thriftydutch wrote:
Last year when we were in New York city my two house batteries were drained. The batteries are used to run our fridge but were drained too much to operate the fridge properly. When the batteries were charged up again the fridge was working properly. I want to install a voltage monitor from Ebay but some have 3 wires while other have 2 wires. What is the difference and do I need a monitor for each battery. I don't want to spend a lot of money on this. I want to buy a cheap monitor as my name suggests.
Our fridge is a 12v-120v
It appears that your Refrigerator is a compressor type therefore disregard the "put it on propane :)
As many 12 volt outlets were installed using undersized wire, I recommend an outlet connected by alligator clips directly to the batteries (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Car-Cigarette-Lighter-Socket-to-Car-Battery-Alligator-Clip-Charger-Cable-Wire-/390957016123?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5b06daa43b) and then plug a volt meter directly into it. This will give you a far more accurate voltage reading. If your batteries are std. lead acid type then charging them when the voltage drops below 12.3 volts will greatly extend battery life.
