Vehicle: M-1702 Starcraft Popup Camping Trailer
Fixing up/modernizing a (new to us) camping trailer. I recommend all these products if you are looking at updating your camper.
House Power
The overhead lights were not operational when we got it, after some troubleshooting it was the Centurion CS1200 power converter that was bad. If the battery is ever hooked up backwards, a diode will short out and render the unit inoperable. 110V house power still worked, but the 12V circuits did not.
I recommend the WFCO WF-8740 Power Center.
Installation was pretty straightforward, I had to trim a little off the bottom of the existing opening but it fit perfectly. It has five 12 volt circuits, the 6th is for the feed to/from the 12V house battery. Important to know because your 12V circuits won’t get power from the battery if this fuse is not installed.
And unlike the old Centurion converter, the WFCO has reverse polarity protection to prevent shorting out if the battery polarity does get reversed.
This WFCO model will auto detect between Li-Ion and Lead Acid (deep cycle) batteries. And If a fuse pops, a red LED will light up on the circuit board to let you know which one.
Switch Panel
Installed a switch bank with voltmeter and 12V power port (more on this below). There are also two USB ports that are QuickCharge 3.0! These switches will eventually control the outside camp light, and internal LED’s, light strips, etc… It comes with overlays to place on the squares that illuminate when the switch is turned on. I also like the bottom standby LED’s. They’re not too bright, which is good so it doesn’t light up the camper while you’re trying to sleep.
Lighting
For the side bunks, Lumitronics makes an LED reading light/two speed fan that clips to the support rod above the mattress, and plugs right into the overhead LED in the ceiling via 1/4″ phono plug.
Refrigeration
AAOBOSI has a dual zone refrigeration/freezer cooler, the internal temperature of each compartment can be controlled independently. There’s also an app you can use to monitor while you’re on the road, but I haven’t tested this yet. The instructions for pairing the phone with the cooler are a bit vague and hard to understand.
And this 35 quart cooler fits just about perfectly where the old “ice box” used to be (a foam lined box with a door that you use ice to keep your items cold).
I let it sit for several hours after receiving (as instructed) to allow the refrigerant to settle, with ambient temp around 74 degrees, it dropped to 50 degrees pretty quickly in under 30 minutes, within an hour it was a little chilly inside. It runs off 110V AC as well as 12V DC, so this is where that power port on the switch panel comes in handy. I can just plug the cord into that port while we drive and let the house battery keep it going, and the house battery is charged by the auxiliary wire from the tow vehicle via the 7-pin tow harness. Make sure your auxiliary is keyed on so you don’t drain your car battery if you stop to have a lunch break during a road trip.
Load Meter/Battery Monitor
This little guy (a coulometer) is handy, looks cool, and gives you a bunch of information. The instructions are a little hard to follow at first, the biggest trick was to set the battery aH rating so the estimated power remaining timer would be accurate. When running on the house battery, it shows time remaining, along with a percentage battery life remaining. When charging it will show you a timer. In both situations, along the bottom there’s an amp-hour load value, showing rate of charge or discharge, voltage, and wattage.
See my other post on three offerings from Fanttik, a portable powerstation w/solar charging ability, cordless USB-rechargeable vacuum and vehicle jumpstart battery pack.
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