How long should a battery last?

wildtoad wrote:
Does the fridge have a propane option? If so you should use gas when boon docking. Will use very little battery to operate.

No, otherwise it wouldn't be a concern.

MNtundraRet wrote:
You may need to get a generator for boondocking.

I don't boondock often enough to make it worth it.

If you want to know how long your battery should last you need to provide information on the refrigerator, make and model and/or operating amperage.

Without that information, I can confirm your experience as being typical for even a small 12v refrigerator. I have a very efficient, small (4 cuft) refrigerator. It pulls a bit over 3 amps and runs about 1/3 of the time in low/moderate temperatures. In the summer and if the door is opened frequently or warm drinks/food is put into it, the refrigerator will run almost constantly. So it will pull about about 25-70 AH/day. For even my small unit and with no other use of electricity, I would need 2 or 3 of your batteries to make it through a long weekend.

You really don't have a lot of good options. The most obvious would be to camp exclusively with electric hookups. Without hookups even an extra battery or two would not buy you more than a short camping trip.

Your next cheapest option would be to buy a generator. Unfortunately you will need to run it several hours a day to keep your batteries charged and in good condition. If you want to avoid that daily generator use, you will need to consider solar. You will still need the generator when days are short, you are camped in the woods, it is cloudy, etc.

Regardless of your choices you might want to scrap your existing battery. If you have run it down to 11.5 volts several times its life expectancy is short. Buy at least 2 good sized replacement batteries.

Here is a tale that might help you understand the mistake you made:

https://www.exploroz.com/members/145028.75/1/2009/queensland_adventures_winter_2008.aspx?p=%2fblogs%2fdefault.aspx

JimK-NY wrote:
If you want to know how long your battery should last you need to provide information on the refrigerator, make and model and/or operating amperage.

Without that information, I can confirm your experience as being typical for even a small 12v refrigerator. I have a very efficient, small (4 cuft) refrigerator. It pulls a bit over 3 amps and runs about 1/3 of the time in low/moderate temperatures. In the summer and if the door is opened frequently or warm drinks/food is put into it, the refrigerator will run almost constantly. So it will pull about about 25-70 AH/day. For even my small unit and with no other use of electricity, I would need 2 or 3 of your batteries to make it through a long weekend.

You really don't have a lot of good options. The most obvious would be to camp exclusively with electric hookups. Without hookups even an extra battery or two would not buy you more than a short camping trip.

Your next cheapest option would be to buy a generator. Unfortunately you will need to run it several hours a day to keep your batteries charged and in good condition. If you want to avoid that daily generator use, you will need to consider solar. You will still need the generator when days are short, you are camped in the woods, it is cloudy, etc.

Regardless of your choices you might want to scrap your existing battery. If you have run it down to 11.5 volts several times its life expectancy is short. Buy at least 2 good sized replacement batteries.

Here is a tale that might help you understand the mistake you made:

https://www.exploroz.com/members/145028.75/1/2009/queensland_adventures_winter_2008.aspx?p=%2fblogs%2fdefault.aspx

A few things:

1) where would I get the information needed to know how much the fridge would draw?

2)I have 2 other deep cell batteries that are good. Would that likely get me through a weekend with the information I have already spoke of?

3) If I boondock more often, I will be getting a generator.This is more of a one off situation.

swimmer_spe wrote:


A few things:

1) where would I get the information needed to know how much the fridge would draw?

2)I have 2 other deep cell batteries that are good. Would that likely get me through a weekend with the information I have already spoke of?

3) If I boondock more often, I will be getting a generator.This is more of a one off situation.

1. Online or from refrigerator manufacturer.
2. You killed one battery in 24 hours, do you want to drain 2 batteries in 2 days?
3. If this is a one off situation and you are only looking to camp for 2 days, maybe you should just go with an ice chest.

swimmer_spe wrote:

MNtundraRet wrote:
You should use an electric site when camping. If you keep running the battery down you will have nothing working in your trailer.

That is my goal, an electric site. However, it would be nice to boon dock for a weekend without another battery or generator, or wall of solar panels.

But that’s not how it works….if it was summer time you wouldn’t get 24hours of fridge off 1 little battery. More like 4 hours.
Remember the old saying.
Cheap fast or good…pick 2.
Applies here and in the majority of situations.

Hi,

Almost no one boondocks with a single group 24.

Consider upgraded the capacity.

I've had great luck with reconditioned telcom jars.

swimmer_spe wrote:

MNtundraRet wrote:
That's about right. You should not be running an electric fridge on that battery. The battery will be shot before the end of the year.

We have no choice as it is a 12v/120v fridge. I typically do not use it on 12v except for while driving.

Based on prior threads you have posted, I believe you have a 12v DC fridge (no propane option).

When on shore power, your converter takes the 120v AC and converts it to 12v DC to power the fridge and other DC loads.

If it's the 12v DC fridge I think it is, it draws around 50w when running (approx 4amps). Assuming it's running approximately 50% of the time, that's 24hr * 50% * 4amp ~ 48amp-hr for a 24hr day (in hot weather it will run more and use more amp-hr).

Of course, there are probably another 10-20amp-hr from lights and other 12v devices so call it 60amp-hr.

A single 12v dual purpose battery is likely around 70-100amp-hr depending on specifics but you really don't want to use more than half of that (35-50amp-hr) or the battery will have a really short lifespan. As you can see, you are running that battery near dead boondocking.

Options:
- Get a second battery and wire in parallel to double your available amp-hr. This will buy you a day. If you want a weekend, you likely need more batteries (6v golf cart batteries would be a better option as they hold more amp-hr for a given size)
- Get a small generator and run it once or twice a day to keep the batteries charged (a single battery will be marginal getting thru the night, so 2 batteries would be best).
- In a pinch, you could hook the trailer up to the truck and run the engine and the trailer plug will charge the batteries. Not a great option as it's very slow charging and you are putting wear & tear on an expensive piece of machinery.
- Stay in a park with electric hookups.

On many trailers the makers assume you will always be on a campsite with power. that Group 24 is basically just for the emergeny brake.. Not for running stuff.

You really need to upgrade.

For now you can buy a pair of GC2 and jumper cable them in.

or switch to LiFePO4 100 amp hours of that is 100 amp is about 99 amp hours of power (4 times what you have now) and there are some good deals out there but of course buyer beware and also beware of the battery's limits.

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

Almost no one boondocks with a single group 24.

Consider upgraded the capacity.

I've had great luck with reconditioned telcom jars.

.