So we decided to sell our camper and buy a...
After two dozen trips and three 1/2 years of ownership we've decided to sell our 2011 Wolf Creek 850 truck camper. This decision was a difficult one for the wife and I to make. "Wolfy" has been a grea...
Forum Discussion
Again regarding the wiring:
There seems to be a serious misconception about the gauge of wiring needed for 12v applications. At 120v, amperages are low; at 12v, for the same power the amperage will be 10x the amount at 120v. High amps mean lots of loss due to resistance. A couple of solar panels will feed 25-30 amps into the battery. The length of the wire run from the roof to the battery bank and back to the roof is going to be quite long and could be 20' or so in each direction. I would recommend at least 6 gauge wire for the solar panels. With 6 gauge you can still use wire nuts. Rex at Northstar will tell you this is excessive but I do not believe that is the case. I think 6 gauge should be the minimum.
Regarding a compressor frige:
My Northstar Igloo had a large 6 cuft 12v Waeco refrigerator which barely operated and took a huge amount of power (over 7 amp). There was almost no ventilation with only a small grill under the unit and a 4" ventilation port on top. I opened some large ventilation slots above, but the unit still ran poorly. The wiring going into the unit had been burnt black. At moderate ambient temps, the unit was using well over 100 AH/day. I gave up after lots of effort and trials and junked the unit. I replaced it with a 4 cuft NovaKool. The NovaKool pulls about 3.5 amp. On cool or moderate days it pulls 25-30 AH/day. When the ambient temps increase above about 80 oF, it runs almost constantly and will pull about 60 AH/day. This is after I added lots of ventilation and replaced the wiring with 6 gauge. My unit is on the opposite of the camper in relation to the batteries so the long wiring run did not help. I could not trace the original wiring but when I rewired I had to go from the batteries, under the sink and around the other side of the camper. The run was 21' in each direction.
There seems to be a serious misconception about the gauge of wiring needed for 12v applications. At 120v, amperages are low; at 12v, for the same power the amperage will be 10x the amount at 120v. High amps mean lots of loss due to resistance. A couple of solar panels will feed 25-30 amps into the battery. The length of the wire run from the roof to the battery bank and back to the roof is going to be quite long and could be 20' or so in each direction. I would recommend at least 6 gauge wire for the solar panels. With 6 gauge you can still use wire nuts. Rex at Northstar will tell you this is excessive but I do not believe that is the case. I think 6 gauge should be the minimum.
Regarding a compressor frige:
My Northstar Igloo had a large 6 cuft 12v Waeco refrigerator which barely operated and took a huge amount of power (over 7 amp). There was almost no ventilation with only a small grill under the unit and a 4" ventilation port on top. I opened some large ventilation slots above, but the unit still ran poorly. The wiring going into the unit had been burnt black. At moderate ambient temps, the unit was using well over 100 AH/day. I gave up after lots of effort and trials and junked the unit. I replaced it with a 4 cuft NovaKool. The NovaKool pulls about 3.5 amp. On cool or moderate days it pulls 25-30 AH/day. When the ambient temps increase above about 80 oF, it runs almost constantly and will pull about 60 AH/day. This is after I added lots of ventilation and replaced the wiring with 6 gauge. My unit is on the opposite of the camper in relation to the batteries so the long wiring run did not help. I could not trace the original wiring but when I rewired I had to go from the batteries, under the sink and around the other side of the camper. The run was 21' in each direction.
