Battery Improvements

With all my electrical gadgets, I was due for an upgrade to the battery. The Waeco fridge especially can have a

pretty big power drain in warmer conditions. According to data from Waeco's website, I can expect the amp hours used

in a 24-hour period at 86 degrees F to be around 21 amp hours per day. That is likely a low number, as it does not account for

opening and closing the fridge for beers all the time (haha) plus I have other high demands on the system like my 2-Meter

radio.

The stock battery has around 40 amp hours at a full charge. If we assume the following numbers for volts compared to the

percent discharged: 12.65V is "full"; 12.47V is 75%; 12.24V is 50% 12.06V is 25%; 11.89V is just about zero, we can see

that if we ran the fridge for 24 hours on the stock battery, the truck would likely not start. Below 50% we impair the starting ability

as well as possibly damaging the battery.

I am now using a Dekka Group 31, Absorbent Glass Matte (AGM) deep cycle battery in the truck. This battery is rated for

105 amp hours. Many people like to install a 2nd battery, but things are already tight underneath the hood, so I opted just to go

with one large battery. Two yellow-top Optimas are 110 amp hours, so with one battery, I am only 5 ah off of that. This

more than doubles my available amp hours for the fridge.

Since I do not have a 2nd battery, I needed to have a low-voltage cut-off system. I'd hate to be in the middle of nowhere

and kill my starting battery. I decided to use a product called the Battery Brain. I have all my accessories being powered

through this brain. If the battery ever reaches 12.00 volts, the brain cuts off the power, saving the ability to start the engine.

The Dekka battery and custom system to install it came from the professionals at Adventure Trailers. They can develop

custom kits for various applications. Contact them if you wan to install a similar setup to mine.

This system is great, but I do plan a few upgrades in the next year. First. I want to install a battery monitoring system like

the Xantrex Link-10 system. I also want some solar charging so I'm looking at different sized panels. Ideally I want to be

able to sit in a remote camp for a week at a time without a need to start the truck to charge the battery.

Here is a picture of the new battery.

Here is the Battery Brain, installed on the driver's fender.

As I get more of my little upgrades done, I'll update this page. :)