slide-in camper wiring ?

[dblake]

Hi all,I just picked up my northern lite camper and haven't had time to do any wiring mods to my truck. I have an extension going from my camper to my trailer wiring connector at the hitch. My question is if I hook up my camper battery and let my alternator charge it up without an isolator will it damage anything? Thanks!

 

[dresslered]

This is the method that was intended by the factory. Though the isolator is probably the best way to go, I think that the majority of the members (and myself) have opted for the addition of a solenoid switch (basically a heavy-duty relay switched on when the ignition is on). This accomplishes the same thing as you are asking, but if you forget to disconnect at the campground, you won't drain the truck batteries. When I added the solenoid switch, I added a secondary trailer connector in the bed so that my connection remains extremely short. Most connections tapped into the stock harness with the exception of the +12V and RTN. For these, I used a much heavier gauge wire and direct connect to the battery to minimize voltage drop.



P. S. Congrats on the new camper!

 

[Prairie Dog]

Isolators have a habit of dying unexpectedly, maybe because of our grid heaters. I strongly suggest using a solenoid if you don't want the camper to drain your truck batts. If you don't use one it wont cause any harm to your charging system.

 

[Dieselnerd]

You can also do it cheap and simple by adding a toggle switch inside your camper that opens the 12 volt line coming from the truck. Just don't forget to turn it off when you park and on when you drive. Not automatic but very reliable.

 

[jrobinson2]

On my truck I mounted a radio shack relay and a 30 amp circuit breaker to the side of the clutch reservoir. I removed the "40 amp trailer" fuse from the PDC and used fully insulated . 250 quick slide terminals and # 10 wire to connect the rear PDC fuse terminal to the breaker, to the relay, then back to the front fuse terminal in the PDC. For ignition power to the relay I used the fuse tap on #8 fuse inside the cab that feeds my A pillar gauges. I stored the original 40 amp fuse in the "spare" location that only has one terminal in the PDC so if I have any problems I can unhook my wires and reinstall the fuse. Also the radio shack relay has the same terminal configuration as the factory PDC relays and will work as a spare in an emergency. I used the 30 amp breaker because I think the quick slides may heat at 40 amps and the Radio shack relay is only rated at 30 amps. I don't know what the monster campers need but my 8' pop-up only uses 12 amps with everything on so this works well for me, total cost was less than 15 bucks.

Jared