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41

General Discussion / Batteries brands vs cost vs efficiency

« Last post by Joseph on September 30, 2025, 04:36:16 pm »

The cost to switch to lithium is more than I’m willing to spend considering the amount of time I’ll have the rig.

So 6 volt Duracell 205 amp hr aAGM  runs $360.00. Each  Has a DoD 0% rating of 400 cycles.  1 year warranty

Trojan T105-AES 6V AGM 207 amp hr has a DOD 0 % rating of 1200 cycles . $500-545.00. Each..  Three year warranty.



Dannnnnng.  I’m leaning towards the Trojan due to being able to run it below 50% with no worries.


Are there other manufacturers that rate as well as Trojan that I’m missing.

42

General Discussion / Re: Alternative Fridge?

« Last post by CalCruiser on September 27, 2025, 05:28:08 pm »

 Got it 

43

General Discussion / Re: Alternative Fridge?

« Last post by Joseph on September 26, 2025, 03:59:57 pm »

Calcruiser.    I’ve sent two pm’s and although they say message sent when I check sent messages nothing current is showing.  Let me know if not received

44

General Discussion / Re: Alternative Fridge?

« Last post by Joseph on September 26, 2025, 09:44:47 am »

Calcruiser.  I have looked at lifepo4. From what I’ve read I need to do something to protect the Alt and I have no idea if my converter on a 2011 can charge them. Next is cost, I have no idea of what the cost is to bring my rig up to speed for the lifepo4. 


Pm sent

45

General Discussion / Re: Alternative Fridge?

« Last post by CalCruiser on September 26, 2025, 04:12:17 am »

50% sounds about right.  5A x 18 hrs = 1080 wH, or 90aH of battery capacity.

Have you considered LiFePO4  instead? A pair of LiTime group 31 12v 140aH or 165aH batteries packs a lot of punch at 1/3 the weight for about the same price  and can be  safely discharged below 20% capacity.  If your converter can be configured for 14.2v charging, the only additional hardware needed is a dc-dc charger to protect the alternator.  If you might be adding solar at some point,  check out the dual input dc-dc chargers from Renogy that support charging from both the alternator or solar panels.  The difficult  part is figuring out the wiring since PC doesn’t provide diagrams. If you need help with that send me a pm. I made the switch last winter

46

General Discussion / Re: Alternative Fridge?

« Last post by Joseph on September 25, 2025, 11:11:01 am »

Next up I want to go to two 6 volt.  If I go flooded I can get more amp hrs than agm  but I’ve read agm can be taken down farther and last longer so I’ll go that route.  Unless one of you convince me otherwise??


With My battery tray I installed new 250 lb sliders 5 years ago.  Even though that should be overkill after 5 years they are showing that they are getting tired with all the vibration and bouncing on our roads. So I installed a set of 500 lb slide rails and lowered the tray enough to allow the height needed for the taller 6 volt. 
The tray doesn’t allow enough length or width depending on how you set them for the larger 6 volt AGM.  I remove the riveted drawer catches , bent the front ledge down. Welded a couple of cracks in the side walls of the tray and cut the excess length so the door will close.  This now gives me more than enough room for the 6 volt.  The slots where the catches used to take hold work perfect for an adjustable heavy tarp strap that will keep the batteries in place and the tray from sliding against the door.

47

General Discussion / Re: Alternative Fridge?

« Last post by Joseph on September 25, 2025, 11:08:11 am »

I’ve installed the 12 volt conversion. Took all of 3 1/2 hours.   100 degree day  the fridge cooled down to 10 degrees in freezer and 40 in fridge in a bit over 3 hours.  It’ll need to run a bit longer to get the fridge colder.  I’m still figuring out the settings to dial it all in. 

They had told me I may need to run a 10 gauge wire if the wiring wasn’t heavy enough.  I didn’t want to get stuck with having to figure it out after the install so I did that first to be sure I could.   That took an additional hour but wasn’t that difficult and in the end wasn’t needed.  I left it in place even though it’s not hooked up.

On our last trip prior to the conversion my batteries failed and the only option was a couple 12 volt marine maintenance free batteries from Walmart.  They are supposedly 100 amp hour , so 200 all in.  On a 100 degree day I get roughly 18 hours of my fridge before 50%. I think it’ll go longer after due to the fridge requires more power in the beginning to bring it down to temp. Once it reaches the desired temp it runs roughly 65% of the time, or so they say.

48

General Discussion / Re: Macenator / water pump fuse location

« Last post by zolman on September 11, 2025, 06:23:34 pm »

just had the same issue with my 2013. Just took off the cap, turned the blade and everything worked again.

49

General Discussion / Re: Macenator / water pump fuse location

« Last post by jim.godfrey on September 06, 2025, 08:42:39 pm »

Jerry:
My Macerator pump was bound up this spring but I got lucky.
Before digging in I tried gentle tapping with a mallet on the exterior of the enclosure with the switch on.
Two taps and it started working!
Been fine all season but I hope this is not a sign of things to come.

Good Luck!

50

General Discussion / Re: Macenator / water pump fuse location

« Last post by Jerry brown on September 03, 2025, 03:19:21 pm »

Update - as others have suggested the impeller blades were jammed. Could not see much or any blockage but upon turning the blades the unit is working again. At least for my model I needed to drop the screws around the plexiglass access window to access the impeller. Thanks all for the inputs.