Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I am new to TD's and am thinking of building one in the future...I would like to have it run off a good Deep cycle 12V battery, but also be able to run it off 110/120 by plugging in...

Have any of you done this and is it hard or add too much weight?

I need your opinions and suggestions on this.

Thanks,

gnaatz1

If you already are planning to carry a battery, then a charger/converter to charge the battery and provide 12 VDC when you're plugged into shore power adds very little weight. It adds a small amount of complexity to your wiring scheme because the same device handles both 120 VAC and 12 VDC distribution.

I have 120 VAC duplex outlets in the sleeping compartment, which are mostly used at home for plug-in work lighting, and 120 VAC duplex outlets in the galley, which I have used for my rice cooker, various battery chargers, and once a small fan to combat the insects in the galley.

Search here for WFCO and Progressive Dynamics for more information about converters. I have a WFCO that just failed on a trip, so I'm hesitant to recommend that brand.

<Chas>

+1 for the Progressive converter/charger. I did a lot of research before buying and it is recommended more than any others. I bought the 4045 which is a little overkill for the way I will use it, but it gives you battery power for the boonies plus 110 AC for campgrounds with power. It has a very smart charging system. I use the 12VDC strictly for lighting and the 110 VAC for outlets in the cabin and galley. AC will run television, computer, coffee pot, microwave, etc. Wiring the Progressive can be a bit of a challenge, but there are a lot of good posts on the Forum to help. You will need a basic knowledge of AC and DC circuits.

I will have 110 only.

I as most plan on having 120v A/C and 12v D/C all my electrical is going in my tounge box then run into my trailer witch will have D/C plugs and A/C plugs and coax plugs hope to get that part done today got to go get box rekeyed 1st.

I think adding the 110volt to the teardrop will make trips to the campground a lot easier. We had our first trip last week in our teardrop and being able to plug into power at the campground was appreciated. It gives you the ability to use regular coffee pots, electric griddles, drop lights, etc.

We do have 12volt lights and a couple of outlets but with the 110v battery tender (charger) we don't need to be conservative when using the lights. As others have mentioned, it adds to the complexity of the wiring installation but there is lots of information on the forum to help with that.

Good luck,
James & Rhonda
Virginia

As the west doesn't have a lot of 110, it was the extra to us, rather than the battery. We put in 110 to have flexibility. Figured it was better to have it than to want it, so the same with a battery. Yeas it adds to the tongue weight, but just plan for it. So we have both, but in 3 years have yet to use the 110.

One thing that you may want to consider is resale value. Yeah, you probably aren't planning on building a TD and then selling it right away, but if you plan ahead now, it could make selling it someday a little easier. Adding 110VAC to your electrical will be a lot easier if you do it with the initial build and will appeal to a wider range of people if/when you do decide to sell and build another.

But the "super simple electrical system" (viewtopic.php?f=30&t=37732) can be installed at any point. It comes down to how "clean" and elaborate you want the final product to be. I have two 110VAC outlets in the cabin, one in the upper galley, and one in the lower galley. I don't use them all the time, but if I'm at a campground and have access to shore power, then they get used to charge cell phones, laptops, and even run a 5,000 BTU air conditioner. Its all about the options. If you don't add 110VAC, one day you will wish that you did.

I put a very simple 110Volt system in the Teardrops I build.

By simple I mean its just a string of 2-3 receptacles that gets plugged in. And I use a simple but heavy 15 amp cord.

The camp ground has a 15 amp breaker on the box and I use a GFI breaker in the Tear.

More than enough even with an AC.

As far as power needs, lights, fan etc. I go primarily off of 12 volt run totally off the battery. The battery is fed through the Tow Vehicle while towing and a 2amp battery tender to recharge while plugged into 110Volts. The lights are never on all the time and neither is the fan giving the battery tender a chance to catch up.

I discovered this method when I bought a NEW Standie trailer with a cheap Power Converter/charger. When I went to sell it after using it for over 5 years I discovered the Power converter side was inoperable and I had been running off the batter constantly...even when plugged into 110Volts. Only the 2amp battery charger side was working.

I never lost 12 volts.

I usually go camping without 110Volts anyway but as stated earlier...I only do it in a Tear for resale.

Happy Trails

Len

I run both. For the most part, my trailer runs 12V (lights and fantastic fan). When I have shore power available, the microwave and air conditioner will work, also runs a charger that floats the battery. I installed an inverter for the microwave, but it wouldn't run it properly, now it's just for my laptop.

Oldragbaggers wrote:I will have 110 only.

The drawback here is that if you stop and need to get something out of the camper or galley you have no lights to see, especially if you travel much at night unless you break out the flashlight. It seems to be pretty common for power outages at parks from what I've seen over the last 25 years.

NathanL wrote:

Oldragbaggers wrote:I will have 110 only.

The drawback here is that if you stop and need to get something out of the camper or galley you have no lights to see, especially if you travel much at night unless you break out the flashlight. It seems to be pretty common for power outages at parks from what I've seen over the last 25 years.

+1 to what Nathan says. I have found several times that the outlet on the RV Park "electric tree" was either mis-wired (hot and neutral reversed) or simply "out of service." So a battery is a good backup for those occasions.

<Chas>

We have lots of both 120AC and 12DC outlets and they get used. Four outside outlets one 20A AC for the AC and other outlets that are used for the refrigerator or the electric fry pan... Inside there are four dual 120AC which get used for the TV, computer phone chargers, small battery charger, camera battery charger, Recom weather radio. Inside there are a couple of 12V outlets for a phone charger, air purifier, and Recom weather radio. I also have an electric element in the water heater.
Why use propane when you are paying for AC for cooking the coffee pot or water heating...
There is not an outlet that has not been used.
It is better to have it and not need it than to need it or want it and not have it and you have no idea how things can morph with experience. We have a 300W Sure Sine inverter and it did get used, we used about 10# of propane on our month long trip.

NathanL wrote:

Oldragbaggers wrote:I will have 110 only.

The drawback here is that if you stop and need to get something out of the camper or galley you have no lights to see, especially if you travel much at night unless you break out the flashlight. It seems to be pretty common for power outages at parks from what I've seen over the last 25 years.

Actually I have about a half dozen mounted, battery operated LED lights that will be in the teardrop, 4 in the cabin, 2 in the galley, and they will be no more difficult to use than a hard wired one with a switch. I'm not concerned with power outages at parks, and probably won't even camp all the time at sites with AC power. We have managed to incorporate everything in the tear that we needed that can run off of either battery (the portable kind), or white gas. The only thing that we won't be able to use without an AC plug is a fan. So I guess if we want to camp in very hot weather we will have to make sure to have a campsite with power. Otherwise we'll be fine with just AC.

Believe me, we gave this too many hours of thought and consideration. But we did considerable camping for many years in small boats that had no permanent battery system and we did fine. Kerosene lanterns, candles, battery operated lights, portable battery radio (or a good book to read), a grill hanging on the stern rail and an alcohol stove and we were the happiest little boat campers you'd ever want to meet. I can't see why this would be any different.

The only downside I see is, as Zach mentioned, resale value. But we have no plans to sell at any point in time, and if we did it would be after we felt we had gotten our money's worth out of it already in use and enjoyment.

Since almost all of my camping is away from 110v power, all of my fans, lights, entertainment, etc. will operate by 12v. However, I am planning on having a "super simple electrical system". I'll use it to provide one outlet to the cabin, one outlet to the galley and a battery charger/maintainer to keep the battery topped off when 110v. is available and when stored.