Newbie help

[dirtpirate]

Hey guys! Im new to the rv world and just bought a 1994 Northland 990 Polar 200 thats been mounted to a trailer which I'll live in. I'll drive it to fill up the water tanks and dump grey water occasionally, but for the most part it'll stay parked on some land. Im a bit overwhelmed at the moment with everything and Im looking for some guidance as this is my first time owning one.

1) The battery appears to need to be charged and Im thinking about going solar to ease some of my propane use. In the meantime, how do I charge my battery so that I can run my interior lights? Is there a certain solar system that could even run my fridge off solar?

2) Im trying to get an understanding on all the pipes but I dont want to flood the rv by opening and closing a bunch to test them. I'll post a picture of what I see under the bathroom sink and hopefully someone can point me in the direction on what each one does.

3) How do I know what the hot water heater looks like when I find it and where would I find it?

Thanks for all the help.

[notsobigjoe]

joerg68 wrote:
Hello and welcome!

Let me see if I can help. There is also a section "Truck Camper University" at the top of the TC forum. There may be some info in there. Be prepared to do some reading and searching on the internet. All the information is out there.

Now, the battery question. If the camper has been sitting unused for a while, the battery is probably very empty or even defective. Have you tried to connect to shore power and does it take a charge? Do you have a cheap multimeter and can you find out the battery voltage?

A basic understanding of some electrical principles (power - voltage - current) will help you a lot in your situation.

Solar can help you charge the battery, but it will not do much to save propane. I assume the original propane / 2- or 3-way fridge is still in the camper. A 3-way fridge will cool best on propane. It has an AC 120V heating element that will work almost as well, but it consumes several 100 Watts of AC power.
It also has a 12V heating element with around 100-200 Watts that will keep it cold, but otherwise doesn't do much but run down your 12V battery quickly. Why?

If your 12 V battery has a capacity of 100 Ah (Ampere-hours), it will give you (at the most, very theoretically, depending on the type of battery and temperature, actual numbers can be a lot less but never more) a current of 100 Amperes for one hour. Or 10 Amperes for 10 hours. 10 Amperes x 12 Volts are just 120
Watts - that is in the range of the 12 V heating element of your fridge. Since that element is probably active full time when you run your fridge on battery power alone, it will deplete your full 100 Ah battery in 10 hours.

You could use an inverter to run the fridge on 120V AC from the battery. But now you need to power that much stronger AC heating element in the fridge (say, maybe 500 watts) from the battery, plus additional losses from the inverter. So your battery will end up empty rather quickly just as well.

Or you can use propane, where one tank will last you quite a while (weeks, depending on ambient temperature), and the 12 V battery is only used to power the control board of the fridge, but not to cool it down.

Now, about solar. If you install a 150 Watt panel, the charge from that panel might just about offset the power usage of the 12 V heating element in the fridge. But only while the sun is out. In the morning, your (12 V, 100 Ah) battery will still be empty when you run the fridge on 12 V over night. And it will not get a lot of solar charge in the daytime, as most if not all of the energy would go to the fridge (150 W solar - 150 W fridge).

Now what can you do?
Add more solar.
Add more battery capacity.
Replace fridge with a compressor fridge, maybe a residential unit.

Probably a combination of all three. At the lowest end, if you just want to get rid of the propane fridge, a 100 Ah battery and a 150 W solar panel may be sufficient to power an RV type compressor fridge. But there will not be much extra power (e. g. to watch TV).

But you will still need propane for heat, hot water, and cooking.

Your second question, about the pipes:
Try http://photoposting.is-great.net to post photos here. Follow instructions on that site.

About the water heater:
Google for RV water heater images. There is an almost square panel on one of the outside walls that opens downward. It has a small rectangular grill for the water heater exhaust.

As old as your camper is, you may have to go outside and manually light the water heater. Newer units have an on/off switch inside the camper, usually near the water pump switch.

Be sure that the fresh water tank and water heater are filled with water before you turn it on.

Good luck with your new-to-you camper!

Mega ditto's and yes please post some pics.

[theoldwizard1]

If the battery is more than a couple years old buy a pair of 6V golf carts batteries. Not much more than an RV battery and they store more energy and last longer.

[joerg68]

Hello and welcome!

Let me see if I can help. There is also a section "Truck Camper University" at the top of the TC forum. There may be some info in there. Be prepared to do some reading and searching on the internet. All the information is out there.

Now, the battery question. If the camper has been sitting unused for a while, the battery is probably very empty or even defective. Have you tried to connect to shore power and does it take a charge? Do you have a cheap multimeter and can you find out the battery voltage?

A basic understanding of some electrical principles (power - voltage - current) will help you a lot in your situation.

Solar can help you charge the battery, but it will not do much to save propane. I assume the original propane / 2- or 3-way fridge is still in the camper. A 3-way fridge will cool best on propane. It has an AC 120V heating element that will work almost as well, but it consumes several 100 Watts of AC power.
It also has a 12V heating element with around 100-200 Watts that will keep it cold, but otherwise doesn't do much but run down your 12V battery quickly. Why?

If your 12 V battery has a capacity of 100 Ah (Ampere-hours), it will give you (at the most, very theoretically, depending on the type of battery and temperature, actual numbers can be a lot less but never more) a current of 100 Amperes for one hour. Or 10 Amperes for 10 hours. 10 Amperes x 12 Volts are just 120
Watts - that is in the range of the 12 V heating element of your fridge. Since that element is probably active full time when you run your fridge on battery power alone, it will deplete your full 100 Ah battery in 10 hours.

You could use an inverter to run the fridge on 120V AC from the battery. But now you need to power that much stronger AC heating element in the fridge (say, maybe 500 watts) from the battery, plus additional losses from the inverter. So your battery will end up empty rather quickly just as well.

Or you can use propane, where one tank will last you quite a while (weeks, depending on ambient temperature), and the 12 V battery is only used to power the control board of the fridge, but not to cool it down.

Now, about solar. If you install a 150 Watt panel, the charge from that panel might just about offset the power usage of the 12 V heating element in the fridge. But only while the sun is out. In the morning, your (12 V, 100 Ah) battery will still be empty when you run the fridge on 12 V over night. And it will not get a lot of solar charge in the daytime, as most if not all of the energy would go to the fridge (150 W solar - 150 W fridge).

Now what can you do?
Add more solar.
Add more battery capacity.
Replace fridge with a compressor fridge, maybe a residential unit.

Probably a combination of all three. At the lowest end, if you just want to get rid of the propane fridge, a 100 Ah battery and a 150 W solar panel may be sufficient to power an RV type compressor fridge. But there will not be much extra power (e. g. to watch TV).

But you will still need propane for heat, hot water, and cooking.

Your second question, about the pipes:
Try http://photoposting.is-great.net to post photos here. Follow instructions on that site.

About the water heater:
Google for RV water heater images. There is an almost square panel on one of the outside walls that opens downward. It has a small rectangular grill for the water heater exhaust.

As old as your camper is, you may have to go outside and manually light the water heater. Newer units have an on/off switch inside the camper, usually near the water pump switch.

Be sure that the fresh water tank and water heater are filled with water before you turn it on.

Good luck with your new-to-you camper!