Any 12V power packs like this in the US?

[Superu]

A jump pack does not have enough long term power for what I need, so I'm thinking of starting with one of these since it has a charge indicator, battery connect posts and 12V plug already installed:



adding one of these:



and wiring it up as needed with a 6m run of cabling with anderson plugs on either end.



My primary use for this will be to sit next to my Engel MT45 for extended outings without worrying about killing my starting battery. I'll be putting an Optima Dual Purpose in the box and will top it off as needed with my Sunsei solar panel which worked very well last season.

The plus to this setup will be ease of use in multiple vehicles, quick connect/disconnect, flexibility in location of battery and the ability to keep it charged up while underway.

Any thoughts or tips on wiring this up?

My initial thought is to run a pair of 4ga wires from the battery to the back of the vehicle, terminate with the female Anderson plug, add a male Anderson to the battery box and add the ACR and an inline fuse under the lid of the box.

[ThomD]

I'm interested in whatever solution you can come up with. This merges nicely with the discussion about fridges in bear country. With a "portable" battery, I can put the fridge and the battery in the bear box and Bob's your uncle.

[ThomD]

As far as the wiring, if you do not plan to use the battery to jump your engine, that is to say that the connection from the engine to the BBox is only to function as a trickle charger, I would think that the wiring would not need to be very heavy. There have been discussions about just using existing cig lighter plugs (where they exist).

[spencyg]

The only time I would reduce the wire size less than that rated for the available charging current from your alternator is if you had some serious heat-sink-laden resistors to slow down current flow. Just assuming a smaller charging wire gauge will be ok if you're using small amounts of current off the battery is false, as the battery will want to draw as much current as is available if discharged any appriciable amount.

Spence

[teotwaki]

I'm interested in whatever solution you can come up with. This merges nicely with the discussion about fridges in bear country. With a "portable" battery, I can put the fridge and the battery in the bear box and Bob's your uncle.

Dang. Bob is pretty smart! That is a great combination.

[Cabrito]

A jump pack does have enough long term power for what I need,

My primary use for this will be to sit next to my Engel MT45 for extended outings without worrying about killing my starting battery.

That's for sure.

[kmroxo]

I'm interested in whatever solution you can come up with. This merges nicely with the discussion about fridges in bear country. With a "portable" battery, I can put the fridge and the battery in the bear box and Bob's your uncle.

I was thinking the same thing. You could run the wires inside the car to keep it charged. Since the Minn Kota says it has two 12 volt sockets it could also attach the a mini fridge powering that while being charged and then like you said, the whole thing can be moved in to the bear box at night. Though the simplicity of National Luna Portable Power Pack looks excellent.

[saburai]

Try National Luna. They make a good one.

http://www.nationalluna.com/PPPack.htm

Looks like a good unit. I see that Equipt sells it here in the USA.
Would it be possible to install this so that it would be able to pull back up duty to the main battery for winching and emergency starting? How would the circuit run?

[Superu]

Any reason an not to use an Optima AGM Yellow Top in the National Luna box and leave the stock battery for starting? Since the National Luna PPP has an isolator, I would think this would be fine. Thoughts?

[saburai]

Any reason an not to use an Optima AGM Yellow Top in the National Luna box and leave the stock battery for starting? Since the National Luna PPP has an isolator, I would think this would be fine. Thoughts?

I want to be able to combine them for a high draw event like winching...