On the Hunt for a Slide in Popup camper

[Mopar1973Man]

Seems weird. It should be charging the battery when you are plugged in.

[IBMobile]

 I have 2 6v golf cart batteries in my 5er. I keep the 5er plugged in 24/7 and use the converter-charger that came with the rig does the work.  The cells get topped up with distilled water every 4-5 mo.   

[Me78569]

I have the wiring info for the power converter,  

 

I think from the little I looked at it that when you flip the toggle switch to select 120v the 12v input from the battery is "disconnected" thus preventing the 15v from going to the battery.  

 

Pretty nifty. I THINK that the toggle switch either passes 12v-15v from the 120v converter OR it passes the 12v from the battery.  that would explain how it works. I will dig in more tomorrow.

 

For good measure I bought a solar controller also.  I wont be ordering a panel for a bit, but at least I can get the wiring in place.  I need to make a good spot to do an easy plug & play wiring for the panel so I can remotely position it easily.  Simple weather proof plug installed in the camper should work.

Edited February 7, 2016 by Me78569

[Mopar1973Man]

12 minutes ago, IBMobile said:

 I have 2 6v golf cart batteries in my 5er. I keep the 5er plugged in 24/7 and use the converter-charger that came with the rig does the work.  The cells get topped up with distilled water every 4-5 mo.   

Exactly.

My converter is in the background of the picture. The pendant on the mini panel on the left is the controller for storage, normal or boost mode. The cutoff switch allows me to cut all power to the 12V circuit without going to the fuse panel or the batteries. Converter is wired to the batteries keeping the charged all during storage. I just select storage mode on the pendant.

http://www.progressivedyn.com/power_converters_9100.html

Quote

The Charge Wizard is a microprocessor-controller that constantly monitors the RV battery voltage to determine if the battery requires a quick recharge, is fully charged and being used, or is fully charged and is in storage. The Charge Wizard then selects one of four operating modes (Boost, Normal, Storage, or Desulfation) to properly re-charge or maintain the battery.

 

[Me78569]

I think I might rob a Computer power supply from work and redo my 120->12v converter.   I should be able to get 15-20 amp stable 12v using an ATX style power supply.  it is easy to pull the 12v bus out of an atx supply and use a simple connector to wire it in place of the existing power supply.  

 

I very much doubt any 12v item is going to like being plugged into the 15-16v output now.

[Mopar1973Man]

Yeah but the voltage will be too low for the battery. 13.2 to 14.5 is what you want not 12.0 out of ATX power supply.

[Me78569]

However, I don't want the 120v side with the converter to 12v connected to the battery.  My campers setup separates the battery input from the 120v input.  

 

I want the ability to hook up to 120v and output a good 12v, vs the 15-16v I am getting now.

[Mopar1973Man]

It will do that for internal lighting and radio.

[Me78569]

yep,  issue is that the 28 year old AC --> DC converter in the camper is putting out over 16v to the 12 volt system.  I am sure that is going to cause issues.

[Mopar1973Man]

So wouldn't just upgrading be the better idea? Kind of like the parts you put on the truck. So how about the camper eh?

[Me78569]

Yep that's why I will be using a 20 AMP 12v steady power supply from a server.  Tried and true.  It will put out exactly what I need for free vs the $200 equal in the RV world.  I am all for using the right parts when they serve a purpose that extends beyond the scope of what other items can do. 

 

But in this case the Server power supply fills all the needs without any cost or loss in function.

Edited February 7, 2016 by Me78569

[Me78569]

Well I am happy to report that I have successfully converted the old 6 AMP 120v-->12v dc to a 26 amp 120v-->12v dc using a server power supply that I had at the office. ( images are of the desktop PSU that I tested with prior)  

 

Very simple to do, wire up the PSU to turn on when power is applied, use a switch to ground the green wire on the PSU.  then figure out what colors are 12v on your PSU.  Cut all the leads and cap them to ensure no shorts.   then run the 12v output from the PSU into the switch system of the old controller.  Do the same with the ground from the PSU.  

 

And thats it.  You now have a VERY cheap, yet reliable,stable power converter for your RV.

 Typical desktop PSU's range from 10amp to 25 amp and more depending on price.

 

Converter removed.  Simple 2 wire input (neutral  and hot)

u

 

I have steady 12v rather than the 15-17v I had before.  Operation is still the same from the panel and everything looks OEM from the outside.  

 

Still have the separation between the battery and 120v system so the battery will not be charged while plugged into 120v, but that is not really an issue for me.  

 

I can now runt he radio full bore and not have the lights dim.  It's the little things   

 

I also wired in the 12v Fridge to the converter side also.   It used to be setup where it would only get power if you where connected through the battery as the fridge takes 10amps to run on 12v, and the old converter would only do 6 amp.  Since I now have the extra amps I ran some heavy gauge wire to the fridge from the converter with a fuse.  I doubt I will ever use the 120v -->12v ---> fridge setup, but it is good to know I can.  I effective turned a 2 way fridge ( LP / 12v) into a semi 3 way fridge.

Should also point out jen has recovered all of the cushions

 

 

 

[Hawkez]

Looks great

[IBMobile]

 Nice job on the cushions and I like the color.  A heck of a MacGyver on the converter.  Is that converter still UL  approved?    

[dripley]

I think being "me" approved is all he, me that is, is worried about. Hope that makes sense. If it does not, I tried.

[Me78569]

UL...whats that?  hahahah

 

Honestly it might be.  The converter is all contained and mounted, wire is all big enough gauge, wire nuts are up to spec for the amp.  

 

I still have a breaker in place and fuses on everything.  

 

Some more work tonight, Heater came in and I am happy to say it fits where I was thinking it wouldn't 

 

Ran the heater for over a hour on high and the outside faces other than the front are cool to the touch.  all surrounding areas are also cool so I am happy about that.  Heats the camper up nice.  

 

Had to relocate the speaker and switch for the water pump, oh well.

 

Installed USB charging ports and cig lighter with a volt meter.  Again all wired into the new converter.

 

 

Still waiting on the water pump, the kill switch for the battery, and a couple other small things like LED lights.  Other than that I am say I am happy enough to take it out.  Curious to see how much power I will end up using per night.

[Mopar1973Man]

Question how does that heater vent the exhaust?

[Me78569]

It's a ventless heater.  

 

O2 cutoff, suppose to burn 99.9% efficient.  Mr heater makes one too.

 

I will be getting a co2 alarm but lot of guys use them.

[Hawkez]

I have a couple of Mr Heaters that I use in my ice tent.  Once in a while they will shut off and will not light again until I open up the tent and air it out really well.  When the O2 levels get out of whack they will shut off, but a CO2 alarm is a great idea.  I bet that will keep that camper pretty warm.

[Mopar1973Man]

30 minutes ago, Hawkez said:

I have a couple of Mr Heaters that I use in my ice tent.  Once in a while they will shut off and will not light again until I open up the tent and air it out really well.  When the O2 levels get out of whack they will shut off, but a CO2 alarm is a great idea.  I bet that will keep that camper pretty warm.

Good idea to have a CO² detector. It would really suck to go out for your first camping trip and wake up "dead" from the CO² killing you. The only reason I ask about the venting is we got the same heaters in our #3 fire station and eventually burning propane smell get over powering.

Edited February 9, 2016 by Mopar1973Man