I chose to upgrade my camper’s electrical storage system for three reasons.ġ. Submitted by: Mark Siminoff, 2005 Dodge Ram 3500, 2004 Alpenlite Saratoga 935 In my opinion, the skill level of this mod is hard because there is welding involved. This mod took me 18 to 20 hours to complete and cost $450, including the batteries. After checking it over the course of several days on the beach, it’s evident that the single 140 watt solar panel will keep us going. There’s nothing like a project that does what you had hoped it would do. The solar panel was only giving about 0.4 amps as there was no sun!Ībove: The batteries are covered when the camper is not on the truck Fourteen minutes later, the pot was brewed (just hot water – no coffee) and my battery voltage was still reading 12.9 volts. I plugged it in, turned on the inverter, and turned on the pot. Then, I loaded the coffee pot with twelve cups of water. One final test before plugging the house power back in a capacity check! I turned on all the camper lights inside and out, and the Fantastic Fan. Everything went together fine with no issues.Ībove: The batteries inside the bed with the camper on the truck I left the camper battery compartment open so that I could see any issues as I plugged the new Anderson Powerpole into the truck. I checked the battery voltage in the camper, disconnected the house power, and I was ready. I tightened all battery connections on all four batteries and then backed the truck back under the camper. I then mounted the camper end up through one of the battery box drain ports and to the outboard camper battery. I actually bolted it to the front of the bed so that it would be easier to plug into. The next morning I went out and installed the truck connector cable and its half of the big plug.
I took the connector cables from the truck and camper inside and soldered the Anderson Powerpole ends on in the comfort of my workshop.Ībove: The truck’s half of the 175 amp Anderson Plug, bolted in place for convenienceĪbove: The camper’s half of the connection, dropping down through one of the drain holes The next day I bought the new Trojan 27TMH batteries, brought them home, got them mounted, and then cabled them before it got dark. Then I called it a day.Ībove: The auxiliary tray with the new Trojan 27TMH batteries I mounted everything and tightened it all up. I was able to use the bolts from one of the factory tie-down hooks as my front mounting point and drilled a single hole in the bed for the rear point. I let the tray and brackets dry overnight and started fresh the next day.Ībove: The auxiliary tray without the new Trojan 27TMH batteries After completion, I sanded everything down, cleaned and sprayed it with two coats of Rust-Oleum primer and three coats of black Rust-Oleum semi-gloss. 75-inch square steel tubing at Home Depot and began to fabricate my auxiliary battery tray. I picked up some 1.5-inch angle iron and some. I then did some measurements in the truck bed. I downloaded the data sheet on my Trojan 27TMH batteries to get some dimensions. I already had a really strong 175 amp Anderson Powerpole plug that I had bought as a connector for the winch on the old truck, but never used it. I decided I could mount a pair of identical batteries in the bed of the truck and connect them with 4 gauge cable and a large plug. The battery compartment on the Eagle Cap didn’t have room for larger batteries. The twin, solar charged batteries were not getting us through a complete coffee brewing cycle, so I decided to first add two more batteries and then, if needed, increase my solar panels. I have a 2500 watt inverter built into my system for basic AC needs like using my coffee maker. Submitted by: Jim Duarte, 2015 Ford F350, 2013 Eagle Cap 850Īs we are always off-the-grid, we depend on our battery power a great deal. Five TCM readers share their extensive projects accomplishing this goal. An extra space in your truck’s bed or camper’s storage area could be utilized for more batteries. Adding extra batteries can substantially extend your time off-grid.