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xscoobysnack's avatar
xscoobysnack
Explorer
May 04, 2020

Truck camper battery, or lack thereof

Hey, I've been lurking on this forum for a while and learned lots but do have a question. I picked up an old '95 truck camper and for the life of me cannot find a location where a battery would be stored. It has 12V lights and other stuff like a stereo. Is it possible that it was designed to leech off the truck battery at all times? It has an old converter with a switch to change from shore power to 12V. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Truck Campers
  • work2much's avatar
    work2much
    Explorer
    May 04, 2020
    xscoobysnack wrote:
    Is it possible that it was designed to leech off the truck battery at all times? Thanks.


    That's how our first TC was. No battery compartment and the light only worked when the camper was attached to the truck. There was no other 12v devices aside from the single light and it had a propane lantern inside so you really didn't need electric at all for light, cooking and the small propane ice box.
  • Supercharged111's avatar
    Supercharged111
    Explorer
    May 04, 2020
    My neighbor's Palomino popup doesn't have batteries, but he keeps a battery in front of each fender in the truck bed that he plugs in when he loads the camper.
  • NRALIFR's avatar
    NRALIFR
    Explorer
    May 04, 2020
    What kind of truck? The +12 volt pin on the seven way plug is typically switched so that it’s only energized when the engine is running, and seems like some makes don’t have the fuse installed in the truck from the factory, so you won’t get 12 volts till you put the fuse in.

    :):)
  • xscoobysnack's avatar
    xscoobysnack
    Explorer
    May 04, 2020
    2010 F350 diesel. I'll have to experiment a bit but I'm not expecting to find a battery now and you're probably right about the pin being switched so that it is live when the truck is running. If I confirm that is the case, I'll just switch out the converter and throw a battery somewhere, maybe in the shower. :)
  • NRALIFR's avatar
    NRALIFR
    Explorer
    May 04, 2020
    Yes, on a 2010 Ford, the +12 volt pin is switched, and the fuse or relay for that circuit should have been installed at the factory. I’ve never had to do anything on a Ford truck to get power to that pin.

    Your F350 should be like the 2010 F450 I used to have, and the fuse/relay will be in the box under the hood on the driver side. Have fun getting the lid off :W

    :):)
  • Kayteg1's avatar
    Kayteg1
    Explorer II
    May 04, 2020
    Photomike wrote:
    Many of the old campers did not have a house battery. They had a converter that you plugged into shore power that gave you 12v or you could pull from the truck enough to power a few lights.

    Was not very efficient! Also was not designed for running lights for a long time or many at once.

    My 92 NL was that way, found a spot to put a battery but you could not use the converter to charge it as all it did was make 12v and did not care about how charged up a battery was. I pulled the old 12v converter and put in a unit that would charge the battery properly. Worked great!!

    Older converters would supply 12V AC for the lights and might have small DC circuit, like 3 amp for radio and battery charging.
  • Photomike's avatar
    Photomike
    Explorer III
    May 04, 2020
    Kayteg1 wrote:
    Older converters would supply 12V AC for the lights and might have small DC circuit, like 3 amp for radio and battery charging.


    Never had a battery so never was designed for charging one.

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