RE: Want to add a battery and I have questions

[CajunCamper]

 
I own a 1996 Coleman Santa Fe. When I bought it brand new it came with the power converter but it did not come with a battery, battery mount or the wiring running from the battery to the converter. I would like to add a battery and have a few questions. 1. Where is the best place to mount the battery and how do you secure it? 2. What is the best way to run the wiring to the converter which by the way is mounted under my dinette in the camper? 3. How do you make the connection? 4. I have a brand new marine deep cell battery that I run my trolling motor with, will this battery do the job? It says it has 105 amp hours.
 
 Thanks for your help

[mike4947]

 CajunCamper
As for the location, out on the tongue. I ve been the " inside under a seat"  route and it s got a lot of problems. Likewise off the back takes weight off the tongue so the tongue is it.
 A battery case (plastic), tiedown strap(s), and a frame to hold the case and attach to the tongue.
 If you have a manual for the converter look up if they have a place to wire the battery to and what wire size to use, if you don t have a manual, get one from the Converter manufacturer.
 If all else fails just do what we did in the olden days. Tap into the closest point in any 12 volt pair. It s all one circuit.
 Fuse/circuit beaker ptotect the wiring AT the closest point to the pos battery terminal.
 
 And before you start become a 12 volt system/battery/charging expert from these sites so you won t have to make the mistakes I made over the years:
 
 http://bart.ccis.com/home/mnemeth/12volt/12volt.htm
 http://bart.ccis.com/home/mnemeth/12volt/12volta.htm
 http://www.dcbattery.com/faq.html#1
 http://www.usbattery.com/care.htm
 http://pweb.uunet.de/william.darden/index.htm

[Tim5055]

 CajunCamper
I would be surprised if the wiring wasn t already there between the converter and the tongue.  When it is shipped from the factory it is just a balck and white wire that stick out of the trailer frame right near the wire harness for the tow vehicle connector.  Usually it has a small molex connector on the end.
 
 Mounting on the tongue is the way to go.  Most RV dealers have battery trays that will bolt to the box rail of the A frame, or yo can get fancy and take it to a welding shop and have one welded on.
 
 Depending on the amount of DRY camping you plan on doing, the battery you are using for your trolling motor may be fine.  Just use a good battery charger to charge it, not the converter.  The converter will only partially charge it and if you leave it on too long itt can easily boil the battery dry.
 
 Like Mike said, make sure you have circuit protection close to the battery.

[tlhdoc]

 CajunCamper
I agree with Tim.  I bet your trailer has the wires there already.  Even my 1987 Coleman came with the wires (a black and a white one) that ended at a small clip on the tongue.  It had a white connector on the wires.  You should go to your Coleman dealer and get a set of wires to connect your battery to the trailer, the wires cost around $10.  They have the other half of the plug so all you have to do is attach the wires to the battery and then plug the end of the wires into the white connector on you trailer tongue.  The nice thing about the system Coleman uses is that you can unplug your battery from the trailer when it is not being used.  As far as the location the tongue is the place.  You may be able to mount you battery next to your propane tank.  If not get a battery pan.

[CajunCamper]

 CajunCamper
Thanks to all of you for your advice, it sounds pretty easy. We don t dry camp that much, but it would sure be nice to have lights on the rare ocassion that we do.

[tlhdoc]

 CajunCamper
Cajun we went to New York state camping on August 14th, the day of the black out.  We had an electric site, but no electricity.  I am so glad we had the battery.

[Bob_M]

 CajunCamper
We were just camping for about a week and I decided to add a battery to my Viking Epic.  We only dry camp so a battery would be real nice. I found two unused (red and white) wires hanging up on the aframe.  Could that be positive and negative,  it sure was.  
 
 Went to Radio Shack and picked up male and female blade connectors along with post connectors for 12-10ga.  Went to Home depot and picked up 10Ga stranded wire and off to Wall Mart for charger and deep cell battery.
 
 I used the blade connectors so I could disconnect the battery wires after camping.  I charged the battery over night and it lasted all week without  breaking a sweat.  I decied not to mount the battery since I will just put in the back of my truck when we go camping fully charged. The charge seemed to hold for a whole week so charging from the tv is not necessary.   I took a look at the draw with my amp meter and with all three lights on my draw was 2.5 amps.  The batter is rated for 33hrs at 2 amp draw.  I most we us 1 light at a time for about 20 Min a night.
 
 Hope this helps
 
 Bob