Electrical for folding camper

[Paintsalot]

I’m planning to build a folding camper. I’ll put some pictures below. One is a picture of a paper model I made with paper dolls. The roof will lift up and the sides come up one at a time.

I want to have a roof fan like a Maxxair, but the roof has to disconnect from walls at some point. My thoughts are to run the wires from battery up the sidewall that is at the bottom of the stack that folds. And then have a plug connection that I can do once the roof is up. See attached sketch. I hope that makes sense.
I only need a battery for the roof fan and maybe a few lights. Is it OK for the battery to be inside the camper? From what I understand as long as it’s sealed it should be OK? Should I use a group 24 marine battery?

I typically camp for 3 to 5 days, usually where there’s no electrical hook ups like in the national forest. Do you think I will need a solar panel?

I’m in the south, so I will probably put a window air conditioner at the front of the camper on the floor basically. I will direct the air straight up past the mattress which is raised on bench/frame. But it would go to outside power whenever I’m in a campground that has it.

Thanks for any input.

[pchast]

I like your plan sketch. I think I'd suggest 2 disconnects.
One at both sides of the folding panel, top and bottom.

[GTS225]

I suggest a window A/C is going to put a crimp in your plans. A battery and solar panel aren't going to support the power requirements for it. I assume it'll be a 120 volt unit, which means you'll also need an inverter to change your 12vdc to 120vac. You may have to survive with just fans.
You might want to look into a swamp cooler made from a camping cooler.

Oops! Re-read your last and caught this sentence. "But it would go to outside power whenever I’m in a campground that has it." Ignore the above.

Roger

[TimC]

You might consider a floor or wall mounted fan to ease the installation and set-up. In a small interior space such as yours your air will change very quickly which may take care of any stratification issues with heat near the ceiling. In my approximately 100 cubic feet of space (yours will likely be more), two 12 volt, 45 CFM case fans change the air every two minutes. The fans are mounted in the side of a cabinet and a duct through the floor with a rigid foam baffle pointed backwards allows very good ventilation. Make-up air is provided with a wall side vent or an open window. I installed a wall vent that closes so that air is not blowing on my shoulder from the door's window and my egress window on the other side. I've had no problems with water intrusion.

If you need additional air moving around to make you comfortable a small 12 volt fan would take care of that. I used this and built a simple base that swivels so I can point it where I need it...

https://www.amazon.com/Facon-Cooling-Switch-Heavy-Black/dp/B08XHZX5RW/ref=sr_1_15?crid=W39QYWV388MT&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.-5wFrW_FhbLKac3qGXpvnXod_qdrCUhT4eAdIs5t8KzefCobFutBCDKBy6w7AutgsNnF73XmMPQcWaOHUzTOJsRH-nTSwLaIAtIOOmnOIQC5tiGrOhY07V9jdhZzJU7OVkqEEpWkd8vYicr10Ok6p6rB4JciCGqKOPbSnc-SZ-dQOgfrEJfIlbFYw_gLdNnMZ-jm1dE7SsI5HHGI4c4F2uIyuldDeuqbOtWlMou5POCYkd_bLp8qF42_Dp3LSL5iU3Tcu_orMN9UyEmCytSXH4bw_y_kKE9HnY2O37jzgxw.a7uWmiGP3SI1dSEFAkMYUb5jliHsovmI5JJS0MHMyCQ&dib_tag=se&keywords=12+volt+fan+for+rv+camper&qid=1721747436&sprefix=fan+12+volt%2Caps%2C116&sr=8-15

On my last two TDs I mounted fans in the side of cabinets with a duct going through the floor and the vent facing backwards. The vent has hardware cloth and window screen to screen out critters and is made to be easily cleaned if spiders find it a comfortable space. Of course spiders might be the ultimate last guard against other critters if your skin doesn't crawl thinking about them.

[bdosborn]

I want to have a roof fan like a Maxxair, but the roof has to disconnect from walls at some point. My thoughts are to run the wires from battery up the sidewall that is at the bottom of the stack that folds. And then have a plug connection that I can do once the roof is up.

That's how I did mine it works fine. I just realized I never took any pictures of the folding sides but here's a link to my pop top build. Watch the weight on the roof, they get heavy quick!
Boxcar Build


Bruce

[Paintsalot]

Thanks for your feedback everyone.

[Tom&Shelly]

I tend to be more careful than most about putting the battery into a living space, even with ventilation. Instead, I would build a special compartment that wouldn't allow air flow between that compartment and the living space. I would (and did) ventilate that to the outside.

That might be over-cautious, which it is if the sealed battery is working right. This is for when it may not be.

It sounds like you know it's not really possible to run AC off of a Group 24 battery. (I too mis-read that the first time.)

Good luck with the rest of the design and build!


Tom

[Paintsalot]

I tend to be more careful than most about putting the battery into a living space, even with ventilation. Instead, I would build a special compartment that wouldn't allow air flow between that compartment and the living space. I would (and did) ventilate that to the outside.

That might be over-cautious, which it is if the sealed battery is working right. This is for when it may not be.

It sounds like you know it's not really possible to run AC off of a Group 24 battery. (I too mis-read that the first time.)

Good luck with the rest of the design and build!


Tom

Thanks Tom.
I’m debating about just using a portable air conditioner instead of a window AC- I might bring it in my car and set it up on arrival.
It would have to go at the door end of the camper, but I don’t want much weight back there because the wheels/axle are too close to the center of the trailer, it doesn’t have the 40/60 split that’s ideal. That’s partly why I thought I would put the air conditioner up at the front near the tongue to help with the weight distribution.
I doubt if I will want to Camp a whole lot in the middle of the summer anyway. So I could just start with the fan and leave room for an air conditioner to be installed later.
I have to keep the build under 1000 pounds Including the trailer weight.
Currently, I’m just getting the floor built so I have a long way to go. I started posting in the build section.