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Rave About Your Rack Please do not post retail SPAM.

Topic Date User

Camping Power 14-Feb-2012 At 12:36:27 PM aarond

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i have a second battery in my ute. Everything runs through it except for the starter motor, its great! And it self isolates when the ignition is off. Picked up a battery for about $180 for a 85AH and did all the wiring myself so all up cost me only about $400. a full charge of the deeep cycle battery will get me about 6 hours of laptop life if charging the laptop from dead flat, but if its always at full cahrge full it wont use much at all. or will get me about 7 hours of headlight + radio usage etc. ive never even half drained my battery and it only takes short (2-3hour drive i guess) and its full charged again anyway depending on whats runnign while im driving. one thing but, is run seperatre wiring to your inverter and get a decent inverter (maybe 400W) otherwise the inverter will overheat and keep shutting out ( i think a laptop at full draw will use maybe about 150W).

you just need to sit down and work out how much power you actually expect to use then work out how often or how your going to charge it and then a battery size to suit.