currently doing some holiday touring and noticed a major issue.
currently have a arkpak730 (105ah agm inside) which runs my 70l evakool fridge. the arkpak is connected to the 12v socket in th gc. the arkpak has a display screen telling you power usage . when fridge is running it draws 55watts from the display. when I'm driving, the display reads only 10watts charging into the arkpak ! meaning the cigarette 12v socket can only deliver 65watts!.
i then tested his by unplugging the fridge out of the arkpak and just use the 12v to charge the arkpak and it was reading 65watts charging. this was the same with the front and middle 12v sockets. i haven't tested the trunk socket yet. at the rate of 65w it would take >100hrs of driving to charge the arkpak !
so the situation I'm facing is that the arkpak battery is being drained about 20% -25% overnight whilst camping (39C in the outback is working the fridge hard!)
and the arkpak is not getting charged during the day driving . so by the 3rd day battery was dead at 0% as the rate of charge is too low .
i thought the 12v sockets were rated for 150watts?
i had to resort to borrowing a battery charger from someone at a caravan powered site to charge up the battery to get some juice into the battery. this is not ideal for remote touring . the 12v socket should be able to run a fridge and charge the 2nd battery
Sounds about right, nothing to do with the Jeep, the ARKPAK DC Charger is only 7 amp.
You either need to get a bigger DC-DC charger or remove the drain whilst you are driving.
Your fridge is taking 5amp, leaving 2 amp under ideal conditions, you are getting 10 watt or about 1amp.
I'd strongly recommend when you are driving plugging your fridge into another cigarette power source on the car and let the ARKPAK charge with the full 7amp.
EDIT: Just read you aren't happy with the charge rate of 65 watts, this isn't a vehicle limitation, it's an ARKPAK limitation, as stated - the charger they include isn't really big, only a 7 amp charger that's why you aren't putting in a lot.
If you don't want to buy a new charger (understandable) you can use Solar or a 12v relay setup for charging.
as suggested above you are asking alot from an oem system. run heavier cable direct to the oem battery and do what most do when they are touring outback and buy a solar panel for topping the battery up during the day.
Didn't want to start a new thread so thought i'd piggy back of this one, i'm new to these fridges, bought a Waeco 35L fridge and will be using it over the xmas break down south of WA, Margaret River way so not super hot.
Will I be ok running it overnight off the GC's battery? It will be driven on and off during the day, just don't want to go hunting for a jump start every morning
Thanks for the suggestions guys, much appreciated. The solar solution looks good but $410 at Supercheap at the moment. Although they are bulky, SCA have a 900AMP charger for about $120 which might be cheap insurance. Those glovebox ones look interesting though!
True, but like any other battery, they are subject to slow leakage. The trick is to ensure that full charge is maintained. many just throw the pack in their toolbox and forget about it until required. At that point they find that due to leakage, the battery has inadequate grunt to turn the motor over.
I just wanted to clarify that it's not like a capacitor in any sense. You can crank over a motor repeatedly even when the vehicles battery is totally drained. It behaves just like the old style jumper box, but without the weight or large physical size. It also holds a charge unused for a long period of time even left in a cold vehicle. Lithium Ion technology is the shizzle.
What battery doesn't and who ever said they don't? I'd sure rather have a small jumper box than nothing. If I have to charge it once or twice a year big deal. We all understand they drain. Geesh.
AGM batteries (as fitted to WK2's) are inherently deep cycle batteries and the Jeep battery works fine running fridge overnight. As said before though. Have a backup plan.
just as a followup. tested the rear 12v socket only managed to get about 58watts from it so a little less than the front 2 12v sockets that managed 65watts.
if the arkpak can charge at 7amps dc theoretically that would equal 12x7 = 84 watts which I'm not seeing out of 12v socket.
bought a car battery charger to top up the arkpak at powered sites now
just an update on the evakool 70L fridge situation with the arkpak730 (105AH inside).
the gc survived a 6100km trip over 2wks.
bris-lightning ridge-white cliffs-bourke-broken hill-adelaide-coorong-great ocean road-ballarat-bendigo-parkes-brisbane.
missed 2 roos, 2 emus, couple of wild goats by mere centimeters !
discovered the centre console 12v socket is always live ! never knew that. never managed to get >65watts out of any 12v socket in the car to charge the arkpak on the go. the arkpak is supposedly a 7amp charger which should equal 12x7=84watts
resorted to having the fridge-> arkpak-> centre console and let the car battery drain/charge the arkpak overnight, since the alternator can charge the car battery faster whereas the 12v socket couldn't adequately charge the arkpak on the go. risky i know, since it could flatten the main car battery but from what i've seen in 35C outback heat, the fridge drains the 105AH battery in the arkpak by about 35% in 13hrs. the gc has a 60AH battery so should be able to to be drained by half and still start in the morning. worst comes to the worst i could always jump start from the ark is the main battery is drained.
good trip. now to clean out the red outback dust from every crack and crevice
No problem starting that sweet little Eco diesel after over 14 hours running the fridge, did it for 5 days straight. Only issue was on the first night, I had the battery saver set to medium on the fridge and the thing kept cutting out. Second night onwards, I set it to low (ie fridge allowed the voltage to drop lower) and it held 2 degrees.
I'm guessing the voltage drop from the battery to the rear power outlet was a few volts hence requiring the 'low' setting.
Would this use affect the long term life of the battery? The engine turned over exactly as it does when not using the fridge.
actually the power usage indicator in the arkpak is dead on correct. got home and plugged in a 6amp car charger and the readout on the arkpak reads 72watts . tried a 12amp charger it read 140watts on the display. borrowed a mates ctek m25s which is 25amps and discovered it outputted more than 25amp (27amps) giving me 324watts going in.
whereas the 12v cigarette socket in gc only put out 65w from the centre socket.
didn't try your suggestion because of the way i had the wiring to the fridge and to the arkpak .would have to had to unload everything to untangle my wires
It's correct at reading what's going into the battery, not what is being taken out of the port. Unless your charger/wiring is 100% efficient (it's not). There's a logic gap.
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