Camper electrics

[aloa9061]

Hi everyone
I have just picked up our camper and I'm working out electrics

So far we have

Nt pajero
Traxide usi 160 isolator and dual battery under bonnet both optima yellow tops
6bs to rear quarter junction point.
Low voltage cut off to fuse box plus cigarette, anderson and USB power points
Anderson direct from junction to the towbar
Also have anderson plug unde bonnet for charging

Now ideas
Thinking deep cycle in a battery box in the trailer toolbox
Another fuse box
240v inlet on outside of trailer box wired to twin 240v outlet
Some sort of battery charger permanently connected to 240 outlet.


Lights
Led strip in toolbox to light toolbox and tow bar area for night hitching (thinking of putting this on a removable rod I can mount over the fridge once set up)
Led strip permanently mounted on fold out arms of tent

Power
Running USB and cig point into bed area of tent
Cig and anderson point in kitchen sera to have options for fridge here out of the car when set up for a while.

Already have 120 solar panel to plug directly into the front anderson plug, 600 w inverter to charge laptops etc also plugs into anderson plug at rear or front of trailer/car

Car is running the 50 l waeco plus a few strips of led awning lights 5m)


Thoughts?

Will the nt alternator handle three batteries? I normally charge all batteries before I go.
Will 120w solar be enough
What have I forgotten

[Basil135]

Can't help with the alternator question, but on the 240v side of things, remember that it is classed as a fixed installation, and as such, needs to be done to the standard, by a licensed electrician.

Just so you can factor it into your costs.

[aloa9061]

Thanks mate, I'll ask a mate to do the 240v stuff

[drivesafe]

Hi Aloe, I also posted this on the other forum.

Starting with the USI-160.

Level the In-Cab switch set away from the LED. This puts the isolator in SHEARED Mode and while driving round town, this setting will help the Optima battery to continue to charge your cranking battery every time you turn the motor off, keeping the cranking battery in a higher state of charge.

Same again while off camping, if you have the trailer connected, you will more than double the amount of usable battery capacity you have available to use while camping.

Even if you don’t need that much battery capacity, because you are spreading the load over three batteries, you will be able to replace far more of the used capacity in a shorter drive time.

Again, with the trailer connected, while camping, your solar will charge all three batteries of a daytime. Your 120w solar give you roughly a 5Ah charge over an 8 hour period, depending on sunshine available and solar panel position.

If on the other hand, you set up your trailer but do daily drives, then when not using your inverter for the laptop, plug it into the rear plug on your Pajero and run the battery charger in your trailer, to top up the house battery.

Next, if you have not started on your 240VAC wiring, and this must be done by a licensed electrician, because of the ever present potential of rain and wet situations in and around your trailer, I suggest you look into getting an RCD protected by an RVD-EMR, fitted to the input of your AC.

This will give you a much safer set up in the wet, something an RCD can not do by itself. Plus the RVD-EMR will also protect against being supplied by an incorrectly wired AC source.

Another advantage of the RVD is that it allows any number of Class 1 appliances to be plug into the one circuit.

Class 1 appliance are those with an earth pin and with an RCD only setup, you can only plug one Class 1 device safely into the circuit.

The fridge and LED strip don’t draw that much power so you should easily be able to meet your daily power requirements with the exemption of how much power your laptop uses based on how long your use it for.