Anyone have a wiring diagram for a Northern Lite camper?

[JW2]

I am doing some upgrading to my 12 Volt electrical in my Northern Lite camper. Right now it is upgrading batteries, replacing existing charger with a smart charger, and adding a battery monitor. Does anyone have wiring diagram for a Northern Lite camper? My model is a 9-6 QSE, but I assume that most of the models are probably wired similar. Any information would help and be a place to start. Thanks in advance for your help with this.

[Siletzspey]

HarmsWay wrote:
Wow, nice work Thomas. Will you leave the 1-Wire sensors in or were they for characterization?
Bob

Thanks!

I plan to leave the temperature sensor grid in so I can get more furnace duty-cycle figures for the NL community. Others are tinkering with basement fans to move hot air around during extreme cold, so I plan to follow suit with two 0.075A PC fans. I also brought some humidity and volatile gas sensors online, but have yet to play experiments with stove-time v vent-fan time. It's fun.

--tg

[HarmsWay]

Wow, nice work Thomas. Will you leave the 1-Wire sensors in or were they for characterization?

Bob

[Siletzspey]

While working on a NL 9'6" QSE lithium upgrade design, and with input from others, I put together a power calculator that happens to show what is on each DC fuse, and separately a rough wiring diagram of the NL in its OEM state (see p.4).

Please yell if you see a mistake, or can help clarify the red items.

http://www.barbless.com/share/www-rv-net/NL-Camper-Power-Calculator-191202.xlsx
http://www.barbless.com/share/www-rv-net/NL-Camper-Slides-191214-trim.pdf

--tg

[SQUASHMIRE]

Thank you for posting your findings, very helpful.

Just got a 2016 NL 9-6 SE.  Day 1, trying to identify all the wiring at the auto-reset thermal breakers in the box that holds the batteries.  If you have any updates from what you posted, kindly advise. 

Here is what I have found so far.  Numbering of the 5 breakers starting from the door I see these labels:

1-40 amp- "E.J." guess is electric jacks

2-30 amp- "FRIDGE" guess to fridge controller

3-40 amp- "BATTERY" possibly from truck battery?

4-30 amp- "SOLAR PANEL" assume constant charge from solar panel controller

5-30 amp-there are no labels, battery-side of breaker is black wire going to the positive battery terminal.  on the other side of the breaker are a black wire and a blue wire double tapped.  no idea yet where these two wires lead.

Appreciate any insight.

Walt

[StirCrazy]

you realize this was over 5 years ago?  just want to make sure your not expecting a reply..  

[otrfun]

JW2 wrote:
I am doing some upgrading to my 12 Volt electrical in my Northern Lite camper. Right now it is upgrading batteries, replacing existing charger with a smart charger, and adding a battery monitor. Does anyone have wiring diagram for a Northern Lite camper? My model is a 9-6 QSE, but I assume that most of the models are probably wired similar. Any information would help and be a place to start. Thanks in advance for your help with this.

Called NL about a wiring diagram or schematic for our 2019 8-11. No joy.

We did some rewiring of our 2019 8-11's battery and converter when we installed a PI EMS, transfer switch, and inverter. What specifically did you have questions about?

[dsmuir]

covered wagon wrote:
I did exact upgrade to my NL camper that you are doing. I made my own schematic from scratch, how I would like the new system set up etc, and then with a volt meter checked was in the camper and how It was to adapt. It's not difficult once you understand a step at a time.

Any chance you still have the wiring diagram you did for your NL camper? Thanks.

[JW2]

Joe and Covered Wagon, thank you both for your responses. I appreciate it.

Joe: I agree with you that life would be better for all of us if the manufactures were to supply wiring diagram information. I have contacted Northern Lite (NL) and requested wiring diagram information. My camper is a 2008 and was told by NL that this information for my model year camper was lost in their recent fire. I then asked if they would send me a wiring diagram for a new camper, assuming it had to be similar, and have not got a response back on this specific question. NL has been excellent responding on other questions. Yes, I would like to get a copy of the wiring diagram for your AF990 as it would give me a general idea of how things might be wired. I will PM you with my contact information.

Covered Wagon:

I might try to make a schematic / wiring diagram of my camper as it currently exist. I would appreciate hearing any hints or tricks you used to make your schematic.

[covered_wagon]

I did exact upgrade to my NL camper that you are doing. I made my own schematic from scratch, how I would like the new system set up etc, and then with a volt meter checked was in the camper and how It was to adapt. It's not difficult once you understand a step at a time.

[Joe417]

I can't help with a Northern lite but I've reverse engineered an AF990 if you think it would help. Of course it will not match yours but just a general reference.

It's interesting that the manufacturers for most brands don't supply this info even though it would expedite maintenance and trouble shooting issues. I've only had a few campers but the documentation supplied with each has been on par with cheap electronics from China with only slightly better English. I assume that with TCs costing between $20K and $50K the manufacture has to keep their profits at max. Sorry, went on a rant.

I found a couple of issues when reverse engineering the AF such as 10 AWG wire used as a supply for a 30 Amp protected circuit and the return was 12 AWG. It may work fine but I can't stand things done half way right.

Solar wiring was similar with 10 AWG down from the roof but the solar connector on the roof had 14 AWG wire pigtails. Also had an inline fuse block going from the charge controller to the battery that was 12 AWG while the wire was 10 AWG. Probably would have worked OK but I had to change it.