How long to drain a battery.....?

[GreatGranny]

When I have a portable fridge plugged into the 12v socket thingy?

The fridge is rated at 75w and is 35l capacity if thats makes any sense.

I'm going camping at the weekend but the car will be stood at work for about 6 hours tomorrow with all the stuff in and the fridge connected up. Will the battery be drained after that long?

And no I can't nip out and run it for a while every few hours.

Thanks.

[magpie215]

depends on the capacity/condition of the battery

[dan19evans]

magpie215 said:

depends on the capacity/condition of the battery

[Turkey]

It will take around 36 Amp hours from the battery, quite a bit really unless you have a whopping battery in good condition. The fridge I have cuts out before the voltage gets too low though, so this might happen with yours as well.

[Colin 1985]

I think your battery when new and fully charged will have around 50AH (rough estimate) in it so should be enough if it were fully charged in theory (using 36AH)but in reality this is very borderline so park somewhere you can bump start.

You say it is rated at 75W, so I assume this is the most power it can draw when turned on. If you put warm items in the fridge it will need to run constantly for a while to cool them down and thus draw 75w, but if it's contents is already cool then it will not need to draw the full power and your battery should be OK.

So guess what i'm saying is that if the battery is good, and the fridge doesn't have too much work to do you should be okay, but if their is doubt it might not be worth the risk if you cant bump start.

Edited by Colin 1985 on Friday 2nd July 02:03

[ShadownINja]

Can't you bring the fridge in to work and plug it in while you're there?

[cmackay81]

whatever you do, park on a hill.

[TwistingMyMelon]

hill! Could be an auto....

[GreatGranny]

Thanks for replies. No I can't take out the fridge, its full of beer (& food). It has been hooked up to the mains overnight so was cold when I switched it to 12v. I had to drop it off at Kwik Fit this morning to get the air con re gassed and its parked there until lunch when I can collect it.
You'd think I could find a hill to park on as I live in Sheffield but I work in a flat area!
The battery is showing 13 amps on the Ampmeter in the car so is in good condition.
Lets hope its ok.
Luckily I have a gas bottle to hook it up to when we get to the campsite.

[ShadownINja]

GreatGranny said:

Thanks for replies. No I can't take out the fridge, its full of beer (& food).

Can't you take the contents out, move the fridge, then move the contents? It's a bit like the chicken/fox/river puzzle but the beer won't eat the food.

[GreatGranny]

ShadownINja said:

GreatGranny said:

Thanks for replies. No I can't take out the fridge, its full of beer (& food).

Can't you take the contents out, move the fridge, then move the contents? It's a bit like the chicken/fox/river puzzle but the beer won't eat the food.

Thats sounds like too much effort and its hot!

Anyway update

Went to collect my car from Kwik Fit.............flat battery!

They firstly tried to jump it with a battery but still nothing.

Them "Its flat lined mate, you need a new one. We've got one in at £99"

Me "Yeh right, can you not test your battery to see if that is ok?"

He then gets a tester and sure enough, their battery is low, oh, thats a surprise.

He then goes and gets a new battery they've just had delivered and it starts first time!

I have now disconencted the fridge, the beer will have to get warm but I've off at 3.15pm so hopefully it will be chilled again by the time I get to Oxford.

Sod the food!

[perdu]

GreatGranny said:

Thanks for replies. No I can't take out the fridge, its full of beer (& food). It has been hooked up to the mains overnight so was cold when I switched it to 12v. I had to drop it off at Kwik Fit this morning to get the air con re gassed and its parked there until lunch when I can collect it.
You'd think I could find a hill to park on as I live in Sheffield but I work in a flat area!
The battery is showing 13 amps on the Ampmeter in the car so is in good condition.
Lets hope its ok.
Luckily I have a gas bottle to hook it up to when we get to the campsite.

OP could you not have hooked it to the gas bottle in the back of the car?

Slightly un-PC in case of gas leaks but, hey!

Bound to bring on the tears wasnt it.

Hope you have enough gas in the bottle or it will have been a jump lead job again after the camping...

[S Line Luxury]

save up a collection of plastic milk bottles, fill near to the top with water, then freeze them

use these in the cool box, will last for a good while if its well insulated