SETTING UP NEW ISUZU MUX

wasn_me · Guru

SETTING UP NEW ISUZU MUX

travelyounger · Guru

You can do this if you use heavy gauge wire to stop voltage drop and or use a seperate solar panel for your car via your vehicle dc dc charger Cheers

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

The battery in the back of the vehicle could be charged directly from the alternator, but the one in the van would benefit from the DC-DC being in the van.
Cheers,
Peter

Warren-Pat_01 · Guru

G'day Pete,
Yes I interrupted the installed DC feed to the Anderson plug on our D-max & hooked in the Ctek DC-DC charger borrowed from our last Patrol to power both the aux battery in the tub & the 12v feed to the van fridge via a Fridge Switch. That gives me 20A - would like more but the Ctek bypass unit is rather costly.
This system worked ok for six years in our last Patrol except I could run the Trailblazer car fridge & the van fridge together (a lack of about 5A).
Perhaps when I get more than 0.2% interest from the bank, I'll be able to afford more electronics!

Whenarewethere · Guru

Did you ever run an amp meter on the fridges.

My little fridge days 6.5amps in the manual but the maximum it has ever used is 4.6amps. Mostly around 3.8 - 4.0amps when the compressor is running.

Warren-Pat_01 · Guru

Hi whenarewethere,
My Trailblazer wasn't a little car fridge - it was 60L - a combined fridge/freezer. We bought it just after we attended Expo in Brisbane & it lasted in two cars that travelled over all sorts of terrain (some that I wouldn't be game to do now) & prior to towing any sort of a house on wheels. The power unit bombed out when it was 20 years old. It used to draw about 6A on start, 4.5 to 5A on run.
The new power unit was thirstier on power - 8A on start, 5 to 6A on run. The power pack that I built to run it off 240v was definitely overloaded with the new arrangement - that supplied 12.5v at 5A.
With the change from the Eagle to our current Discovery pop-top & an increased size of refrigerators, the TB has been made redundant. My other half would like to see me sell it but it comes in handy occasionally.

Sorry Pete for jumping in on your original query, I assumed that whenarewethere pointed his question at me.

Whenarewethere · Guru

If one is short on DC-DC you can run them in parallel. I have 2 9amp Victron units, you can run as many as you want in parallel. Just make sure the voltage output on them are the same.

wasn_me · Guru

Thanks for the replies.

Another question. Is it acceptable to earth the dc-dc feed back through the chassis. I've never done it in the past, but it would allow me to run a larger positive wire.

Thanks Pete

Monica W · Veteran Member

wasn_me wrote:
Thanks for the replies.
Another question. Is it acceptable to earth the dc-dc feed back through the chassis. I've never done it in the past, but it would allow me to run a larger positive wire.
Thanks Pete

No it is not acceptable to earth the DC-DC charger through the chassis on modern vehicels. You need to run a positive and negative cable.

Monica W · Veteran Member

Peter_n_Margaret wrote:
The battery in the back of the vehicle could be charged directly from the alternator, but the one in the van would benefit from the DC-DC being in the van.
Cheers,
Peter

Technically impossible on a modern vehicle. Battery charging in parallel has always been a myth in any case. People claim it is possible, but scientifically and technically it is impossible. Of course this doesn't apply to some people with RV's, but is the norm for those that cannot create RV miracles that defy physics generally found on RV forums and Facebook.

wasn_me · Guru

Monica W wrote:
wasn_me wrote:
Thanks for the replies.
Another question. Is it acceptable to earth the dc-dc feed back through the chassis. I've never done it in the past, but it would allow me to run a larger positive wire.
Thanks Pete
No it is not acceptable to earth the DC-DC charger through the chassis on modern vehicels. You need to run a positive and negative cable.

Thanks. I'm sure the ctek manual (have to read it again) says 8 b&s is ok up to 5 meters. Does this sound ok?

Thanks Pete

Monica W · Veteran Member

Sure 8B&S is OK. Ctek is only 20A.
If you are going to power your fridge and run the Ctek D250S? You will need to go to 6B&S.
The fridge needs to be separate to the Ctek. Ctek only goes to the battery, input wires direct from vehicle go to fridge. Pity they don't put longer terminals on the Ctek to enable more than two wires satisfactorily.