fridge power drain ? - Land Rovers Only

toshiba · 06-29-2007, 12:02 AM

hi, looking to see how much power a fridge drains, im looking at getting a dual battery setup and wondered if someone could explain how this works, wondering how long a fridge can be powered from a battery without being charged? i hear some go to extremes to use solar power for juice. looking to use the fridge for like 3-7 days without the car being turned on, thanks for any info

salty · 07-05-2007, 10:04 PM

The longest I have spent stationary with the fridge running was about 4 days with an Engel fridge, this was with a dual battery setup.

salty · 07-05-2007, 10:27 PM

as to how it works in general they all operate in the same way.
You have some kind of relay that only closes once the main battery and alternator reach a certain voltage. Until the main battery and charing circuit reaches this critical voltage the second battery is not connected to the charging circuit. Once the main battery is nice and full the relay closes completing the connection to both the main bat and secondary battery, once in this condition the secondary battery now starts to charge also. When the engine turns off the relay opens and the second battery is now not connected to the main bat or charging circuit, it can drain all the way down to flat without affecting the main battery. I have a waeco fridge that shuts it'self off when the battery reaches about 10V or so, an Engel will pretty much run completely flat. I don't know how long my Waeco takes to run down to this level I never ran this test. The idea of the waeco is that even with 1 bat the system will still leave you with enough power to start the car. Mine draws about 7A when running but this is not the average draw for this you would need to know what % of the time the compressor is running. According to waeco this is about 20%, so 80% the unit is sitting doing nothing.

Hope that all helps

p76rangie · 07-06-2007, 06:41 AM

If you look at the specifications for the fridge you will get the average power consumption. From memory the Engels pull an average of around 2.5 amps per hour. So if you wanted it to run for a week you would need 168 hours at 2.5 amps or 420 amp hours. You an't going to do that with a single battery, more like 4 batteries.

06-29-2007, 12:02 AM	#1 (permalink)
toshiba Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 16 Gallery: 0	fridge power drain ? hi, looking to see how much power a fridge drains, im looking at getting a dual battery setup and wondered if someone could explain how this works, wondering how long a fridge can be powered from a battery without being charged? i hear some go to extremes to use solar power for juice. looking to use the fridge for like 3-7 days without the car being turned on, thanks for any info __________________ 2006 RRS S/C: rear ladder, expedition roof rack

07-05-2007, 10:04 PM	#2 (permalink)
salty Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 145 Gallery: 0	The longest I have spent stationary with the fridge running was about 4 days with an Engel fridge, this was with a dual battery setup. __________________ Jim

07-05-2007, 10:27 PM	#3 (permalink)
salty Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 145 Gallery: 0	as to how it works in general they all operate in the same way. You have some kind of relay that only closes once the main battery and alternator reach a certain voltage. Until the main battery and charing circuit reaches this critical voltage the second battery is not connected to the charging circuit. Once the main battery is nice and full the relay closes completing the connection to both the main bat and secondary battery, once in this condition the secondary battery now starts to charge also. When the engine turns off the relay opens and the second battery is now not connected to the main bat or charging circuit, it can drain all the way down to flat without affecting the main battery. I have a waeco fridge that shuts it'self off when the battery reaches about 10V or so, an Engel will pretty much run completely flat. I don't know how long my Waeco takes to run down to this level I never ran this test. The idea of the waeco is that even with 1 bat the system will still leave you with enough power to start the car. Mine draws about 7A when running but this is not the average draw for this you would need to know what % of the time the compressor is running. According to waeco this is about 20%, so 80% the unit is sitting doing nothing. Hope that all helps __________________ Jim

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07-06-2007, 06:41 AM	#4 (permalink)
p76rangie Ian Matthews Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Melbourne Australia Posts: 2,157 Gallery: 0	If you look at the specifications for the fridge you will get the average power consumption. From memory the Engels pull an average of around 2.5 amps per hour. So if you wanted it to run for a week you would need 168 hours at 2.5 amps or 420 amp hours. You an't going to do that with a single battery, more like 4 batteries.

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