Hi everyone

i have just been advised by Woody & Sue that the Tech section is a place to maybe get some info

Has any one used an Ark battery pak to power their portable fridge/freezer when they are free camping ( my portable fridge is an Evacool 60 ltr compressor fridge ) and if so how long did the battery pack stay suitably charged

Maccabee

Hi Graham

Welcome to the site mate

All  depending what size battery is, your fridge will use around 2.5- 3 amp a hr

I use a evakool 70ltr 2 lids fridge freezer system on a 100 amp battery

but that was not big enough

Now I've got 2x 120 amps and what is running of a 200 watt solar panel with 120 folding one as backup

Cheers John

Welcome to the gang Maccabee, enjoy here and out in the playground.

Now, From my experience I would say one battery will not see the night through.

How are you charging the battery you mention ?

See, I didn't take your topic     like KFC said elsewhere, I would, cos I don't do that .  He is the king of going     

Keep Safe out there. 

Graham, I'm not sure which actual model you are looking at. Earlier on there were complete packs with the battery installed in them. Is it one of them. I see that the later offering is just the box complete with the accessories and you fit your own battery into it. If you advise what size battery (in amp hours {Ah}) you are looking at we can give more sensible answers.

For the other members who are not across the subject, this is what he is looking at. It will accept up to a 130 Ah battery but you have to supply your own. It has built in battery chargers and a few different outputs.

Maccabee wrote:

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I will be fitting the biggest amp/hr battery I can physically fit but I am
hoping I will get at least 4 days fridge powering from the unit
Thanks for your reply Peter D

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 Hi Maccabee,

To back up what has already been said, several times, there is not enough storage power in that unit for your purpose. Also if you run the battery down till it's flat then it will die very soon, perhaps after only several uses. Expensive way to go.

If you fit a 130Ahr battery which is said to be the biggest that will fit, and use say 3 Amps per hr as has been said for your fridge, then you will only get say;130/3 = 43 hrs to dead flat BUT only 50% power usage is recommended, so really only 23 hrs use is practical and then needs recharging.  That's one day to preserve the life of your battery or two days for a stuffed battery. Your choice I guess.  

Other people use a solar panel or ? every day to charge the battery up. Hmmm not rocket science

Jaahn

The problem as I see it is this !! If only the extravagent claims made by the sellers of some camping gear were correct If so we would all be traveling a lot lighter and spending less money that we have done to get it all to work as well as it was claimed to do in the glossy brochures and salesman's BS.

Hi Macabee

Welcome to the site

What Jaahn has said is perfectly true most fridge units have a voltage cut out setting to protect the batteries the lowest setting from memory is 10.7 volts or thereabouts - not a recommended state of charge anything ( repeatedly occurring) below about 11.5 volts decreases the battery life by something like 50% . Its recommended to only discharge the battery ( except in an emergency ) to about 60% but remember that your battery depending upon age and charge/discharge cycling can be as low as 75% without degrading the terminal voltage on a reasonable load. So as everyone says its best to have a backup power source to charge your battery and if using a newer vehicle as the tow vehicle then a DC to DC charger to ensure the battery is proiperly charged by the tow vehicle -- their smart alternators do tend to restrict that function.

Hello Everyone that has answered my query on portable power pack to power fridge/freezer when free camping

I thank you for all your help and I am going with 2 No. 135 amp/hr batteries and I have a twin 120 w portable solar panel set up and a 2 Kva. Generator to assist if required

happy travelling

Maccabee

meggsy wrote:

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Hi Macabee

 

Welcome to the site

What Jaahn has said is perfectly true most fridge units have a voltage cut out setting to protect the batteries the lowest setting from memory is 10.7 volts or thereabouts - not a recommended state of charge anything ( repeatedly occurring) below about 11.5 volts decreases the battery life by something like 50% . Its recommended to only discharge the battery ( except in an emergency ) to about 60% but remember that your battery depending upon age and charge/discharge cycling can be as low as 75% without degrading the terminal voltage on a reasonable load. So as everyone says its best to have a backup power source to charge your battery and if using a newer vehicle as the tow vehicle then a DC to DC charger to ensure the battery is proiperly charged by the tow vehicle -- their smart alternators do tend to restrict that function.

-- Edited by meggsy on Sunday 11th of October 2015 07:33:47 PM

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