20 replies to this topic

[rodt]

Today was a good day.  Great weather and no work.  I took advantage of it and went to work (fun) on the camper.

 

First I repositioned that camper.  Moved it up a few inches forwardwhich does not seem like much, but it made a noticeable difference in driving the old V6.  Had 1 jack fail which was kinda scary, but I recovered.  Removed the jacks to save a few pounds.  Going to have to determine next steps to remove the camper when required.  I like the stable lift option, but boy it cost as much as the camper.

 

 

Second I built out the battery charging system.  Next I need to get a 4 prong plug so that I can electrify that camper and I need to steal power for the marking lights.  In all a good day of progress towards our shake down run in 2 weeks.  You can see the + cable running from the battery. to the fuse, to the solenoid, to another fuse, and then it joins up with the - cable to run back to the camper.  Used a set of jumper cables to do this and now need to step them down to somethings more reasonable to connect to the camper.

 

 

Fantastic fan is in the mail so next weekend???

 

rod

[Hunterbuild]

Did you have the 3 jack system? I did on my 92 model. I bought another jack and moved and added to the corners, much better.  

[rodt]

I have 4 screw type jacks with the tripod bases.  It will go up to just about far enough, but any further and it seems to have a week spot where it falls back down a couple of inches.  Scared the "#$%" out of me.  Luckily I was just repositioning the camper on the box.  But before I get too excited I will probably replace at least that jack and maybe all 4.  Right now the camper is fine to stay on the truck as I have a few trips planned for May.

[rodt]

Fun with electricity.

 

Ok trying to get the 12v figured out.  I have already tested the camper on shore power.  The electrical outlets as well as the lights all seem to function as expected.  I next want to get a 12V battery installed.  As you can see from a picture previous I have some strange 4 prong adaptor to contend with.  My truck is bare bones so it does not have power going to a tow hookup - only lights.

 

I ran 4g wire (jumper cable wires) to a solenoid and then under the truck and up to the 3 prong connection.  I believe this  4 prong has power, ground and running lights.  There 3 3 wires and they are something like 12g wire.

 

Q1:

Should I forego the connector and run the 4g directly to the battery.  Seems like I can still hook up the convertor to run the 12 volt items, and when plugged into shore power it will also charge the battery?  Why do this?  Just working to reconcile the change in gauge and keep the system as efficient as possible.

 

Or should I step down the 4g to something smaller and find a 4 prong round connector to tie directly into the convertor.  And by the way what is the correct term for this thing?  Convertor, investor, charger???

 

I have a new battery box to replace the old one pictured - just FYI.

 

Many thanks to all the folks here.  rod

 

[michgoblue]

I had the same converter and just replaced it since it was acting up (beeping under minimal load) and pretty much is just a single stage converter - not good for batteries as they tend to boil them when always connected to shore-power.  I put in a WFCO-8735 which is an older 3 stage converter you can find on Amazon pretty inexpensively.  I chose that over a 4 stage because the WFCO was supposed to be a drop in replacement - but I still had to do some cutting of my cabinets to fit it in.

 

Anyway I think you should replace the converter before you buy a battery.  Then I suggest getting an isolator to connect between the truck and the battery.  I use a True brand Automatic Current Relay (ACR) also on Amazon.  I connect it with 4g to the battery and then put an Anderson plug on the outside to connect it to my truck.  You don't don't want to wire directly to the house battery as you'll likely drain your truck battery.

 

Anyway if you get a replacement for your converter, it will come with instructions for wiring appliances and your battery - pretty simple with the WFCO since they used all the same colors as you ELX30, but have a couple extra DC circuits.  You might have to get new breakers though.

[shellback]

Not sure what all that spaghetti is at your battery box. Normally your camper battery would be tied into your converter. Plugged into shore power it would provide for your 110v outlets or appliances, and the converter would change that to 12v DC for your lights and other 12v accessories. It will also provide battery charging. I think 4 ga wiring from your truck battery to the camper is overkill unless you plan on powering your camper off your truck battery. A normal 7 way towing harness has a small ga wire, not sure of the exact size, but it's purpose is to provide charging to the camper battery while you are traveling. A couple of those leads at the battery box should be providing 12v to the converter. Maybe the other wires are from the truck plug. I'd find the wires to the converter, hook them up, and check your system. See that you have 12v power to the lights with no shore power, then check to see if you are getting 13.5v charging to the battery with shore power.  If the camper side is working good, then I suggest getting a male and female 7 pin trailer connector. The 7 pin is overkill, but it will allow you to wire the truck and camper correctly to the right pins in the plug. The 7 pin provides for ground, 12v pos, running lights, left and right turn, backup lights and electric trailer brakes. Just use the pins you need and leave the others empty. Wiring it correctly will allow you to plug into another truck in the future. My power off my truck plug goes to the converter. I'm guessing the crazy plug you have is something a previous owner Rube Goldberg'd to get power from the truck to the camper.

[Old Crow]

Here's a manual for the Elixir ELX-20 converter....

 

http://www.fourwh.co...erconverter.pdf

[rodt]

Time for my weekly update.  

 

I managed to get the truck power to the camper over the weekend.  I would like to say that I did a fine job of creating a clean professional looking connector.  Turned out that I might very well be a redneck (although one of the more rare snowflake kind).  After 3 trips to the auto parts store, 1 to the hardware store and even a visit to Tractor Supply the fine starter battery the previous owner left me is charging off the truck.  I also installed a voltage meter and USB ports fused inline just to have those available temporarily.  Hooked to shore power it would appear that NO charging is occurring.  I have decided to let it just be for a short time.  I really want to get an overnight or 2 in the camper to determine what we forgot and what we did not even consider needing.

 

Longer term I will invest in a meter and some serious investigation/education on the wiring and then replace the convertor as suggested.  I do not have the skill for that at the moment.

 

A more positive project was removing the AC.  4 bolts and some grunt work and it was on the ground.  Installed the Fantastic fan, but still have to finish off the interior.  No 12 volt - so another temporary solution was to hook up a cig plug to the wirings - worked like a charm and looks pathetic.  More to come on this project.

 

The truck drives significantly better without 80 pound of weight at the highest point.  It was a good weekend, Everything works somewhat as intended.  

 

Thanks to all the replies it was valuable information.

 

rod

[rodt]

Lets move away from electrical for a post or two.  I am curious if most use the water tank?  I have about 1/4 inch of water in the tank and who knows how long it has been there.  I have read the cleaning process; which seems simple enough.

 

I assume the following.  I fill the tank and it does not leak. I so much as look at one of those plastic shut off valves and it starts leaking everywhere.  OK, so buy replacements just in case before starting the project.  Now I fill the tank and add the bleach, even get all the smell our after several rounds of flushing the system.  I then fill the tank and use 2 gallons of the 7.  Do I just let the remaining water stay there?  How long can I leave it before doing another round of cleaning?  Just top off and go.  Bring separate drinking water?

 

I have the following trips planned

 

May 19/20th - Handworks Amana Iowa (hand tool woodworking)

May 25 - Over night with the wife (official test run)

June 1 - 4 Spoon Gathering Milan Mn (wood carving)

Late June - Canoe Niobrara river with wife (she never has)

July - probably not much, too many peers at work gone for vacation and Nebraska is hot as #$%^

August - North Shore of Lake Superior via Duluth.  To Grand Marais (North House) and most likely Grand Portage with the wife. 

That as far as I can plan at this point

 

So clean and use for the summer?  Abandon water tank and go portable?  Other thoughts?

[rodt]

Here are a few pics of the fan.  Just to give people a good laugh. And what's up with the 6 inch cover plate?  My roof is like 1 1/2 inch thick. Going to have to trim that a bit...