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So I've taken the l wagon camping a few times now and was thinking that I drive forty klm of highway followed by ten klm of " spirited" driving so my battery is fully charged I would assume, then I have the radio on all day and night with the fridge going til the sun goes down, which is about the time I start worrying if the old girl will fire in the morning?
I have a brand new Century 57 that I squeezed in which boasts a cold cranking rating of 470 amps at -18degrees (what does that even mean ?)
So should I go for a drive at night and charge it up or should I be okay

I tend to park on a hill if possible just in case but that's not always practicable at the river cause most slopes aim for the water

Cheers all

It is always a hard one to figure out with batteries I think it is one of those things where you learn by that one time you have to clutch start it where the limits of the battery are.

The cold cranking amps (cca) is the ability to deliver that much power at one point in time. (the set temperature is for purpose of measuring standards)

that is why the deep cycle batteries are so great for caravans and boats because their ability to sustain a constant output.

Those 57 are usually pretty good. (they are the standard battery for all the failcons. Good to see you managed to fit in a nice sized battery though, with the brumby having so much room I managed to fit in the equivalent of a 70zz which are used in the big foubies...when my alternator had failed it would run a couple days in a row before it died.

Cool cool so how long does it take to charge a battery from near flat I think my alternator is rated at 50 amps assuming it's outputting something near that figure do I go for a five minute drive or a twenty minute one to top it up again ?

depends on whether you drive in the dark with lights on or off too on your recharges

Best practise for constant use is to get a deep cycle battery and run the fridge and radio from this with a dual battery isolator.

I realise you do not have one of these but it could be on the books for later.

What you could do is check out this nifty little devise - it seems to work well and has an alarm that sounds for a minute when the battery voltage becomes low. It also incorporates a voltage display. I've found it very handy in the couple of hours of driving that I've done with it.

Ruby Scoo has a Supercharge battery, same sort of size but has something like 550CCA I've got half of my dual battery setup installed, just need to add the switch and find an appropriate sized deep cycle battery, but they're rather expensive!

Cheers

Bennie

steptoe wrote:depends on whether you drive in the dark with lights on or off too on your recharges

I generally drive in the dark with my lights on - highbeam too, I find it easier - so how long does a full recharge take' and do I even need to go for a drive , or can I let it just idle for twenty minutes or similar?

El_Freddo wrote:Best practise for constant use is to get a deep cycle battery and run the fridge and radio from this with a dual battery isolator.

I realise you do not have one of these but it could be on the books for later.

What you could do is check out this nifty little devise - it seems to work well and has an alarm that sounds for a minute when the battery voltage becomes low. It also incorporates a voltage display. I've found it very handy in the couple of hours of driving that I've done with it.



Cheers

Bennie

that is indeed a nifty device thanks Bennie