Questions regarding "So, you want to setup a good electrical system in your camper?"

[craig333]

Yes, the 10ga is still energized. I think the possibility of the 6ga becoming de-energized is sufficiently low I'm not worried about it. It'd be very easy to disconnect the 10ga if were concerned.

 

[ntsqd]

Sounds like the only reason for the ground wire to the metal frame is to avoid an ungrounded metal structure that could possibly pick up some charge from static electricity etc. I'd leave it grounded with the wire that it has and quit worrying about it.

If you have the charging wire functional in a 7 pin trailer electrical connector those are usually on a relay that gets energized with the IGN circuit, so can use that pin to trigger whatever it is that you need a IGN trigger for. If that is the current means for charging the camper battery then I would disable it and use that wire strictly for the IGN sense wire. Likely should test this before committing.

I bolted the Anderson connector to the bed's interior sidewall. With the camper lifted a couple inches up out of the bed I can reach in over the bed rail and connect or disconnect it depending one which way the camper is going. I was able to snake the 6 ga. cables up thru a series of openings in the bed so I did not need to cut any holes for them. Not all beds are built that way, we got lucky.

 

[Vic Harder]

+1 to Thom's comments. Leave it as is.

 

[ArcherJim]

Many thanks, guys -- really appreciate the discussion.

On with the build.

 

[chopyourown]

Bit of an old thread, but doing some reading in preparation for building out an ATC shell. Vic - could you explain why recommend running a negative wire back to the truck alternator (or battery?) rather than simply grounding to a truck ground point? I have a ground wire connection on my frame near the corner of the bed, which is where I grounded the electrical system in my previous camper with no issues. Thanks!

 

[ntsqd]

I'm not Vic, but the reason that I did it, with the same gauge cable as the '+', is Voltage Drop. This was well before DC-DC converters that could handle 30-50 amps were under $1000. A seemingly minor voltage drop will have a big impact on alternator charging of the camper battery. Even a 3% Voltage Drop takes a 13.6 VDC alternator output down to 13.2 VDC, which is going to be a very slow charge.

Use the Resources page at ancorproducts.com to figure out what size cable you need to use. It is crucial that you use the entire length of the charging circuit which includes the ground path, not just the one-way trip, for the length.

 

[Vic Harder]

Good question.

why recommend running a negative wire back to the truck alternator (or battery?) rather than simply grounding to a truck ground point?

When I first recommended that, I was thinking mostly of problems that bad grounds could cause in terms of efficiency. Never mind the fun of troubleshooting ground loops. Now I am mostly thinking in terms of safety. If the main ground fails for some reason, then the current that would normally go through it is now going to go through some other ground. Likely a left-over trailer plug connection, which is likely going to be 14AWG wire.

 

[rh1452]

Is a total rewire of the internal camper required to 6AWG? Or could you just wire 6AWG from the truck battery to the DCDC charger (taking place of the stock seablue ACR) current camper has the Atwood trolling motor plug so I assume that should be swapped for Anderson power pole?

 

[Vic Harder]

Is a total rewire of the internal camper required to 6AWG? Or could you just wire 6AWG from the truck battery to the DCDC charger (taking place of the stock seablue ACR) current camper has the Atwood trolling motor plug so I assume that should be swapped for Anderson power pole

Is it required? No. But size your breaker for the smallest gauge of wire along the whole path.