Installing a Battery system

[TerryB89]

HI all
I just bought a teardrop, all it has is a shore power connection. Where can I learn how to install a battery to switch to when needed ?

[Padilen]

Do you mean with an inverter to get AC or adding DC lights and other stuff?
Check out the electrical secrets thread.

[Shadow Catcher]

Does it have a 12V system, wiring, converter from 120AC to 12V... TLI too little information.

[TerryB89]

I am talking about running fans or TV or just inside lights when camping where there is no power. Do you just hook an inverter to the batteries and plug that into the shore power plug? I thought people with Batteries had some type of switch you turn back and forth to AC or DC.

[Graniterich]

I will try to help out, the lights and fan are 12 volts? If so there Is a device stepping down voltage from ac to 12 volts. What is that device on your Teardrop? If it is just a dumb transformer, you can't connect directly to battery would overcharge. If it is a smart controller for charging it could be connected to battery and your load runs off battery. No switch required

[TerryB89]

Sorry I am not being clear, this is all new. I ordered a new tear drop. it has no battery or even a compartment yet. I am asking how do I install a battery to use when there is no shore power. If I install a box on the front how do I wire it into the trailer ? or do you ?

[troubleScottie]

To add a battery could be a large amount of work.

In general, electrical components are either AC or DC. In a TD, there would have to be separate wiring, separate fuses, etc for each system.

If you are lucky, the TD is already wired for a battery but not connected to it. Think purchasing a modern car without a stereo. The wiring harness is there whether the stereo is or is not.

More likely there is NO wiring for any DC components. So you will have to run wires from the battery to each thing that you want to add eg dome light or DC connector or radio. Generally batteries are placed in the galley, under the trailer or on the front tongue. Wiring is generally in the roof area between the inner roof and the outer roof. Obviously this is done during construction.

To duplicate this, you would have to (1) disassemble the inner walls on your trailer to access the roof area or (2) have wires running along the floor or ceiling or (3) bring wires into the cabin from below.

Yet another option is to put the battery in the gallery and run wires through the inner galley wall into the cabin area. All the devices could be mounted on the cabin side of the galley wall. You would have space for things like battery chargers, fuse boxes, etc on the galley side of the inner wall. As stated before, look through the electrical. viewtopic.php?f=30&t=20164 is a good starting point.

To make this work you need to have:
* a deep cycle battery
* a smart charger
* a fuse box
* DC devices


Good luck.

[TerryB89]

Thank you Scottie, that answers my question. I doubt the teardrop I ordered will be wired for that.

[Graniterich]

Who did you order it from , I would think that they would be able to answer very quickly.

[drshoe]

In general, electrical components are either AC or DC. In a TD, there would have to be separate wiring, separate fuses, etc for each system.

This is not 100% accurate.

Assuming you are in the USA the electric fixtures in your teardrop will run off of either 12v or 110v, in your case it doesn't really matter because you know you can power them by plugging into a 110v outlet.

To simplify, the question then becomes can I somehow substitute a 12v battery for the 110v outlet, and the short answer is yes,

you just hook an inverter to the batteries and plug that into the shore power plug

Better yet, get an inverter/charger so you can charge your battery when you plug into shore power.

Take a look at this wiring diagram for a readily available inverter/charger.

invertercharger.JPG (44.24 KiB) Viewed 3170 times

Unless you want to charge from your tow vehicle you can ignore the connections to the left of (under) the deep cycle battery. As you can see a special switch is only required if you want to change from 110v input to a generator (unless you consider the DC breaker a switch). In your case the shore power inlet would be the AC source panel and whatever that connects to (hopefully a breaker box) would be your AC load panel.

If it is the case that your fixtures run on 12v, you may be better off looking at a converter/charger, but if your TD is coming without a battery I doubt that is the case.

Caveat emptor, to be sure I'm not an electrician. However, I do regularly use and repair circuitry designed to measure tiny electrical signals from the brains of living animals . Also, I just wired a converter/charger in my tiny trailer to run my 12v system off 110v shore power.

[TerryB89]

"Better yet, get an inverter/charger so you can charge your battery when you plug into shore power"
This is perfect! that was one of my questions. This is what I will do. Thank you !

[GuitarPhotog]

"Better yet, get an inverter/charger so you can charge your battery when you plug into shore power"
This is perfect! that was one of my questions. This is what I will do. Thank you !

No! Get a Converter/Charger to charge your battery. An inverter turns 12 VDC into 120 VAC. A converter turns 120 VAC into 12 VDC. I recommend using a Progressive Dynamics PD4045. Made in US, so not the cheapest, but the best with real customer service should it be needed. Avoid WFCO 8725, lots of us have had failures with that unit.

<Chas>

[drshoe]

An inverter turns 12 VDC into 120 VAC.

This is what Terry is trying to do!

[Padilen]

An inverter turns 12 VDC into 120 VAC.

This is what Terry is trying to do!

I still didn't see where Terry stated what trailer has in exciting wiring.
But just like many of the electrical threads this thread is confusing.

[bobhenry]

WOW !

It IS a confusing thread !

I have a similar problem with my off grid tiny house. The television is a 12 volt 120 v combo unit however the tv converter I need to run the older style tv is 120 volt ac only.



( I know they are old school but I received two of them free when a buddy went digital in his winnabago)

My lighting is 12 volt LED but they are transformer equipped to run off of 120 volt ac. The under counter CD player and radio combo is 120 volt ac only. So with this mishmash of voltages it was far easier to take the losses and simply invert from 12 volt battery power to 120 volt ac for all. This past weekend I wanted to recheck the lights and wiring in the caboose house so I very simply pulled up my pickup truck, popped the hood, and with a set of jumper cables connected to the 12 volt input terminals on the inverter and plugged in the 8 gage SO cord that has powered the caboose since it was wired. I happily worked on thru into the dark with full illumination while listening to the CD player. One battery one inverter and all electrical appliances were covered. When I built Chubby my first teardrop I ran dual wiring and wired for DC and AC redundantly it was a lot more work and a lot more material. After experiencing the ease of taking DC and making AC I have to ask myself why I bothered.
Yes I realize there are now 2 losses in the process a loss at the inverter of about 10% and an unrated loss at the transformer for the lights to get the AC back to the original DC but the set up is so much more simplified I don't see it as a down side.