62 replies to this topic

[pods8]

ntsqd mounted his in a nice location if you look back at that picture.

[Clark]

Yea, I will probably try to put mine somewhere in the front divers side corner of my truck bed. Just not sure exactly what area might be accessible with the camper on the truck...

Also, almost exactly where his is located is where there is this 6 pin female connector, with a cover that reads 6- 8 - 12v

[pods8]

Do Alaskans have access ports? If not you might need to halt backing up the truck 6-12" early, connect the plug and then finish. Same with taking the truck off.

[Hittheroad]

Awesome. I am going to order it all. I am not sure where I will route the wiring yet from the engine compartment to the bed of the truck. I also am not sure where to mount the powerposts. Ideally it would be nice to have the truck wired with the power post ready. That way, when I go get the camper i can just make the wires for the camper battery and plug right into the power post and be off and running.

Thanks. EEveryone has shed a good deal of light on this for me.

My thanks too. This entire discussion has been very useful.

[Clark]

Just found out the batteries that are included in the camper are the West Marine Gel batteries, 97ah

Manufacturer Namw............WEST MARINE
Manufacturer Part Number.....8G31DTM
Amp Hours Per Day............97Ah
BCI Group....................31
Chemistry....................Gel
Cold Cranking Amps...........550
Dimensions...................12.94"L x 6.75"W x 9.37"H
Marine Cranking Amp..........780
Purpose Cycling
Reserve Minutes..............180
Terminal Type................Tapered/Stud
Voltage 12
Short Description SeaGel® Marine Gel Batteries
SKU 327025

[pods8]

Gel batteries are really sensitive to over charging from what I've read. I've not studied them heavily since AGMs seemed a much nicer fit for my uses.


To be clear are these used batteries with the camper? Any idea of the age? Before pondering out using Gel too hard it'd be nice to know the age. If they are old they could be beat already... Reason for wonder about the age is off hand I can't think of why anyone would put them in a camper these days with AGM technology.

[Clark]

Batteries are from 2010.

Any reason these curcuit breakers wouldnt work?

http://www.powerwerx...r-bussmann.html

If I get those, I can also order the powerpoles from them as well.

THen just get the ACR and wire and I am ready!

[ntsqd]

Bolded part isn't true. The same amp/model series mate up and they come in various colors.

Have you done it then? Literature that I've read in the past says they don't on purpose, but I hadn't tested it.

My truck is a '96 CTD with two batteries as well.
I have power and ground coming off the left battery. The terminal strip is for the OE fusible links.

I put the ACR in the camper because I have other taps planned for the 6 ga. pair of wires. The shunt is for the Tri-Metric battery monitor. Under the battery box lid is a pair of Trojan T-125's. The cord is my temporary trickle charger set-up. I disabled the charger in the Elixer power panel after I heard it boiling the batteries. After this next trip I'll be removing the Elixer and replacing it with a panel of my own. It will have 2 120 VAC circuit breakers and a Blue Seas 6 position fuse block visible at the front and a smart battery charger in the rear that is tied into the 120 VAC wiring so that it is active when there is shore power and it's breaker is turned on.


To come up into the bed w/o drilling a large hole I found that the tie-down ports at the front of the bed open down into a bed floor reinforcing 'hat' section, the end of which is open. So with something to keep the wires from rubbing on the sharp edge of that opening I was able to come up inside of the bed. You can reach up between the inner liner of the bed and the outside sheet metal from underneath the truck to fasten anything to the inside bed wall.

I think that you said that your truck is a Dodge? The external alternator regulator built into the engine's ECU is somewhat famous for failing in my vintage, don't know about the later trucks. I've been looking at both the Balmar and the Ample Power intelligent regulators to replace the OE regulator. This is more of an experiment on my part than something tried and tested. No idea how well a marine regulator will work in land use. The run times tend to be shorter, and that may be a factor.

[pods8]

Batteries are from 2010.

Any reason these curcuit breakers wouldnt work?

http://www.powerwerx.com/fuses-circuit-protection/resettable-circuit-breaker-cooper-bussmann.html

If I get those, I can also order the powerpoles from them as well.

THen just get the ACR and wire and I am ready!

The would work fine, a little spendy though but definitely fully suitable.

Have you done it then? Literature that I've read says they don't on purpose.

I went looking on this. I see the SB50 sets say they're keyed by color except the black, which is the one I mated with a different color. You had a legit caution there I didn't realize on the SB series connectors since my experience was with the exception ). The individual housing PP ones should mate with any color though (I know the small size 15/30/45 do, I've got a bunch of those).

[Clark]

awesome. I will make my orders, then go to west marine for the ACR, and order some wire. That ebay link is a good deal on wire. Anything to be suspicious about with that ebay add....?

Thanks for helping with the learning curve on this one.

Once I get the camper I can switch out all lights to LED lights. Then I would like to mount 3 outdoor lights, 1 on each side and one on the rear.