First Mod to the Jayco Travel Trailer...

[Mopar1973Man]

Well Gang...

I finally got my feet wet and modified my Jayco Eagle my way. I added a battery cutoff switch and a true battery volt meter. It all tucked away in the power cabinet so its out of site out of mind. Bjut the reason for putting the cut off switch in the cabinet was I could take my trailer out to a camp site in the wood and park it and lock it up. I can shut down the power and know when I return that no one has tampered with the power because its locked up inside. Like I've see lot of idea where the battery cutoff is on the battery box but I was looking for a secure way. Also in the design of all this I set it up so if I'm hooked to 120VAC I can still keep the batteries charged but shut down all the 12VDC loads and keep the trickle draws locked out. So in the power cabinet was the best place. Now I can check the status of my batteries a bit closer to real value than the simple 4 LED's on the panel in the kitchen.

My handy work...

[dripley]

nice job. did it cut down on the wind drag and tow better?

[Mopar1973Man]

No but it allows me to cut the 12VDC off completely and know my batteries will stay charged up while the trailer is parked some where. Like last summer I tucked the trailer in the backyard under the large maple tree. But I would have to pull a genrator out about once a week to charge the batteries up because of all the little loads like the propane detector, clock on the radio, etc. So now I can shut it completely down!

[dripley]

not a bad idea. I like it. when mine is at home it is right by the house and i can plug it in. it is on the rod 99% of the time and i have little need to even do that.

[Mopar1973Man]

About 90% of all our camping is boondocking or dry camping. Then when at home its typical parked near power but not always. Like this winter I set it up in the yard so it was near power. But now come summer time I'll stuff it back out in the backyard again under the maple tree where its shady and less UV rays for the rubber roof. But I don't want to have to keep charging the batteries all the time when its not used...Not to mentions it give me a quick disconnect if something was to happen in the 12V side now... Yes I know everything is fuse including the master power line from the battery. But its still nice to be able to shut it down in a hurry too... CLICK!

[MarbleCrusher]

Looks like some nice work! -Jordan-

[Mopar1973Man]

Looks like some nice work! -Jordan-

I'll be honest... It just a scrap of board and a few hole punched into it. What's truely funny is the finish work was already done I just got lucky and didn't scratch it all up with the jigsaw.

[ISX]

I've wondered about putting a solar panel in ours. We have 2 windows facing 45* upwards so I could put a solar panel behind them and not worry about rain/hail/whatever. I see they barely make any power but a trailer sitting in the sun for weeks between uses has to keep the batteries fully charged. We just use a battery for lights/radio/tongue jack (oh yes, fancy lol). When I use it every time, the battery is already in the 11.9V range. I doubt it uses hardly anything while not in use so I think a solar panel would float them nicely.

[Mopar1973Man]

The idea of the solar panel is awesome I would... In my case with the cutoff switch I could easily do that too... I've got a pair of small solar panels that would be able to give a small trickle charge...

[AH64ID]

Looks great! I have been needing to add a cutoff switch to ours. When we ran 1 12V battery I would have to disconnect the battery every time we got home or it would be nearly dead in 2 weeks. With the pair of 6V it can go a month still connected and have more voltage than the single 12V did after a few days, so the switch has moved down the priority list. I never had to disconnect my batteries from May thru August and they never were more then 3/4 (silly 4 light system) even after 3 weeks. Nearly all of our camping is also dry/boon-docking and I highly suggest the 2 6V setup, so much better.

[flagmanruss]

My toyhauler came (very used & certainly not stock) with 3 (12v) Marine/RV batteries banked in a V shaped tongue box. The shut off is hidden underneath inside the frame rail. I have a small dash-top solar panel... when we have camped remote from the truck, I've locked & set the alarm & plugged the solar into the always-on lighter socket. The camper has a couple of always-on lighter sockets... The easy way to do solar would be to park so a window faces South, put panel in window & plug it in!