1stDeuce
Explorer
Well, I've been busy in the camper... I ordered a Blue Sea 6-fuse box and used that to rewire what was once handled by three HUGE wire nuts. It turned out really well, and I highly recommend using one of these!! I may put one in my boat too so I can do away with the old round glass fuses. Having the ground buss really cleaned things up, and I still have an extra circuit to use for ?? after splitting off the fridge 12v from the accessory 12v. (Why were those ever connected??)
I'm using a SunSaver 6A charge controller, which feeds the battery directly. Panel bolted down on the roof. This should pretty much prevent me from ever needing to start the truck and run it to charge the battery again!!
I also wanted some way of seeing battery level without having to plug in a voltmeter and think about it. I found one on amazon that seemed promising, and saw it in SLO_F-250's camper thread. I inquired how it work and he said he wasn't using it, and then he sent it to me!! Thanks Paul!!!
I put it on a switch, which just turns off the LED so the monitor logic stays running all the time. I love it!! When I recently left the heater on for a week (With the gas shut off...) it told me as soon as I peeked in the camper that something was wrong. FYI, an 85 watt solar panel won't keep up with a heater fan that's running ~8 hrs a day. The battery was down to about 25% when I turned on the meter about day five of the poor thing trying to keep up...
I also ordered a sweet USB power port and put that in on a switch. Got a new 12v outlet too, since the old one was pretty crappy looking. Now all three power plates match too!
While I was messing with wires, I hooked the faucet back up to it's original on/off switch. No reason not to, since I had the switch. Now I can shut it off, and even if the switch/valve gets bumped, it won't make a mess. (Not that it ever did... Just seemed like a good idea.) It's also handy to back flow the pump a little when the tank gets really low, as it occasionally air locks. I also moved the thermostat down to the side of the cabinet. It always read 5-10 degrees cold when camping in the winter, so I'm hoping that this location works out a little better to keep the readout more aligned with the temp inside the camper.
Told you I've been busy!!
For my next project, I'm going to try to cut this table down to fit the opening that makes the dining area into a bed, or make a new table that takes advantage of the extra width too. The camper came with plywood that fit here, and the table stored over the bed... Seems crazy when the table isn't that much different in size... I found the table material in white at Home Depot, but not this light grey yet... Going to swing by Outfitter and see if they have some, since they're right near where I work. Maybe they'll have enough that I can make a proper top for the new cabinet too!!
Heading down near Poncha Springs for Memorial weekend... Looking forward to some more nights in the camper!!
Chris
I'm using a SunSaver 6A charge controller, which feeds the battery directly. Panel bolted down on the roof. This should pretty much prevent me from ever needing to start the truck and run it to charge the battery again!!
I also wanted some way of seeing battery level without having to plug in a voltmeter and think about it. I found one on amazon that seemed promising, and saw it in SLO_F-250's camper thread. I inquired how it work and he said he wasn't using it, and then he sent it to me!! Thanks Paul!!!
I put it on a switch, which just turns off the LED so the monitor logic stays running all the time. I love it!! When I recently left the heater on for a week (With the gas shut off...) it told me as soon as I peeked in the camper that something was wrong. FYI, an 85 watt solar panel won't keep up with a heater fan that's running ~8 hrs a day. The battery was down to about 25% when I turned on the meter about day five of the poor thing trying to keep up...
I also ordered a sweet USB power port and put that in on a switch. Got a new 12v outlet too, since the old one was pretty crappy looking. Now all three power plates match too!
While I was messing with wires, I hooked the faucet back up to it's original on/off switch. No reason not to, since I had the switch. Now I can shut it off, and even if the switch/valve gets bumped, it won't make a mess. (Not that it ever did... Just seemed like a good idea.) It's also handy to back flow the pump a little when the tank gets really low, as it occasionally air locks. I also moved the thermostat down to the side of the cabinet. It always read 5-10 degrees cold when camping in the winter, so I'm hoping that this location works out a little better to keep the readout more aligned with the temp inside the camper.
Told you I've been busy!!
For my next project, I'm going to try to cut this table down to fit the opening that makes the dining area into a bed, or make a new table that takes advantage of the extra width too. The camper came with plywood that fit here, and the table stored over the bed... Seems crazy when the table isn't that much different in size... I found the table material in white at Home Depot, but not this light grey yet... Going to swing by Outfitter and see if they have some, since they're right near where I work. Maybe they'll have enough that I can make a proper top for the new cabinet too!!
Heading down near Poncha Springs for Memorial weekend... Looking forward to some more nights in the camper!!
Chris
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Looking forward to seeing some pictures of the rig out camping! 
