Crawler Hauler

[sleepsontoilet]

Today I got the flooring installed. Now I can lay out the cabinets and see where everything will actually fall. Then I can plan out the water heater, electric panel, etc. for wiring and plumbing.

[MAC33]

Floor Looks great!!


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[McDave]

Oh yeah. That's real nice. What are the dimensions of the living quarters? The "split level" aspect is very cool. Keeps the sleeping area separate.

McDave

[sleepsontoilet]

Oh yeah. That's real nice. What are the dimensions of the living quarters? The "split level" aspect is very cool. Keeps the sleeping area separate.

McDave

The floor area is 14'8" X 8'

[sleepsontoilet]

Ordered an Atwood g6a-7 water heater and the PD4060kv on Amazon from Johnsons supply several weeks ago. It said it would be delivered on Nov 18th, but wasn't. Amazon showed it to be on its way with that as an expected delivery, USPS showed they had never even received it. I messaged the seller asking where it was, and got "you've been refunded" as a response.

So I went down the road to PPL Motorhomes this afternoon and grabbed the water heater and WFCO 8955 for even cheaper. They had the 8955 listed for $225, but it rang up $135. Now I should be able to start laying things out and seeing what's left to purchase.

[McDave]

Well, that's too bad about the service from Amazon. I've had mostly good experiences, even with returns. PPl sounds like quite an outfit. Very handy to be able to walk out with those type of Items. I'm at least 200- 400 miles from anything like that.
That's a very good price on the WFCO 8955. I have that exact model, and it has preformed flawlessly. It handles everything I need for power management. I don't have solar, yet, but I'm working on it. My battery is always fully charged, 12 volt from converter is stable, and enough breakers and fuses to handle all my needs and some to spare. I would suggest that you get some meters to monitor the systems. I used a couple I purchased from ....Amazon. They really let you see what is happening with your systems.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00YY ... UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013P ... UTF8&psc=1
I also installed a cheap dashboard clock/volts/ indoor, outdoor temp. meter. I has an alarm clock, low voltage alarm, and freeze alarm. I mounted it so I can see it from the bed. It's nice to be able to have some data without getting out of bed.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L5 ... UTF8&psc=1
Well, it looks like you are well on your way. Good Luck and keep us posted.

McDave

[sleepsontoilet]

Well, that's too bad about the service from Amazon. I've had mostly good experiences, even with returns. PPl sounds like quite an outfit. Very handy to be able to walk out with those type of Items. I'm at least 200- 400 miles from anything like that.
That's a very good price on the WFCO 8955. I have that exact model, and it has preformed flawlessly. It handles everything I need for power management. I don't have solar, yet, but I'm working on it. My battery is always fully charged, 12 volt from converter is stable, and enough breakers and fuses to handle all my needs and some to spare. I would suggest that you get some meters to monitor the systems. I used a couple I purchased from ....Amazon. They really let you see what is happening with your systems.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00YY ... UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013P ... UTF8&psc=1
I also installed a cheap dashboard clock/volts/ indoor, outdoor temp. meter. I has an alarm clock, low voltage alarm, and freeze alarm. I mounted it so I can see it from the bed. It's nice to be able to have some data without getting out of bed.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L5 ... UTF8&psc=1
Well, it looks like you are well on your way. Good Luck and keep us posted.

McDave

Depending on traffic, it's about 35 minutes away. They have a huge showroom, but most of it is way overpriced. After the shelf saying $225 and paying $135 I'm wondering if those are actual prices, or I just got it on sale. Maybe just shop online before I drive over and see what's on sale lol?

Can you dumb down the first meter you posted? It looks like you slide the round thing over the wire to get your reading? Have any good pics of how you wired in disconnects and such on yours?

I have the two batteries in the truck, and one in the camper. I would like to utilize the 12v from the plug to charge the trailer battery when driving, and also use the truck batteries in the trailer when parked. But I don't want the WFCO to backfeed the truck and fry anything when plugged into 30amp. Am I overthinking it and it's been done, or I need to wire it a special way?

[McDave]

Hey Sleeps,
Sorry for the delayed response, ate way too much turkey. My new name is Takesmanynaps.

OK, so I don't have a lot of pics of the wiring install, but really, it's pretty straight forward. The schematic/diagram should be located inside the front cover.
The "round thing" is an inductive loop, much like you would see on a timing light etc., just run the Hot wire thru the loop, then to load center. Easy peasy. Or you can get the one that clips over the wire. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01D8 ... =UTF8&th=1
This gives you the AC amps info. DC meter has a shunt that goes between battery and meter to get amps/watts info.
I mounted the meters directly above the WFCO. It's nice to be able to check and verify the condition of individual components like the A/C, or fans, lights etc. You just need to have an idea of what the wattage/amps should be for that unit.
For T.V. to trailer charging you will need a 7 post connector. In theory, if you tap off a "keyed" fuse in truck it will charge while driving, but not let trailer drain truck battery when parked. This is preferred so you don't end up with all dead batteries. Charging while driving is great so you arrive with cold refrig and full trailer batt.
You can use a relay to accomplish the same thing, and if your load is high to trailer, this will protect truck. Also a diode or rectifier may be installed to prevent backfeeding. Easy and cheap.
You may want to install some back-up lights on trailer while you're at it. Mine are wired to be used as work lights at the ramp area and back-up lights from Tow vehicle. They help a lot at night when backing in. Same relay/diode rules apply.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017V ... UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EA ... UTF8&psc=1

etrailer has some useful info and tutorials/diagrams for this stuff.
Hope this helps, good luck. Let me know if you need something.

McDave

[sleepsontoilet]

Tow pig is a 2015 Ford Dually, it's wired from the dealer with a 12v+ and reverse. I rewired the entire trailer and installed junction boxes on the neck, inside the trailer under where the bed will go, at the axles, and on the tail. The one on the neck made it easy to connect the wiring pigtail, brake disconnect, brake battery, and 7 cord wire. The one at the axles made it easy to jumper to all 4 wheel electric brakes. The one on the tail made jumpering the tail lights a breeze. I just installed the one inside the trailer this week, so I could charge the battery with the truck easily. I just wanted to make sure the WFCO wouldn't backfeed and mess things up.

Glad to see you've joined the Indian name brotherhood.

[sleepsontoilet]

Picked up some more goodies today for $120. The table is around 41x23 and should make a nice bench dinette. A friend bought a camper and it came as a spare so they gave it to me. He wanted $100 for the heater and $20 for the fan since it's not working.



Should be plenty of heat



I traced it down to this, is it a diode or a water sensor? Can I just remove it?

[McDave]

Hey Sleeps,
That is a thermal fuse. Possibly a thermistor, but my money is on thermalfuse. You may be able to find the value stamped on there, or a manual or schematic. Common t-fuse value is around 195f. The reason it is there is to shut down heating ops, as a high limit control for that area where it located. The reason they use a fuse as opposed to a bi-metal, is to force you to investigate the cause of the failure, generally an air flow issue for the combustion side. Plugged exhaust vent, motor not running at proper rpm's, restricted air intake, etc...Could be a burner issue, or air/fuel mix issue, but how many hours could it have on it in Tejas? New T-fuse, clean and lube, proper install, probably another 10 años, no problema.
Get a couple of those for spares, they are cheap but handy to have around if you need one on a cold night.
Also note the difference between the two connectors, one side is still bright and shiney with a metallic luster, the other.... not so much. I don't know how you ohmed it out, but it possible that you have a bad connection there. The problem is it's not easy to re-solder there without melting the fuse with the solder iron. It can be done by using a heat sink, but you still need to have pretty damn good technique and timing. Those units are built as pictured there, then soldered on a wave solder or vapour phase machine. Bad connections also cause increased amperage and heat at the bad joint.
McDave

[sleepsontoilet]

I didn't ohm it actually, just checked for voltage until I found where it stopped. I hooked the battery straight to the fan and it works perfectly, so I was trying to trouble shoot it to a switch. I'm not sure it has to have it, as it's just a vent fan and I'm not gonna use it much. Thanks for the expertise, as I can't find any info anywhere. There's a lot of info on fantastic fans, but every trouble shoot is either the rain sensor, or grounding plunger.

[McDave]

Hey Sleeps,
I must have misunderstood what I was looking at there. I thought we were working on the furnace. However I still believe that to be a thermal fuse. Not sure of it's purpose other than to protect from motor overheating, or in case of fire. If being used as a range hood exhaust fan, that would make sense.
Sorry for the confusion,

McDave

[sleepsontoilet]

I got the Lazy Susan trimmed around the gooseneck support today. It ended up fitting better than I imagined it would, ready to start putting up the Luan soon.

[sleepsontoilet]

I didn't work on the trailer today but I did use it. Headed out to Wheelers4Wishes toys for tots drive and got upgraded to first place this year.



Creepin in the background at Wheelers4Wishes, hiding behind Alex's sweet first gen.