operating a chest cooler from one 12 volt battery

[Sunking]

The challenge with a battery bank for me is space. I need the bed for sleeping and tools and not sure I want 6 batteries in there with me overnight.

Who said anything about 6 batteries in the bed of your truck.. Batteries are sized to do the job. Would you use your truck to pull a train, or use your cell phone battery to start the truck?

In an application like yours, you can size the battery to as little as 50% depth of discharge (DOD) per day, but has some serious drawbacks like will not last near as long as say 30% DOD//day or capable of running large loads like a monster 1200 watt inverter very long if at all with a microwave sucking power. Look it makes no difference if you have solar or not, you still need the battery.

So determine what size battery you need. Find your gizmo's current or power rating. Say they all total up 10 amps, and you want to run them 10 hours. 10 amps x 10 hours = 100 AH. You would need at least a 200 AH battery or a pair of 6-volt 200 AH golf cart batteries. If you are worried about Flooded Lead Acid, then use AGM.

As for location, well my company had 2 Dodge Ram HD 2500's and a 1500 with crew cabs. Each had a pair of golf cart batteries inside the cab just behind and at the ends of the back bench seat. The one smaller Chevy my partner drove just used the bottom of the tool box. Look you can use new AGM Hybrid as your SLI battery if you want to take the risk of being stuck. Makes me no difference, I am not going to stop and give you a jump start or give a crap.

[cyberpine]

Howdy and welcome. Quit watching youtube. Right quick you have no need for solar. It would be complete waste of money.
. Regardless of if you use Solar or not, still requires the same battery and Isolator. The solar is just dead wait transferred out of your wallet to the top of your truck doing nothing for you.

Hello and thanks for your suggestion. I've actually given that option some thought before. The challenge with a battery bank for me is space. I need the bed for sleeping and tools and not sure I want 6 batteries in there with me overnight. And keep in mind i only plan to run the freezer during daylight hours to freeze ice for overnight use.

I can't seem to get a straight answer on Amazon or Igloo on the power rating but the freezer is tiny. I'm thinking as low as 3amp draw with 7 amp peak, but not for sure.

https://www.amazon.com/Igloo-FRF110-...ords=igloo+1.1

I've also heard of guys running 120AH deep cell batteries on their truck for years with no issues. With my current 80 AH battery I've run a 3amp fan overnight and does not appear to even make a dent in available Amp hours or cranking power.

Thanks!

something like this.. can it handle/maintain a 5 - 7 amp draw during peak florida sun if my battery is only 80AH??
solarsetup.JPG

[Sunking]

I'm looking for a way to make ice with a small chest refrigerator (maybe 3.2 Cubic Feet) during the day using a single solar panel and my trucks existing battery. However, most configurations I see on youtube have two 12 volt batteries. Are two batteries necessary and why? Also, does my battery need to be deep cell? I've heard of people running deep cell as a car starting battery for years with no issues. If possible, I'm not looking to have more than one battery in the system.

Howdy and welcome. Quit watching youtube. Right quick you have no need for solar. It would be complete waste of money.

All you need is a pair 6 volt Golf Cart batteries, and an Electronic Battery Isolator to isolate your SLI battery from house battery. Your truck alternator can generate more energy in 30 minutes that a truck full of panels can do in a couple of days.

You use 2 batteries for capacity, but you should never use 2-12 volt batteries in parallel as you are seeing fools on youtube doing. They do not know what they are doing or talking about. You do not use SLI batteries as Deep Cycle batteries and vice versa. They are made to do two different things. Press a SLI battery into cycle service and it will only last a short time. You can certainly abuse a Deep Cycle battery and try to use it for a starting lightning and ignition battery in summer, but you will learn a very important lesson if you ever have winter, or hear click click smoke, then look to see your battery term post burnt off.

There is also a third type battery called a hybrid. It tries to be both deep cycle and SLI doing neither job very well. Hybrid batteries come with all kinds of names like Trolling, Marine, RV, Golf Cart, Leisure and on and on the list goes. SLI batteries use Lead Calcium alloy plates with a lot of very thin plates that produces a lot surface area, thus can deliver short burst of very high amounts of current to crank an engine, then be recharged super fast. Press those thin lead calcium plates into cycle service. and in two months you will be replacing them youtube fans. Deep Cycle batteries use lead antimony alloy with heavy thick plates that last a long time but not capable of delivering 10C starting currents, more like C/10.

So get yourself a pair 6-volt golf cart batteries to power your Inverter and a Battery Isolator to charge them with. Forget solar and get on the road. I just saved you over $500 with something that actually works. Regardless of if you use Solar or not, still requires the same battery and Isolator. The solar is just dead wait transferred out of your wallet to the top of your truck doing nothing for you. But I will sell you all the panels you want and give you a pink feather so you are tickled pink while I laugh all the way to the bank with your money.

[cyberpine]

I live in very sunny Florida and am planning an off grid road trip up the east coast. I drive a regular cab 2012 Ram 1500 pickup truck v8 Hemi. The truck's 12 volt battery is larger than a regular cars battery, i think 90AH. Under the hood over my battery, i have a 1200 Watt inverter attached

The bed on the truck has a hard plastic toneau cover and under that that cover I have a four inch mattress and 600 Watt microwave that operates well when connected to the inverter while the truck is running. Yes it's tight and cozy, but I've slept there with no issues before. I have a 4 day cooler in the back and a low amp 12 volt Endless Breeze fan that can run for three 6 hour nights before the battery is depleted too far down. I've used ice and the cooler to run a crude swamp A/C to keep me cool on warm summer nights. The solution works well but the problem is I need ice.


I'm looking for a way to make ice with a small chest refrigerator (maybe 3.2 Cubic Feet) during the day using a single solar panel and my trucks existing battery. However, most configurations I see on youtube have two 12 volt batteries. Are two batteries necessary and why? Also, does my battery need to be deep cell? I've heard of people running deep cell as a car starting battery for years with no issues. If possible, I'm not looking to have more than one battery in the system.

FYI: Side note that my trucks generator will also feed my battery while driving at night and so also make ice, but do not want to factor that into my question or design.

My plan is to only turn on the inverter and charger while sitting in direct sunlight. The freezer will only operate during peak sun hours (about 8 hours) which I think should be enough to freeze 2 liter bottles of water to keep some perishables cold and provide ice for my simple swamp cooler A/C.

Can you offer any insight, suggeston or a simple designs for a single battery/panel configuration . Any considerations for protecting my battery and the system from the trucks alternator?

Thank You! truckbed.JPG