Hi. We're on our first trip and we have this model of fridge which is many years old. I don't have a great understanding of things technical, so I need thing explained as clearly and simply as possible please. I just wondered how much power this Engle fridge uses an hour. We also have a Waco CF 40 which uses an average of 0.87 amps/hr. Also how many deep cycle batteries should we have to free camp for 4 -5 days. We have 1 and have had to run a small 1kw generator less than 34 decibels to keep the charge up on the battery. This I feel is less than ideal for all when free camping. Although the generator is fairly quiet I'm aware that it is still noisy and not what any campers really want to hear. Can any one please offer information so we can keep free camping and run the camp quietly. We have a camper trailer with no space for another battery, so my Partner thinks installing another deep cycle battery in our 2008 Nissan patrol Patrol is a good solution. I think he's onto a great solution but just wanted some experienced and knowledge. Grateful for your help Funandbubble.
-- Edited by funandbubbles on Tuesday 13th of October 2015 01:14:20 PM
According to the photo, at 12V it will draw 4.2A/hour, when ever the motor is running. What I cannot tell is for how long in the hour the motor would run, as that depends on many things - insulation, thermostat settings, even cable size can have some effect.
Assuming (very dangerous I know) it runs full time you would need 4.2A x 12 hours (for 1 day) = 100.8A/hr. Given that lead acid batteries should not be run more than roughly 50% down you are looking at 2 100A/hr batteries for each day if no recharging available. However you have a genny so you can look at the charge rate available and charger ratings from that to see how long you need to run it to charge your batteries.
Hope that helps
meggsy said
05:37 PM Oct 13, 2015
Cadpete wrote:
G'day Funand Bubbles and welcome to the forum.
According to the photo, at 12V it will draw 4.2A/hour, when ever the motor is running. What I cannot tell is for how long in the hour the motor would run, as that depends on many things - insulation, thermostat settings, even cable size can have some effect.
Assuming (very dangerous I know) it runs full time you would need 4.2A x 12 hours (for 1 day) = 100.8A/hr. Given that lead acid batteries should not be run more than roughly 50% down you are looking at 2 100A/hr batteries for each day if no recharging available. However you have a genny so you can look at the charge rate available and charger ratings from that to see how long you need to run it to charge your batteries.
Hope that helps
You don't say if you are using it from a van battery or a vehicle additional battery -- if in a van or camper you need to realise that a 100 Ah hr battery needs a 20 amp charger so logically you will need a 40 AH battery charger for 2 X 100 Ahr batteries - the DC output on the gene only provides something less than 10 Amps so you are better off using a quality multi stage charger from the AC outlet on the Generator..... usually vans have a reasonable quality charger built in to service the house (van) battery -- hope its not too confusing
Cheers by the way welcome to the forum
Vince said
10:20 PM Oct 14, 2015
Hi funandbubbles
If I have read it right you are asking about power use on the Engel MT60f below is a link that I hope can give you the answer your are after.
-- Edited by Vince on Wednesday 14th of October 2015 10:26:07 PM
dorian said
07:06 AM Oct 15, 2015
The fridge draws 4.2A at 12V, not 4.2 amps per hour.
Running this fridge for 12 hours will consume about 50 Amp-hours of battery capacity (= 12 x 4.2) , not 100.8A/hr.
03_Troopy said
08:59 AM Oct 15, 2015
And battery chargers supply Amps, not Amp Hours
Cadpete said
11:23 AM Oct 15, 2015
G'day Funand Bubbles and welcome to the forum.
According to the photo, at 12V it will draw 4.2A/hour, when ever the motor is running. What I cannot tell is for how long in the hour the motor would run, as that depends on many things - insulation, thermostat settings, even cable size can have some effect.
Assuming (very dangerous I know) it runs full time you would need 4.2A x 24 hours (for 1 day) = 100.8A/hr. Given that lead acid batteries should not be run more than roughly 50% down you are looking at 2 100A/hr batteries for each day if no recharging available. However you have a genny so you can look at the charge rate available and charger ratings from that to see how long you need to run it to charge your batteries.
Hope that helps
editted because there's 24 hours in a day!!
-- Edited by Cadpete on Thursday 15th of October 2015 11:24:26 AM
Vince said
05:08 PM Oct 15, 2015
To also clarify the running
These fridges will run on a duty cycle of average 40% on REF to 1 on the dial -- Approx 9.6 Hours per day at 4.2 amps = 40.32 amps in 24 hours
If using as a freezer the duty cycle is close to 70% on Freeze. -- Approx 16.8 Hours per day at 4.2 amps = 70.56 amps in 24 hours
To combat the drain, a solar panel will assist in putting some charge in the battery and above I have posted a link with a spreadsheet that can help here. Cheaper than running a geni.
I feel that using 1 battery of say 100 ah is not suffice 2 would be a better option. However you noted about putting 1 in the camper and 1 in the tug.....
option here is Anderson plug to rear of truck and connect to Anderson plug on the camper that is connected to the camper battery.
At this point connecting either solar or generator 12v charge to the auxiliary battery in the tug with the plugs between both connected will charge both batteries.
Without getting too technical a dc-dc charger in line will also work more efficient.
Hope this may help
Cheers
Vince
03_Troopy said
05:32 PM Oct 15, 2015
Vince wrote:
To also clarify the running
These fridges will run on a duty cycle of average 40% on REF to 1 on the dial -- Approx 9.6 Hours per day at 4.2 amps = 40.32 amps (Amp Hours) in 24 hours
If using as a freezer the duty cycle is close to 70% on Freeze. -- Approx 16.8 Hours per day at 4.2 amps = 70.56 amps (Amp Hours) in 24 hours
To combat the drain, a solar panel will assist in putting some charge in the battery and above I have posted a link with a spreadsheet that can help here. Cheaper than running a geni.
I feel that using 1 battery of say 100 ah is not suffice 2 would be a better option. However you noted about putting 1 in the camper and 1 in the tug..... option here is Anderson plug to rear of truck and connect to Anderson plug on the camper that is connected to the camper battery.
At this point connecting either solar or generator 12v charge to the auxiliary battery in the tug with the plugs between both connected will charge both batteries.
Without getting too technical a dc-dc charger in line will also work more efficient.
Hope this may help Cheers Vince
03_Troopy said
05:36 PM Oct 15, 2015
Cadpete wrote:
G'day Funand Bubbles and welcome to the forum.
According to the photo, at 12V it will draw 4.2A/hour (just amps, not amps per hour), when ever the motor is running. What I cannot tell is for how long in the hour the motor would run, as that depends on many things - insulation, thermostat settings, even cable size can have some effect.
Assuming (very dangerous I know) it runs full time you would need 4.2A x 24 hours (for 1 day) = 100.8A/hr. (Amp Hours, or AH , not A/hr) Given that lead acid batteries should not be run more than roughly 50% down you are looking at 2 100A/hr (Amp Hours, or AH , not A/hr) batteries for each day if no recharging available. However you have a genny so you can look at the charge rate available and charger ratings from that to see how long you need to run it to charge your batteries.
Hope that helps
editted because there's 24 hours in a day!!
-- Edited by Cadpete on Thursday 15th of October 2015 11:24:26 AM
funandbubbles said
07:25 PM Nov 5, 2015
Thank you everyone for your wonderful responses. We had a second battery installed in our car, and utilising the solar pannels all seems to be going well.
Hi. We're on our first trip and we have this model of fridge which is many years old. I don't have a great understanding of things technical, so I need thing explained as clearly and simply as possible please. I just wondered how much power this Engle fridge uses an hour. We also have a Waco CF 40 which uses an average of 0.87 amps/hr. Also how many deep cycle batteries should we have to free camp for 4 -5 days. We have 1 and have had to run a small 1kw generator less than 34 decibels to keep the charge up on the battery. This I feel is less than ideal for all when free camping. Although the generator is fairly quiet I'm aware that it is still noisy and not what any campers really want to hear. Can any one please offer information so we can keep free camping and run the camp quietly. We have a camper trailer with no space for another battery, so my Partner thinks installing another deep cycle battery in our 2008 Nissan patrol Patrol is a good solution. I think he's onto a great solution but just wanted some experienced and knowledge. Grateful for your help Funandbubble.
-- Edited by funandbubbles on Tuesday 13th of October 2015 01:14:20 PM
G'day Funand Bubbles and welcome to the forum.
According to the photo, at 12V it will draw 4.2A/hour, when ever the motor is running. What I cannot tell is for how long in the hour the motor would run, as that depends on many things - insulation, thermostat settings, even cable size can have some effect.
Assuming (very dangerous I know) it runs full time you would need 4.2A x 12 hours (for 1 day) = 100.8A/hr. Given that lead acid batteries should not be run more than roughly 50% down you are looking at 2 100A/hr batteries for each day if no recharging available. However you have a genny so you can look at the charge rate available and charger ratings from that to see how long you need to run it to charge your batteries.
Hope that helps
You don't say if you are using it from a van battery or a vehicle additional battery -- if in a van or camper you need to realise that a 100 Ah hr battery needs a 20 amp charger so logically you will need a 40 AH battery charger for 2 X 100 Ahr batteries - the DC output on the gene only provides something less than 10 Amps so you are better off using a quality multi stage charger from the AC outlet on the Generator..... usually vans have a reasonable quality charger built in to service the house (van) battery -- hope its not too confusing
Cheers by the way welcome to the forum
Hi funandbubbles
If I have read it right you are asking about power use on the Engel MT60f below is a link that I hope can give you the answer your are after.
www.roadtrucker.com/engel/engel-12-volt-fridge-freezer-technical.htm
http://www.campertrailers.org/solar_spreadsheet.htm
Cheers
Vince
-- Edited by Vince on Wednesday 14th of October 2015 10:26:07 PM
Running this fridge for 12 hours will consume about 50 Amp-hours of battery capacity (= 12 x 4.2) , not 100.8A/hr.
G'day Funand Bubbles and welcome to the forum.
According to the photo, at 12V it will draw 4.2A/hour, when ever the motor is running. What I cannot tell is for how long in the hour the motor would run, as that depends on many things - insulation, thermostat settings, even cable size can have some effect.
Assuming (very dangerous I know) it runs full time you would need 4.2A x 24 hours (for 1 day) = 100.8A/hr. Given that lead acid batteries should not be run more than roughly 50% down you are looking at 2 100A/hr batteries for each day if no recharging available. However you have a genny so you can look at the charge rate available and charger ratings from that to see how long you need to run it to charge your batteries.
Hope that helps
editted because there's 24 hours in a day!!
-- Edited by Cadpete on Thursday 15th of October 2015 11:24:26 AM
These fridges will run on a duty cycle of average 40% on REF to 1 on the dial -- Approx 9.6 Hours per day at 4.2 amps = 40.32 amps in 24 hours
If using as a freezer the duty cycle is close to 70% on Freeze. -- Approx 16.8 Hours per day at 4.2 amps = 70.56 amps in 24 hours
To combat the drain, a solar panel will assist in putting some charge in the battery and above I have posted a link with a spreadsheet that can help here. Cheaper than running a geni.
I feel that using 1 battery of say 100 ah is not suffice 2 would be a better option. However you noted about putting 1 in the camper and 1 in the tug.....
option here is Anderson plug to rear of truck and connect to Anderson plug on the camper that is connected to the camper battery.
At this point connecting either solar or generator 12v charge to the auxiliary battery in the tug with the plugs between both connected will charge both batteries.
Without getting too technical a dc-dc charger in line will also work more efficient.
Hope this may help
Cheers
Vince
Thank you everyone for your wonderful responses. We had a second battery installed in our car, and utilising the solar pannels all seems to be going well.
Regards
funandbubbles