Was using a Cobra 105ah deepcycle/cranking battery too run the fridges charge detector batteries etc.
The last trip in 2013 found it would run the fridges all day while the solar was topping it up, come the night it would be dead within a couple of hours after dark.
Got home took it down to Battery World and their tong test came back positive?
Took it home trickle charged it in the shed over summer and the voltage hovered around 13V.
Getting prepared I hooked up my old 39L Engel to give it a test, within 3 hours it had stopped on low voltage.
Took the battery back to the experts and they told me it was in perfect working order and that there must be a heavy drain dragging the battery down.
Thinking the worst that my old Engel may be the culprit.
At home the c-tek battery charger was hooked to it for three days to go through a recovery cycle.
Next trial I soldered a couple of wires to a tail light globe and left that burning, about 4 hours later once again the battery was down.
Fitted the battery back in the ute and took it to the shop. The attendant came out with all their checking gear and I turned both fridges on., while we stood there you could see the voltage dropping off very rapidly even though the solar was putting in 2.5amps.
A tong test on cable running to accessories showed a 6 amp draw down which was consistent with two running Engels.
The long and the short of it I bought a new battery, left the ute in the sun to enable solar charge until dark. This morning both fridges still running, one on freeze (-7C) the other on fridge (+3C)
Any battery gurus out there who can explain why a battery that passed all the load tests at the shop failed to perform?
Cheers
Peter
The last trip in 2013 found it would run the fridges all day while the solar was topping it up, come the night it would be dead within a couple of hours after dark.
Got home took it down to Battery World and their tong test came back positive?
Took it home trickle charged it in the shed over summer and the voltage hovered around 13V.
Getting prepared I hooked up my old 39L Engel to give it a test, within 3 hours it had stopped on low voltage.
Took the battery back to the experts and they told me it was in perfect working order and that there must be a heavy drain dragging the battery down.
Thinking the worst that my old Engel may be the culprit.
At home the c-tek battery charger was hooked to it for three days to go through a recovery cycle.
Next trial I soldered a couple of wires to a tail light globe and left that burning, about 4 hours later once again the battery was down.
Fitted the battery back in the ute and took it to the shop. The attendant came out with all their checking gear and I turned both fridges on., while we stood there you could see the voltage dropping off very rapidly even though the solar was putting in 2.5amps.
A tong test on cable running to accessories showed a 6 amp draw down which was consistent with two running Engels.
The long and the short of it I bought a new battery, left the ute in the sun to enable solar charge until dark. This morning both fridges still running, one on freeze (-7C) the other on fridge (+3C)
Any battery gurus out there who can explain why a battery that passed all the load tests at the shop failed to perform?
Cheers
Peter