Second battery to run refrigerator

I have two 160w panels, a Victron charge controller, bluesea 12 circuit panel, bluesea power port (volt gauge, 2 USB, cigarette plug), a bluesea IP65 (120v charger to plug into the trucks factory invertor just in case), and a battle born 100ah battery. All together I'm in the system right around $1700 but I should be able to run everything indefinitely as long as I get a couple hours of decent sun, if there's no sun I can always use the trucks factory inverter and charge the battery that way.

I was to lazy to put the system together before my last trip but I did get it all assembled on Monday, soooooo as far as actual testing I have only had the panels in my backyard and the fridge plugged in since late monday afternoon.

 

$150 ish for one solar panel, extended cables and connectors. I have 300w.

$1000 for the battery

$1400 (I believe) for the redarc system.

I also built a fuse and relay panel for around $350.

$100 Extra length cable (6g)

$? mounting I got creative

im sure I’m probably forgetting some stuff... but that’s a good start.

 

lol. Yea I guess that was pretty stupid. I meant it’s always charged at the end of the day. I have yet to run flat.

 

Which Goal Zero 500/which solar panels? I got the new lithium ion 500x and I love it, but I'm curious how long it will run a dometic fridge.

 

On my last trip I used my dometic CFX75 for the first time, as I said earlier I didn't get my solar setup in time, so I grabbed a standard led acid 100ah battedy and wired a 12v outlet and gauge to it to get by. The fridge pulls an average 1.4ah, but I did notice when I loaded 30 warm beers in it went up to around 2.5-3ah. With the battery charged up to 13.2-13.6 volts I had no problem making it 24 hours before the voltage dropped down to 12 volts.

 

I’m using a boulder 100 chained to a boulder 50. I get about 80+ watts on a sunny day. With this setup, I’ve yet to see the yeti go less than 90%. If I could do it over, I’d probably go for a more portable solar panel setup. The boulders are great, but a little cumbersome. I remember seeing a Jackery foldable unit that looked pretty slim.

 

Awesome, thank you been looking for intel like this.

$400 Goal Zero Nomad 100 Watt Monocrystalline Portable Solar Panel

https://www.amazon.com/Goal-Zero-No...ywords=goal+zero+nomad&qid=1594324867&sr=8-13

I am thinking about these but obviously they are expensive AF and I am likely paying for name brand. Do you know if the jackery foldable will plug right in to the yeti or need a special adapter? I will likely be using these exclusively in Colorado where we get 300+ days of sun a year so thinking the 100 alone will be enough.

 

Sorry, I honestly am unfamiliar with what type of adapter you’d need... I’m sure there’s an easy way to use different solar panels with the yeti.

 

It should plug right in. The Jackery is a 6mm plug and the goal zero solar plugs are 6mm. It’s a pretty standard connector.

 

Looks like a f@#$ing IED.... seriously, way cool you put this thing together

 

The PLB40 is a lithium iron phosphate formula - LiFePO4. Keeps the weight down, will support a high number of discharge/charge cycles, and constant discharge voltage until nearly depleted. It's a more expensive chemistry to use as a product but the high number of discharge/charge cycles and constant discharge voltage is why we chose it.

Here is a link to wikipedia for more info on LiFePO4 chemistry

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Goal Zero Yeti inputs are 8 mm. The 6 mm port is an output port.

 

For backup power for my refrigerator, and as a portable battery with 12v and USB charging ports for camp and my hobbies (drone charger and drywasher power source), I made this 400Wh portable auxiliary battery for less than $100. I have a two battery system for my truck, but also ran 4ga wires to the bed where I keep this while traveling:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...table-power-battery-for-less-than-100.631427/

 

Why did you need the boost converter?

 

Yeah, I didn’t include a comment about the extras...

With the boost converter, it’ll run my refrigerator or my drone chargers with the battery down to 9+ volts without turning off (battery saver protection), otherwise they only run when they’re getting more than 12 volts. I know some refrigerators have programmable battery saver circuits that allow you to run lower than 12 V, so you don’t really need a booster with one of those.

With my charger bolted outside of the box, I can recharge the battery with my solar panels, my alternator or through the auxiliary battery under my hood with it. And when I’m parked, it will keep running the refrigerator, as it’ll keep charging the smaller battery from the auxiliary battery - so it essentially doubles its capacity as well.

 

Hmmm. All the fridges I’ve seen run down to 10.8v which about as low as you’d want to take an AGM. But maybe I’m wrong.

 

No, you are right. The thing is my drone battery charger does not work below 12v. That’s typical for the cigarette lighter plug chargers for DJI drones.


Maybe my refrigerator is different, its not a regular brand, it’s a inexpensive Chinese built Amazon one with wifi control (cool, as I can control it and monitor the temp in it on my phone from the cab), but it does have a programmable shut off voltage for the battery saver. I think the lowest it will go is somewhere between 9 and 10v. Also, that small battery is a deep cycle gel cell, not AGM, so I can run it down safely.

 

I’m not a battery expert, so take this info as you will. The description of the battery linked in your build thread say that it is a deep cycle AGM. Either way, deep cycle or not, it should still only be discharged to to about 50% state of charge which is approximately 12v. You can completely discharge it to 10.5v but you will degrade the battery faster. After 10.5v you have pretty much gotten 99% of the energy out the battery and you are only further damaging it. It’s a pretty inexpensive little battery so maybe that’s not a huge concern.

 

That’s good info, thanks! Yeah, I usually use a booster until the batteries are charged up on my drone, which means it’s probably still about 10 V when it’s finished. I’ll keep that in mind, buying new batteries can get expensive!

 

Good info on this thread. I have a Jackery 500 to run my domestic cfx40. I do what others are stating here and charging it off the truck while driving. However I think it would also be useful to have solar. I want to have it mounted so I don’t have to worry about setting it up and it’s always ready to charge. I saw someone mount a flexible solar panel on the roof. Does anyone know if there is a 100w flexible panel that will fit on the roof?(I have sunroof unfortunately)