install battery in caravan - the simple way?
Submitted: Thursday, May 20, 2010 at 21:32
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eligar
I have a 1984 Millard Voyger 14ft. It has 12volt lights as
well as 240. There is an anderson plug on trailer end as
well as on the vehcile end for running the fridge while driving. If you can advise me on a simple way to wire up a battery in the van to run interior lights please do. Any easy cheap methods that work i am open to hearing about please!
Reply By: rumpig - Thursday, May 20, 2010 at 22:59
Thursday, May 20, 2010 at 22:59
so correct me if i'm wrong here, the 12V lights run when the van is connected to the car, and currently uses the car battery to run the lights?
i think that is how my old millard used to work, but was a while back.
i installed dual batteries in my old van, i just ran a positive and negative wire back to the front of van from the new battery set up, then just put a trailer plug (same as what is on your car) mounted on the drawbar to plug the caravan trailer plug into (hope that makes sense).
so when stopped somewhere and i took the van off the back of the tow vehicle, i just plugged the trailer plug into the socket (same as on your car / fourby) that i had mounted on the drawbar.
cheap and easy.
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Follow Up By: rumpig - Thursday, May 20, 2010 at 23:13
Thursday, May 20, 2010 at 23:13
as for charging the batteries...
i just ran a anderson plug setup from the front of van to the batteries to let the tow vehicle help charge whilst driving along, i ran my fridge directly off of the van batteries. i also ran another anderson plug point from the batteries to a spot where i plugged my 3 stage battery charger into, so i could use my genny to charge batteries when stopped somewhere for a couple of weeks at a time.
hope that helps some
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Reply By: eligar - Friday, May 21, 2010 at 07:17
Friday, May 21, 2010 at 07:17
rumpig - yes, the lights run while the car is running only. I like your idea, thanks for the input.
At the moment my anderson plug goes from car to fridge. If i change that to go from car to battery in van and and then wire the fridge to the battery in van will that work? Will it and car battery still charge ok?
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Follow Up By: rumpig - Friday, May 28, 2010 at 17:00
Friday, May 28, 2010 at 17:00
sorry mate i forgot all about this thread...lol..hope you still get to read this.
i can't see why that won't work, assuming you drive long enough to give the battery a chance to charge ie. not just 15 minutes down the road, it's all i have done with my old van. as long as the wire ran to your fridge already is a heavy enough grade / thickness, then yes that should work fine IMHO. i can't tell you what size to use, i just went down to a mates battery
shop and told him what i was doing, and he sold me the size wire i then needed...lol.
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