Poor fridge/battery performance

[knoath]

G'Day, last time out camping my TechniIce fridge wasn't happy.
It was climbing to +7 deg in a short amount of time once the sun went down.
I have 60w of permanent roof top solar and an additional 60w of portable solar when parked up, both panels go directly to a C-TEK 250D charger mounted beside the 2nd battery in the tub charging a deep cycle calcium.
I have the standard ciggie plug on the fridge lead and I will be adding an Anderson plug very soon, I think this may be adding to the problem. I have removed the battery from the tub and fitted it into my ArkPak for the last week to give it a good charge and condition. I'm thinking the battery may just be too old as it must be 4 yrs now.
How do I measure my fridge draw accurately? (not my drawers )
I need to get this sorted soon.

Any experts out there that can offer advice???

[tom60]

I have one of these fitted between my battery and the load (fridge & lights, etc)
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/60V100A-Digital-LCD-Watt-Meter-Battery-Balance-DC-RC-Volt-Ammeter-Amp-Analyzer/192703192815?_trkparms=aid%3D555018%26algo%3DPL.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20190212102350%26meid%3D70acbafe7264403ebf0b7afa4e9476a9%26pid%3D100012%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D311159281261%26itm%3D192703192815&_trksid=p2047675.c100012.m1985

Actually I have two.  The first between the DC-DC charger and the battery.  The second between the battery and the load.  That way I can monitor what's going in and out of the battery

[Bob]

I have one of those units that Tom linked to, I fitted Anderson plus onto mine but you can also buy them already fitted.

I have 2 x 160W solar panels running through a Redarc BCDC1225 with a 100AH battery fitted beside the drawers.

When I was planning this I ran my 40L Engel freezer plus my 32L Waeko beer fridge for a week for each and worked out the current draw over that period. Below is my results
      Waeco 30L      Engel 40L   Total
Watts Peak   74.1      85.3      159.4
Ampere Hours   16.96   11.84   28.8
Watt Hours   473.8   589.1   1062.9
Amps Peak   5.54      6.15   1   1.69
Volts Minimum   13.28   13.33   13.33


They are a very handy unit to have in your kit, only problem is the short leads.

[knoath]

Thanks fellas, I'll grab one of those meters and see what's going on...