which I never do, at the end it was on 13.3v and took 2 hours to charge with a 10amp smart charger. So I estimate it a 2amp an hour usage. It was run empty with a 2lt bottle of water in it, I'm going to repeat the test tomorrow at half power, which is where I usually run it. That should give me a good idea of of how much stress those batteries will be under.
Yeah I think 2AH is probably good worst case scenario usage, that would factor in constant compressor running. You'll be totally fine with a 60ah lithium.
I've found fridges use basically no power when camping overnight. I run a 58ah lead acid with dc/dc charger in our Suzukis powering the Engel and the next morning (7pm-8am?) it's at 12.6-12.7v. I think the longest I've run it was 40 hours and it was still at 12.4v but the car was parked undercover. I don't have that Engel in a blanket or anything and I run it so it's just starting to freeze the stuff in the bottom.
Years back 4wd action did a fridge comparo that has some interesting graphs regarding temperature vs power usage, it also shows the usage of a waeco CF50. I've attached the PDF.
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Joined: Mon Nov 05, 2012 9:19 am Posts: 65 Location: Darwin
Vehicle: 99 jimny
Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2024 8:32 am
It was a bit of an opener for me, I've had trouble running it on cheap agm's in really bad weather when the solar wouldn't charge for days, hooking it up to the dual battery charger and idling didn't seem to help much either. I was thinking about upgrading the start battery to an invicta hybrid lithium, but at around $1600 that's an expensive option without doing some testing. Now I'm thinking I could put a 70ah Century overlander in it as the main to run the fridge when I go fishing for the day, or overnight camping. If that works well then I could easily upgrade to the lithium after a year or so. When I go away for long periods, that 60ah lithium box with a solar blanket will run it just fine.
Joined: Mon Nov 05, 2012 9:19 am Posts: 65 Location: Darwin
Vehicle: 99 jimny
Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2024 6:23 pm
Ok today's test was very interesting, like yesterday it started at 13.5v and stopped at 13.3v but here's the interesting bit It only took 15min to charge, I know it was cooler today and I was only running it at at the middle setting, but still that's bugger all power.
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