New to truck camper

brahlf wrote:

I am not sure if these pictures will work, let me know

http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/ae66/brahlf/P1110680_zps2f6e57b3.jpg

http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/ae66/brahlf/P1110682_zps5ccfefa1.jpg

http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/ae66/brahlf/P1110683_zps9050345c.jpg

Yup, all good!

With that age of a TC and the fact that they were trying to save weight to fit on smaller trucks then you probably do not have a battery on board. My 1992 camper did not have space either as back then they thought you would tie it into the truck battery. If that is the case then the power supply is more then likely not a battery charger but a 12V converter (be careful if it is just a converter as it will fry your battery because it will not shut off from charging).

The ice box would also point to the weight saving idea as a fridge would have been more weight and cost.

Well, I did some more checking today and found that 3 of the 4 turn buckles had come loose and detached. There is a place in the front and rear of the box to attach to. I have included a picture of the turn buckle but am not sure how to adjust them. How tight is tight? I had to realign the camper with the P/U box to get it straight. It must have jumped around during transport. I looked at the quick adjusters as mentioned but they don't come short enough.

I have also included a picture of the electrical panel. One circuit breaker appears to be damaged. I found 2 wires spliced into the main harness coming from the truck that would connect to an aux battery. I am wondering if this was used when no shore power was available. I think you would need to disconnect the vehicle harness though to keep from running down the truck battery.

Staring to clean up things. Put in a full propane tank and the stove burners work. Next to try the heater, but looks like it needs power to spark ignite.

More later and I find out things. Thanks for all the help.

I am not sure if these pictures will work, let me know

http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/ae66/brahlf/P1110680_zps2f6e57b3.jpg

http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/ae66/brahlf/P1110682_zps5ccfefa1.jpg

http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/ae66/brahlf/P1110683_zps9050345c.jpg

Here is some stuff for your reading pleasure.
Yes, you put ice in an ice box...its a cooler and should have a drain to the outside.

As suggested , scroll thru here to find various projects and help threads:http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/25966285.cfm

12 volt side of life part 1 and 2

If you place a 12 v battery inside the camper, i would use an AGM battery because it gives off very little gas while discharging and charging and are recommended by the mfg.'s to be used inside.
AGM's also hold a charge longer while sitting idle.
If you choose to use a regular wet cell deep cycle grp. 27 or 29,31 then it should be installed in a vented battery compartment. Those gasses can be toxic.
* Remember, you should only run any battery down to about 50% of capcity for extended life of the battery. Use a volt meter to monitor the battery while at rest, not while you are drawing power from it.
I usually never let my batts drop below 12 volts while at rest. full charge is 12.6-12.8v .

TL rear tie-downs , hook up a rear set , designed to be secured to the truck frame. The following link has a video and pics of what you need. You then run a set of (spring loaded turnbuckles or fastguns )pic of turnbuckle/fastgun as well as an anchor




If you dont have a set of anchors built into the rear of the camper then you are going to have to fabricate a set. But they will need to be a solid metal fabrication "bolted" solid to the camper.
Look here at the pics of an anchor, wood rot camper repair to get an idea of what you need:
http://lanceowners.hoop.la/topic/broken-truck-camper

Reason to use rear tiedowns:
If your camper has a cabover bed , then the camper can pitch forward while bouncing over bumps. As the rear of the camper lifts up off the trucks bed the front cabover tilts forward causing damage to the trucks cab as well as the campers cabover.

Good luck with the camper , dont be overwhelmed which is normal in the beginning. Take your time to read thru things.

Bob

Pics!

In camper why can't we use a battery ??

sabconsulting wrote:
Hi and welcome to the forum.

You'll have a great time with your new rig.

You've probably got a battery somewhere in the camper (you may have to hunt around all the compartments) that is charged off the 110v - how well it is charged is another matter. If not through a decent 3 stage charger it will be boiling the battery dry and killing it. Try leaving the camper plugged into 110v overnight then unplug it and see if one of the lights works. If not then you either don't have a battery or you have a very dead battery. My battery was like that when I bought my camper (dead). If the 110v to 12v converter is overcharging and cooking the battery you could just buy a 3-stage charger from an auto store and charge it with that (or you can go the whole 9 yards and get a modern converter / charger or even solar power, but that all costs).

It is worth hooking up the camper battery to the truck alternator (with a decent thickness of wire), but you want a relay in there that only charges the camper battery when the engine is running, otherwise if you leave something 12v on it will be draining both the camper and truck batteries.

Check out the Truck Camper University sticky - there is a section about electrics in that.

Most campers have a fridge of sorts rather than a cold box. Camper fridges are expensive though, which may be why you have a cold box. One option for you if you want a fridge (you probably will if camping for more than one night) is one of those small cold-box style fridges, e.g. Engel. They are expensive but are very efficient and have the advantage you can move them from vehicle to vehicle. They are the sort of fridge commonly used in Land Rovers and Land Cruisers travelling in Africa and Australia.

Yes, you need rear tie-downs. Without them, as you go over bumps the camper will tend to pivot around its front edge, possibly hitting the roof of the truck cab, and generally moving around in the load bed. Often, what stops the camper moving in the load bed is not the actual tie-downs, but the friction between the floor of the camper and the load bed, and that friction is maintained by a constant downward force from the 4 tie-downs. If not properly held down by tie-downs then when going over a bump the camper's upwards momentum may lift it clear of the load bed, meaning no more friction, meaning that while in the air it can move relative to the load bed and land in a different position.

Steve.

Also without the rear tiedowns in place you will be throwing alot of force onto your front tiedowns which could lead to failure, breaking at the worst possable time, at best the camper will slde out of the box and at worst there will be alot of damage.

Hi and welcome to the forum.

You'll have a great time with your new rig.

You've probably got a battery somewhere in the camper (you may have to hunt around all the compartments) that is charged off the 110v - how well it is charged is another matter. If not through a decent 3 stage charger it will be boiling the battery dry and killing it. Try leaving the camper plugged into 110v overnight then unplug it and see if one of the lights works. If not then you either don't have a battery or you have a very dead battery. My battery was like that when I bought my camper (dead). If the 110v to 12v converter is overcharging and cooking the battery you could just buy a 3-stage charger from an auto store and charge it with that (or you can go the whole 9 yards and get a modern converter / charger or even solar power, but that all costs).

It is worth hooking up the camper battery to the truck alternator (with a decent thickness of wire), but you want a relay in there that only charges the camper battery when the engine is running, otherwise if you leave something 12v on it will be draining both the camper and truck batteries.

Check out the Truck Camper University sticky - there is a section about electrics in that.

Most campers have a fridge of sorts rather than a cold box. Camper fridges are expensive though, which may be why you have a cold box. One option for you if you want a fridge (you probably will if camping for more than one night) is one of those small cold-box style fridges, e.g. Engel. They are expensive but are very efficient and have the advantage you can move them from vehicle to vehicle. They are the sort of fridge commonly used in Land Rovers and Land Cruisers travelling in Africa and Australia.

Yes, you need rear tie-downs. Without them, as you go over bumps the camper will tend to pivot around its front edge, possibly hitting the roof of the truck cab, and generally moving around in the load bed. Often, what stops the camper moving in the load bed is not the actual tie-downs, but the friction between the floor of the camper and the load bed, and that friction is maintained by a constant downward force from the 4 tie-downs. If not properly held down by tie-downs then when going over a bump the camper's upwards momentum may lift it clear of the load bed, meaning no more friction, meaning that while in the air it can move relative to the load bed and land in a different position.

Steve.

The camper tag is etched with 1990. It is a sky hawk.

I don't see anywhere where the rear turn buckles would attach to. Do I need to install rear anchors in the bed?

There is no battery. There is a 12 volt converter in the storage area with battery cable clamps and an extra battery on the cab floor. Maybe this is how the PO powered the camper without a 110 volt hook up.

Not having rear hold downs is very unsafe for many reasons. Fix that first before anything else. Does it have a battery? If it does, there should also be a 110v battery charger. If no battery, then the 12v lights work off a 110vac/12vdc power inverter. What year is the camper?