Power Option For Fridge In Part Time Rig

[Ubiety]

I carry a jump pack for this reason.

Isn't that effectively a second battery? ;)

 

[Viking1204]

It sure is LOL! I'm with you @Ubiety, I keep my starting battery for starting and running things inside the cab. I have a second battery and a NOCO jump pack just to be safe!

 

[reaver]

Isn't that effectively a second battery? ;)

I guess in the most literal sense, yeah.....

Oy. You pipe down over there.

 

[El-Dracho]

It's a matter of safety; my starter battery is dedicated to starting and nothing else (while the engine is off). If you are parked in an area with, or close to, others/services it is not a big deal getting a jump start from someone else; if you are miles from someone else then it becomes a completely different matter. There is a lot of variability in the things that you bring up - what if your camp site is shaded and you cannot get your panels in a good sunny spot? What if it does happen to be very warm? What if you are at a base camp for a week? What about loads other than a fridge (lights, pumps, etc)? IMO the cost of a second battery/systems is well worth the redundancy to keep my starter battery fresh. My second battery/system is also portable, meaning it can be removed from my truck and placed in the sun if needed (my solar panels are also portable). Can you get away with one battery? Yes you can. Is that the most flexible/redundant/safe way to go? IMO it is not.

Sounds like a good setup. Since I also like to be independent and on the safe side as far as the power supply is concerned, I also have a starter battery, which takes care of nothing but the car and what belongs to it, and completely independent of it an AGM house battery, which takes care of things like fridge, etc. The aux battery gets charged by solar. Plus a jump starter and - old school, I know - jumper cables. That´s it.

 

[Moebius01]

I'm kind of in the "better safe than sorry" camp as well, and for a couple of reasons. First, it's been this way so far, and I feel likely will stay is that my particular flavor of overlanding is more stop and less go. I'm likely to get to a spot I like and spend a full day or more. I'm not as much into the hard trail, stop, sleep, hard trail style of it. In my kind of scenario, I'd be putting a lot more drain on an AGM than they tend to like, heavily increasing the risk of needing to jump it, and likely reducing the battery life in general. Second, if I go with a commercial product, or I add the ability with whatever I build, I like having the extra flexibility too snag some juice from it if I need.

Perfect world, I'd build a dedicated box that is smaller than the size of a comparable solar station (use the Bluetti as a reference), with a plug to go to a 12v outlet, a plug for the fridge, and an input for solar charging. I'd build a little mount point on my removable deck for it, so that I plug and go.

 

[Sparksalot]

I'm kind of in the "better safe than sorry" camp as well, and for a couple of reasons. First, it's been this way so far, and I feel likely will stay is that my particular flavor of overlanding is more stop and less go. I'm likely to get to a spot I like and spend a full day or more. I'm not as much into the hard trail, stop, sleep, hard trail style of it. In my kind of scenario, I'd be putting a lot more drain on an AGM than they tend to like, heavily increasing the risk of needing to jump it, and likely reducing the battery life in general. Second, if I go with a commercial product, or I add the ability with whatever I build, I like having the extra flexibility too snag some juice from it if I need.

Perfect world, I'd build a dedicated box that is smaller than the size of a comparable solar station (use the Bluetti as a reference), with a plug to go to a 12v outlet, a plug for the fridge, and an input for solar charging. I'd build a little mount point on my removable deck for it, so that I plug and go.

Thecopcar has dual batteries plus a 125 amp cabin feed for radios, lights and sirens. It also came with a weapon locker, so built in drawers. I could have replicated that in thethirdtwin.

The drawers make it incapable of carrying anything else. So I went with the deck and removable options for thethirdtwin as well. Fridge is a 45L model with a Jackery 1000 a head of it. I’m preparing for my first trip, so we’ll see how it goes.

 

[Moebius01]

Thecopcar has dual batteries plus a 125 amp cabin feed for radios, lights and sirens. It also came with a weapon locker, so built in drawers. I could have replicated that in thethirdtwin.

The drawers make it incapable of carrying anything else. So I went with the deck and removable options for thethirdtwin as well. Fridge is a 45L model with a Jackery 1000 a head of it. I’m preparing for my first trip, so we’ll see how it goes.

Very similar to what I'm doing. I've built a custom deck that I replace the foam board spare tire cover with that has mount points for my drawer cube, and eventually a fridge slider. Downside is, there is nowhere in the Jeep with enough room for a dual battery.

 

[Ubiety]

there is nowhere in the Jeep with enough room for a dual battery.

It only took one extended camping trip with my wife and son in the Wrangler to get the OK to get a Gladiator - now I have lots of room for crap :) Something like this might work for you.

 

[Sparksalot]

Very similar to what I'm doing. I've built a custom deck that I replace the foam board spare tire cover with that has mount points for my drawer cube, and eventually a fridge slider. Downside is, there is nowhere in the Jeep with enough room for a dual battery.

View attachment 236928

View attachment 236929

I like that drawer cube! Did you build it from plans?

 

[Sparksalot]

It only took one extended camping trip with my wife and son in the Wrangler to get the OK to get a Gladiator - now I have lots of room for crap :) Something like this might work for you.

That’s a LOT of weight in one spot.

 

[Moebius01]

I like that drawer cube! Did you build it from plans?

Inspired by a video from Wanderlost Overland, then worked with a wood shop to do the cuts since I didn't have access to a setup with a dado kit to create the interlocking slots.

 

[Moebius01]

It only took one extended camping trip with my wife and son in the Wrangler to get the OK to get a Gladiator - now I have lots of room for crap :) Something like this might work for you.

In a WK2, the fuse box is a bit further and takes a little more room. There's next to no room in the WK2 engine bay without some major modifications. Hell, they don't even have the battery in there, it's under the seat. :)

 

[Ubiety]

In a WK2, the fuse box is a bit further and takes a little more room. There's next to no room in the WK2 engine bay without some major modifications. Hell, they don't even have the battery in there, it's under the seat. :)

For some reason I thought you drove a Wrangler. Sorry about that.

 

[MazeVX]

It's a matter of safety; my starter battery is dedicated to starting and nothing else (while the engine is off). If you are parked in an area with, or close to, others/services it is not a big deal getting a jump start from someone else; if you are miles from someone else then it becomes a completely different matter. There is a lot of variability in the things that you bring up - what if your camp site is shaded and you cannot get your panels in a good sunny spot? What if it does happen to be very warm? What if you are at a base camp for a week? What about loads other than a fridge (lights, pumps, etc)? IMO the cost of a second battery/systems is well worth the redundancy to keep my starter battery fresh. My second battery/system is also portable, meaning it can be removed from my truck and placed in the sun if needed (my solar panels are also portable). Can you get away with one battery? Yes you can. Is that the most flexible/redundant/safe way to go? IMO it is not.

Sure nothing is wrong with your opinion, but over thought for me.
Like he said, one fridge for 48h. Use a fridge with low voltage cutoff and you are done.
Nothing unsafe here, if one has high power demands and need to light up the campsite and charges 20 cameras, runs a heater all night or a AC for the tent and provide power for a base camp, well then actions need to be taken.

And there's one thing... The simplest solution is often the best and most reliable.

 

[Ubiety]

Sure nothing is wrong with your opinion, but over thought for me.
Like he said, one fridge for 48h. Use a fridge with low voltage cutoff and you are done.
Nothing unsafe here, if one has high power demands and need to light up the campsite and charges 20 cameras, runs a heater all night or a AC for the tent and provide power for a base camp, well then actions need to be taken.

And there's one thing... The simplest solution is often the best and most reliable.

So I'm not sure if I missed something.

I was filling in some blanks regarding your earlier question about missing something; provide some alternative perspective. If there is one thing I have learned the term "overlanding" is overloaded - to some it means a grueling trek into the wild places away from civilization where preparation and redundancy are important and to others it means a weekend in a campground where preparation and redundancy are not as important. Nothing wrong with either.

 

[Moebius01]

For some reason I thought you drove a Wrangler. Sorry about that.

Nope, it's the full on mall crawler/part time stealth rig. Most of the time, you couldn't tell it from a stock Grand Cherokee (though eventually the rock rails will be a bit of a giveaway), but when I head out, it gets a custom deck in back with drawer cube (and eventually fridge), lower front fascia comes off in favor of the Chief skid plates underneath, seat covers and slush mats go in, and away we go. I considered going with something like a Wrangler for a little more capability, but I just really don't like driving them on the road. :)

 

[OTH Overland]

It only took one extended camping trip with my wife and son in the Wrangler to get the OK to get a Gladiator - now I have lots of room for crap :) Something like this might work for you.

Don't you alread have that factory 'second' battery inside the front wheel well, the one that does the auto stop/start feature? will that battery start the truck if the main battery is dead?

 

[Ubiety]

Don't you alread have that factory 'second' battery inside the front wheel well, the one that does the auto stop/start feature? will that battery start the truck if the main battery is dead?

Yes I do, as far as starting with a dead battery I do not know. I have a Tazer and have disabled autostart so I don't know how that affects things. I'm just not a big fan of running accessories off of the starter battery when camping - I don't have a proper battery load tester so I cannot guarantee that my starter battery is always at peak performance. To quote one of my favorites, Dick Proenneke, "it happened with the suddenness of a broken shoelace" - meaning for me that one cannot be sure when their starter battery is gonna go or be too weak for accessories and then starting. I'd rather be prepared ;). I have also been doing this a while and have weighed having a house battery for years and know that it is the best solution for what I do. One of the reasons mine is portable - sometimes I want the pow pow in the truck and sometimes I want it at camp.

 

[OTH Overland]

Yes I do, as far as starting with a dead battery I do not know. I have a Tazer and have disabled autostart so I don't know how that affects things. I'm just not a big fan of running accessories off of the starter battery when camping - I don't have a proper battery load tester so I cannot guarantee that my starter battery is always at peak performance. To quote one of my favorites, Dick Proenneke, "it happened with the suddenness of a broken shoelace" - meaning for me that one cannot be sure when their starter battery is gonna go or be too weak for accessories and then starting. I'd rather be prepared ;). I have also been doing this a while and have weighed having a house battery for years and know that it is the best solution for what I do. One of the reasons mine is portable - sometimes I want the pow pow in the truck and sometimes I want it at camp.

I do not like to mess with factory wiring, I have installed a switch pro system and a winch which operate directly off the factory battery, Everything in the cockpit and accessories used while driving all run through the switch pro, disconnect one wire and its all isolated, same with the winch. Everything camping related (back of house) is run off a house battery where the back seat used to be, this is charged thru a RedArc manager 30, with DCDC charging via a #6 wire from the factory battery via a 50 amp fused disconnect, one push of a button disconnects the system from vehicle battery and back to stock to get me home if there is a failure. Everythign in the back is controlled via Redvision and protected with fuses and low voltate shut off. The Jeep has its own low voltage or timed shut off of its accessories if I am a putz and leave something turned on. lastly have a jump pack and jumper cables as a last resort, but traditionaly only use those on other rigs so far. We also carry a Jackery (300 in summer and 1000 in winter) to take up into the tent for charging things and running an electric blanket in the winter season which is a part of the husband / wife agreement of happy camping trips (and yes I do apprecate it in the winter too).

 

[Moebius01]

I've actually wondered if in an emergency, the auxiliary battery would have enough CCA juice to start the engine or not. Switching the wiring would be tricky (at least in the WK2) as there's not much room to move in that tiny compartment under the seat.