Aux Battery help

[rochjas]

Thanks all for your replies. I am heading to a mates place to have it all looked at. I to think its the battery becuase 3 out opf the 6 cells appeared to be a bit dry..... Anyway I'll keep you posted....

[TimE]

As said above check out the battery, but ............... what sort of plug is attached to the Waeco power lead?

If it is a cig type plug then I suggest you replace it. They work loose as you drive along, can heat up to the point of melting and obviously in this state not be getting enough power, hence power loss flashing error light. A lot of people have used merit style plugs and sockets to overcome this, but after stuffing around with those for a while I eventually replaced the cig plug with a 50amp Anderson plug, never had a power problem since.

[my third 256]

i was having the same problem with mine and it had a new battery would only last 12 hours found the selector switch on high
set the selector switch to low and now get 48 hours without charging
also had a slightly burnt out plug that goes into fridge and was causing low voltage (replaced with new from bcf )problem solved
Some (maybe all) models have a selector switch, usually a three position slider which you can set to the lowest value

[rochjas]

i was having the same problem with mine and it had a new battery would only last 12 hours found the selector switch on high
set the selector switch to low and now get 48 hours without charging
also had a slightly burnt out plug that goes into fridge and was causing low voltage (replaced with new from bcf )problem solved
Some (maybe all) models have a selector switch, usually a three position slider which you can set to the lowest value

Mine does not seem to have the selector switch. I have the emergency switch and thats it. I would asume that the Low Med and High switch would be near there...

[the evil twin]

Mine does not seem to have the selector switch. I have the emergency switch and thats it. I would asume that the Low Med and High switch would be near there...

Yeah mate, I wasn't sure what size/model Waeco's had 'em and what ones don't...looks like you missed out on that model.

Further to my prev post... easily the best plug style for fridges is the Engel type with the screw on backshell.
Any connector with large pins for good contact and cannot fall out or loose contact with a knock or whatever is the go.
After that style (screw on) probably the Merit however they sometimes suffer from bent contacts on the positive in the female so keep an eye on that.
Ciggy plugs are absolutey bottom of the list.

[rochjas]

Ok an update.... Purchased a MultiMeter... Hooked up the fridge and also the Multimeter to the Aux battery.... The voltage was dropping as quick as the seconds ticking by once the fridge turned on..... Hooked the Fridge up to the Main starting battery... Dropped .2 of a volt them seemed to drop very very slowly.... Tested solenoid and its working fine. Started car and Aux battery was charging at around 13.90 volts.... Looks like battery is not holding charge under load..... Also found the switch on the waeco :-P .... set it to low.... helps if you take the themo cover off when looking for things....

[nissannewby]

Sounds like the second battery has had it.

[snewin]

FWIW I had a CF-80 from new with the same problem as you described. Real PITA in the middle of the night camping when the low battery audible alarm goes off.

I got a new 2nd battery, changed the rear power from a ciggie plug to an anderson plug, re-wired it with the thickest high-copper wire I could get and problem solved.

Crappy thing bust a refrigerant line(?) in a non-repairable spot about a month out of warranty, but that's for another thread another time.

[rochjas]

Ok last update... I hope... Purchased a new century deep cycle battery yesterday... Installed it and tested all connections.... all looked fine. installed the fridge into the car and filled it with cans of drink. It ran no issues.... Got up this morning and it had cooled them all just nice. Looks like... fingers crossed... problem solved. Thanks for all your advice

[happygu]

Great to hear that you have it all resolved.....the multimeter will come in handy for years to come anyway.