I'm new here and new to the world of Camper Traliers

[Painer]

Hi fellow campers, my name is Steve (aka Painer) and my wife and I have just bought our very first Camper Trailer.

After visiting many shows over the past 3 years we have decided on one and ordered it.

It's a Skamper Kampers Ranger:- http://www.skamper.com.au/campers/range ... y-off-road
We liked their tents out of all of the ones out there and on the way to their Sydney Showroom to buy a Brumby:- http://www.skamper.com.au/campers/brumb ... er-trailer , we chatted about the extra cost to upgrade to the Ranger for $800.00 more. So now we've got a galvanised one instead of powdercoated, a big toolbox, a frontcage, a one piece chassis and offroad ability if we ever decide to get a 4x4.

We should have it in 2 weeks and we can't wait..

From years of Tent Camper to sleeping above ground level, yippee, yahoo, we are excited..
I hope you folks still remember those feelings as still get them when you hook up and get on the road..

Next we bought and had fitted a Redarc Elite Pro Electric Brake Controller, after spending many hours reading on Forums like this one.. This one stood out for me.

Then at the same time we had our Sparky wire up a 50amp Anderson plug and cable from the car's (VT Commodore) battery to the rear bumper. The cable he used to do this was about 10 -12 mm thick and contained a thick red, a thick white, a thinner blue and a thinner red wires. He installed 2 x 30amp inline fuses where these new wires connected to the battery. One fuse for the Redarc and the other for the H/Duty cable to the Anderson plug. The blue & red wire were moved into the 7 pin trailer plug for the electric brakes.

The Sparky tells me that once the Trailer is connected to the car and I plug in the Anderson plug (with the additional battery in the trailer) the cars Alternator will charge the trailer battery and keep it topped up. Once it's fully charged the alternator will stop provided charge to the additional battery. I'm still not sure about this part and if it will work as he said it will. I asked him about a Battery Isolator and he said simply unplugging the Anderson plug from the back on my car is my Isolator. I asked him about Circuit Breakers and he said inline fuses are good enough.

Next step is once we get the Camper Trailer is to sort out power options for lights, charging mobile phones, etc. No Fridge as we have a new Coolice Esky and no need (as yet) for 240volts. But sometime in the future we might look at solar panels for longer stays.

At this stage I have bought a set of LED light strips with Dimmer Switches and all the possible cables I might need (for now) from EBay:- http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/281866926301

I know, you get what you pay for, but $57.00 was too hard to resist for now being 1st timers into Glamping..

I've looked at all the Battery Boxes and their options and a heap of customised ones as well and I'm pretty sure I'd like to create my own.

* I want to wire up my existing led lights to switches that can be fitted inside the tent (bed area and main tent area) and stay with the tent when it folds down.
* I want to fit (if available) twin USB Sockets both being 2.1amp to charge our Samsung Phones as the 1 amp ones are useless.
* I want to fit at least 2 Cigarette Sockets easily accessible from inside the main tent area and 1 Cigarette Socket in the side of the front fitted Toolbox, just in case I need to use it there.

So my question, can other members that have created their own 12 volt power systems, give me ideas, drawings, schematics etc, on how they did this kind of work. Plus items they used throughout their custom 12 volt electrical systems.

Anyway that's enough from me for now, but I'm sure there will be many more questions once we actually get our Brand New Skamper Kampers - Ranger Camper Trailer

Thanks for being there and for letting me join in round here..

Cheers

[Dexdoggy]

Welcome Steve!

Since we bought a pre-loved camper almost 12 months ago this site has proved to be a fantastic resource and place to chat!
We are loving that our trailer stays probably 85% packed ready to go, so now even going away for just a weekend becomes very easy.
PS you will not regret getting a galvanised trailer; always a worthwhile investment.

[jw2170]

Welcome to the forum, Steve.

You will find a great source of information here: http://www.campertrailers.org/tech_tips.htm.

[robcaz]

Hi Steve,

Having to remember to disconnect your Anderson so you do not flatten the starter when using the camper battery is a bit prehistoric when there are so many dual battery isolators & voltage sensitive relays around.

When I wired our Track Trailer Eagle's 12volt up system up http://www.campertrailers.org/bcdc1225_install.htm

I used a six blade fuse box for each of the 12volt outlets https://www.bluesea.com/products/5025/S ... _and_Cover

Jaycar have a good range of 12volt cigarette sockets & plugs, USB outlets, switches etc at a decent price.

How to set up a battery system in a camper trailer is a common question. I have put this page together will all the info you will most likely need http://www.campertrailers.org/12volt_system_setup.htm

Redarc took down their handy cable size online calculation when they rebuilt their website. I will see if I can find another calculator.

[Painer]

Thanks for all the welcomes and the helpful tips.

I will do some more reading, drawing and planning.

Rob, as far as remembering to pull the plug, that's easy, we go to our own property near Batemans Bay and stay there.

Then once we have setup, the cars are removed from their trailers so we can use them to get around.

My trailer being my home made box trailer until our New Camper Trailer is welcomed to the family..

Having any kind of powered accessories is new to us as we usually only use torches or the campfire to see where we are going after dark. Lights will allow us to stay up later once it's dark.

So we will be upgrading from Campers to Glampers... Sort of.

Cheers

Steve

[robcaz]

Hi Steve,

On our recent trip http://www.campertrailers.org/newcastle ... kroads.htm we set a new record for not unhitching of one month & one day, breaking the previous record by a week.