General newb questions - Advice?

engineer40 wrote:
Hello all! I just created an account, but I'm excited about my new (used) camper and I plan on becoming a regular on this forum while I learn. It's a 1994 Viking 10ft truck bed popup camper. At this moment, I'm feeling over my head with some things. I'll say thank you in advance for any help you provide. Surprisingly my camper came with all of the original paperwork. I've read through it but still have some very basic questions.

-My camper didn't come with a battery. I found the spot to hook one up. I found where I flip a switch from AC power or battery power. Does the built in inverter automatically charge my battery when I'm plugged into AC power? Does my truck alternator automatically charge my camper battery if the truck is running? Do I need to worry about it overcharging and frying an expensive battery?

I was in the same bot as you although I bought a 91 slumberqueen which did have a power centre but at glass fuse and ac reset button and single stage charger. how handy are you, the reason I ask is there are a few moderent power centers that you can replace the old set up with that will give you filtered dc power and proper fuses and breakers and 4 stage charging. this is what I went with to upgrade mine

for batteries mine had a single opening for a battery which was useless so I took over the outdoor storage and shoehorned two 6V golf cart batteries in there and added a solar system, later I switched to a LiFePO4 battery set up that fit into the factory battery compartment this gave me my big storage back and 3 times the battery power of the GC batteries.

as for your water heater mine was a gas water heater so I am not familier , but I would expect there should be a switch to turn electricity off to it, if not I would add a secondary switch. fridge wise mine is 3 way so 12v propane and 110V. I never use the 12V as it cranks a lot of battery power, just start it on propane while you are loading and it will cool off.

Steve