Camper battery wiring diagram

[dan brooks]

I just bought a '96 Palomino slide-in, and it doesn't appear to have any provisions for a dedicated battery. I don't like the idea of running off the vehicle battery when I'm camping, so I'd like to figure some way out to hook up a dedicated battery for the camper.



The truck is wired for a 5th wheel and has the 7-pin plug in the bed. The "charge" wire is hot only with the ignition on, and as far as I can tell it is wired through a constant duty solenoid, and has a circuit breaker between it and the battery.



I need to figure out how to get the "new" battery to charge and also hook it up to the camper. Does anyone have a wiring diagram to do this? My thoughts were to run a wire from the "charge" pin of the plug to the "+" battery terminal, and also run the ground from the plug to the "-" terminal. Then, hook the power "in" and ground wires from the camper to the battery.



Needless to say, I'm not real good with all this electrical stuff, and I don't know if this is the right way or not. I can generally follow a diagram, so that would be a big help.

 

[TowPro]

This sounds good so far, BUT.



I guess the slide-in has a system where you can plug it in, and have 12V lights running? If it does, you need to determine if the charger/power supply also has a circuit dedicated for battery charging.



I don't know if they ever made them without this dedicated circuit, but you don't want to just hook the battery up to the output side of the AC/DC converter. They put out far to much voltage for a battery, and its not really DC, its Dirty DC. When you put the battery across it, it may act like a capacitor and clean up the supply, causing the voltage to "attempt" to go even higher (which is will do, once the battery is fully charged, until it boils all the water out of it).



The good news is all the chargers/converters that I have seen have a wire diagram printed inside there door (or somewhere inside) that shows where to hook the battery to.



If I am not mistaking, the older ones even have a relay that clicks when you plug in the AC, so it takes the battery out of the "output" circuit of the converter, and hooks it up to a 5amp charger that is built it. (at least my Shadow Cruser is that way I think, I can hear it "click" the relay when I connect the AC to the camper)



I am sure if the wire diagram is not there, print the converter model number here and somebody will be able to help you

Originally posted by dan brooks

I just bought a '96 Palomino slide-in, and it doesn't appear to have any provisions for a dedicated battery. I don't like the idea of running off the vehicle battery when I'm camping, so I'd like to figure some way out to hook up a dedicated battery for the camper.



The truck is wired for a 5th wheel and has the 7-pin plug in the bed. The "charge" wire is hot only with the ignition on, and as far as I can tell it is wired through a constant duty solenoid, and has a circuit breaker between it and the battery.



I need to figure out how to get the "new" battery to charge and also hook it up to the camper. Does anyone have a wiring diagram to do this? My thoughts were to run a wire from the "charge" pin of the plug to the "+" battery terminal, and also run the ground from the plug to the "-" terminal. Then, hook the power "in" and ground wires from the camper to the battery.



Needless to say, I'm not real good with all this electrical stuff, and I don't know if this is the right way or not. I can generally follow a diagram, so that would be a big help.

 

[dan brooks]

The slide-in has a 4-prong trailer plug (only three wires are used: running lights, battery, and ground).



As far as I can tell, there is no circuit for charging the battery. The converter is a MagneTek Series 6600, Model 6612. The only wiring diagram is the "12-volt output" decal on the back. There is a switch on the front that has "converter," "off," and "battery" positions. Nothing on the front really indicates anything about charging the battery.



I might not have been clear on how I was planning on hooking it up - like I said, I'm not good at electrical stuff. I was going to wire the battery "between" the truck and camper wiring - go from the 7-pin on the truck, to the battery, then to the 4-prong plug on the camper. Would that still create the problem you're talking about with the "dirty" DC?



Thanks, and hopefully the converter info will help solve this.



EDIT: Guess it might help to post a pic of the "diagram," huh?

 

[dan brooks]

Anyone???



Being that the diagram on the back of the converter says to hook the red wire to the positive battery terminal, and the white to the negative, is it safe to assume that it was designed to charge the battery and it's okay to hook it up as I had planned? I'd hate to spend the $$$ on a new deep cycle battery, only to fry it..... or worse, fry the wiring in the camper.

 

[drees1]

It looks like the converter will handle a battery on it from the instruction plate. Should be a deep cycle battery. I would not put a battery on you camper wiring pin or "between" your vehicle and camper for 2 reasons. 1. If the camper battery is severly discharged and you run your truck for a short time afterwards, the discharged battery can pull down your main battery more than the alternator can restore it until many miles are driven. Also, not good to have 2 batteries of different charge state on the same alternator at the same time. 2. There could be a very large current in excess of the vehicle harness capacity present if you drain the camper battery and then turn on the ignition to "mate up" the drained battery to a fully charged vehicle battery.



Best to just install a separate deep cycle in the camper and use a proper 120volt charger to maintain it at the campground.



If you are never on 120 at a camp ground and must use the vehicle to recharge it then you should use some sort of limiting device to avoid large current transfers between the vehicle and camper.



Doug Rees

 

[Slough]

dan

can't find any thing in my book for the 6600 series. red wire should go to battery. blue wires are your hot fuse wires to whatever you hook up to. White is ground for the circuits. there should be a ground wire for the converter [ converter to battery]. may be done by going to the case. All else fails try to call Magnetek @ 1-800-708-0724 for help. 6612 means 12 amp conv.

 

[dan brooks]

drees1 - Probably the only time this thing will be plugged in to 120V is at home, cooling the fridge down before a trip. 99. 9% of my camping is well away from civilization, so a battery is a must.



What kind of "limiting device" do you suggest? I'm assuming you're talking about an isolator? I guess the converter that is in the camper doesn't do squat for charging the battery.



Slough - Thanks for the info and number. I guess I may give them a call tomorrow and see if they can offer any other suggestions. Money is tight, so I can't afford to pay someone to set this thing up - gotta do it myself.

 

[TowPro]

Dan, sorry I was so long getting back to you. By what I see in your picture I would say put the red wire to the positive of the battery, and the White wire to the negitive of the battery.



When they say max 15 amp supply, they mean put a 15 amp fuse into the red wire. I would put the fuse at the end of the wire right where you connect it to the battery, this way if the wire gets shorted out anywhere between the battery and the converter the fuse will blow



You can buy these plug in fuse style fuse holders (radio shack has them) that have a couple inches of wire on each side of the fuse holder. Crimp one side of the fuse holder to the red wire that goes to the converter, and put a "loop" connector on the other side that connects to the deep cycle battery termanal.



Remember to use a bettery box, and keep in mind that batteries make hydrogen gas when they charge and discharge. Hydrogen will cause an explosion if you light it, so I would try to vent the battery to the outside. I think my sliden battery box is a box that seals shut with a gasket, then has a 1" pipe that sticks down through the floor to let air in, and gas out.



I would look around to see if there is already a place wired for your battery. Mine is in a small closet, in the back that has both an inside and outside door. see if you can find a pair of wires hiding somewhere.



If your really thinking about power that last a long time, and you got the room, 2 - 6volt golf cart batteries can be wired to give you 12volt, and they will survive 750 cycles where a normal deep cycle battery is good for about 300 -500 cycles. (a cycle is when you discharge the battery something like 75%. A car battery is only good for around 25 cycles, so don't use a car battery)



If you decide to use 2 6v golf cart battries, just hook a jumber between one of the battries positive terminals, and the other battries negitive terminal, then hook your camper up to the remaining Positive and negitive terminal. By wiring this way (series) you are adding the 2 - 6v batteries together (like in a flashlight) to get 12V.



TowPro

 

[dan brooks]

TowPro - No problem on the delay, I understand you have other things to do than sit at the computer and hit refresh all day. I really appreciate you - and everyone else - taking the time to reply.



I loaded the camper up this morning and stopped by a couple local, reputable RV shops and they basically told me what you did. There are red and white wires going from the converter to the 4-pin camper plug. The converter apparently DOES charge the battery when plugged into 120V. Both shops said to just run a 10-gauge wire from the "charge" terminal of the truck to the positive battery terminal, then to the red wire on the 4-pin plug. Then, run a wire from the "ground" terminal of the truck plug to the negative battery terminal, then to the white wire on the camper plug. Neither said anything about a fuse, but that was something I had planned to do regardless..... I don't like the smell of burning wiring.



The battery will be going in an unsealed plastic box, and will fit between the camper and bed wall in front of the left fenderwell. The camper has an access door to this area, but there is no provision (that I've found, anyway) for a battery to be placed inside. I still need to look everything over one more time... now that I know what I'm looking for.



Right now I'm leaning towards a 12-volt deep cycle battery. I did a quick check of the local parts house and can get a 110 amp hour battery for $55. I can get a 125 amp hour for $65, but I'm not sure if it'll fit in my battery box... . that sucker is huge! I'll check around a little more to see if I can get a better deal, but both of those are within my current price range. About all that will be running off the battery is the furnace or swamp cooler, water pump, and a couple lights. I'll run the fridge off propane when I'm stopped, so it shouldn't take much juice. Oh, and if the inverter the guy gave me with the camper will handle it, my coffee maker.



Thanks again for all the help. Between this and a couple other threads, I've more than saved the $35 it cost to join TDR... . and I just got started.

 

[TowPro]

Sounds good. One other suggestion, check Walmart for battery prices, The ones they sell are made by Johnson Controls (good battery), and have a great warranty.



Keep in mind that some places will sell you a "marine cranking" battery as a deep cycle. they are really a compromise between a car battery and a deep cycle. Look for a real deep cycle.



You also said "you will switch the refer over to propain when you get there". If you are running the refer on 12V while moving it will suck about 15 amps. I found the 12V electrical plug on my camper was starting to melt, not sure if it was caused by the last owner using the 12V feature on the refer or not.



Personaly I run the refer on propain while driving. I just make sure when I stop for Fuel I stop at a place where the diesel pumps are away from the gas pumps (most fuel stops are that way anyway)

 

[BV]

Battery Charging

A little note on Charging - Some converters have a tendency to overcharge the battery while plugged into 120v so keep an eye on the charge rate and water level for the first couple of times. A neighbor boiled his camper battery dry while plugged into 120v for 3 months.



Also - I agree about running the fridge on 12v - It puts a big demand on the system. We run without the fridge turned on if the trip is less than 4 hours at/or above 80f and 6 hours if less than that.

 

[dan brooks]

TowPro - Thanks again - I have a Wal Mart a few miles from the house, so guess where I'll be heading in a few minutes? I did notice that there are marine cranking batteries along with the "normal" deep cycle. The ones I was looking at are the normal type - they had a much higher amp hour rating (110 to 125), compared to around 70-80 for the cranking type. I figured there was something a little funny about them so I just passed right on by.



The previous owner of this camper didn't have a battery hooked up and always ran the fridge off of 12-volt when driving - it's a small fridge (maybe 2 CF) with no freezer, so maybe it doesn't draw as much??? All the wiring looks okay, but I'll keep a close check on it if I decide to run off 12-volt when driving. My parents' old motor home wouldn't stay running on propane in more than a slight breeze, but I'll see how this one works. Most of our fuel stops around here have the diesel and gasoline dispensers combined in the same "pump. " I guess it wouldn't be too hard to shut down/relight when I refuel.



BV - Thanks for the tip. I'll keep an eye on the battery and see how it looks after the first couple charges. My parents' old motor home used to kill batteries on a regular basis - I was hoping the converters had improved over the years.



As far as running with the fridge off, that would be okay around here in the winter, but in the summer it hits 110* or so... . probably wouldn't take long to turn that sucker into an oven in that heat.

 

[dan brooks]

Well, $#!+. Just got a call back from MagneTek, and my converter doesn't have a charger built in. The 6612C does, but mine is just a 6612.



Guess I'll have to charge the battery on the bench before leaving the house, then rely on the truck to keep it topped off. I don't guess it matters much, anyway - I'll probably never camp in a site that has full hookups.

 

[Slough]

Dan

can you return that one? you can get a nice 35 amp with battery charger for about 180. 00. These are not too hard on the battery.



jere

 

[dan brooks]

Return the converter? Nah - it's the one that came in the camper I just bought, so I'm SOL. It really isn't that big of a deal, but I was kinda disappointed when I found out this one wouldn't charge the battery. I needed a regular battery charger anyway, so I killed two birds with one stone... . now if I could just get that **** woodpecker that's punching holes in my garage.



Having a charger built into the converter would have been convenient, but I can't see spending $180 to replace the current one as long as it's working.



Thanks again to everyone for all the help.

 

[Blakers]

Dan, I'm currently trying to do the same thing you are, only it's with a travel trailer. Mine does have a converter with a 3 amp charger built in. But I also want my truck to be able to charge while in remote places.



Anyway my main reason for this post is to say that AutoZone has some really nice plastic battery boxes for real cheap- something like $15. They come with a lid and fit various sized batteries.



Good luck,



Blake

 

[BV]

Add the charger to it

Dan - When Dad ordered his slide in (in 1997), he ordered it with a regular convertor (non-charging) then had them hook up a seperate transforer type charger - cost was around $35 and it was around 4" square and 3" high so it didn't take up much room. The reason he did it this way was because of the over-charging that some convertor did.



Just more to think about - You could probably pick one up at a Radio Shack or RV parts house.

 

[dan brooks]

Blakers - You might want to take a look at Wal Mart for the battery box. I picked one up for the BIG battery for around $7.



BV - I may take a look at going that way somewhere down the road. Right now it's not a big deal - the battery goes in with the camper, so I can charge it on the bench with the regular battery charger.