Camping is a seriously addictive past-time! There’s nothing like leaving the hustle and bustle of everyday life behind and heading out to your favourite local campsite for some much-needed rest and relaxation. Australia is blessed with some absolutely incredible camping opportunities, from beautiful river-front bush campsites to jaw-dropping beachfront sites nestled in the sand-dunes. You may well be aware that a dual battery system can help power all of the portable electrical camping accessories that you want to take bush, but how much do you know about the type of batteries you should be running at the core of your dual battery system?

4×4 batteries aren’t the most interesting thing to talk about in the world, but they’re definitely important, so bear with us. So much stress is caused by failing 4WD dual battery systems that run out of power to keep the fridge running cold. A lot of the time, the culprit comes down to the deep cycle battery that you’re running. Not all deep-cycle batteries are the same, and some do a better job of running a portable fridge than others. There’s a large variety of deep cycle battery types and prices but they’re all a substantial investment so you want to make sure that the 4×4 battery you buy is the right one. So, what’s the difference between the major types of deep cycle batteries, and what is a deep cycle battery anyway?

Let’s start with the basics. The battery that powers your starter motor and turns your car’s engine on when you hit the key is designed to deliver a high-speed burst of current for a short period of time. That’s known as ‘cold cranking amps’. It’s all about delivering bucketloads of power in quick bursts to power the starter motor and turn the engine over. On the other hand, a deep cycle battery is designed to deliver lower amounts of power for extremely long periods of time, so that it can run your fridge overnight, for instance.

For the purposes of this article, we’ll talk about two different types of 4×4 deep cycle batteries – wet cell, and AGM. There are other types of deep-cycle batteries, in particular lithium, but right now the average cost of a lithium battery is $1500 or more so they’re still a long way from entering into mainstream use.

Wet cell batteries are identified typically by the fact that they have removable caps to access the battery fluid inside each cell. However, not all wet cell batteries have these removable caps so the only real way to properly identify a wet cell deep cycle battery is by the label. The plates in the battery that store the electricity are suspended in the battery fluid and when the plates either receiving a charge of electricity, or when they discharge electricity, small amounts of toxic fumes are emitted. This means they cannot be run inside a vehicle cabin as they need constant fresh airflow.

AGM batteries like the Adventure Kings 98Ah AGM deep-cycle battery and the Adventure Kings 115Ah deep cycle AGM batteries use a different type of technology. Instead of using plates to store the electrical charge, they use Absorbed Glass Matt (AGM). This technology doesn’t emit those toxic fumes when being charged or discharged, so it is completely safe to use within a vehicle cabin or a ute canopy.

These days the majority of campers are switching onto the fact that AGM 4WD batteries are the way to go. They’re tough, built for 4WDing and the only real thing to be aware of is that they don’t deal with excessive amounts of heat. That means they don’t go great under bonnets where they’re in close proximity to extremely hot turbochargers and exhaust systems. When subjected to extreme heat the absorbed glass matt can swell and seriously damage the battery.

AGM batteries are perfectly suited to being run in the rear of your 4×4, nestled in amongst the drawers and right next to your 12v fridge. This does away with voltage drop by providing a very short run of cable from the battery to the portable camping fridge and has the added benefit of keeping your AGM battery cool and dry, exactly what it likes.