Electric Wench- HELP ???

[wavery]

Thank you to all the POP-UP PEOPLE who responded to my call for help on 3-28-2010 concerning my electric winch problem.  The problem is SOLVED !!!
After blowing out several fuses and tearing our hair out because we could NOT open the pop-up.... a friend suggested that the instructions (which came with the elect. winch) were wrong. We did what the manuf. said, to plug in their cord to our Caravan's power port/cig. lighter. DISASTER !!!
Friend suggested to hook up directly to the van's battery and ZIP....
the camper went up with the touch of the remote control button.
It was a wonderful sight !
Apparently, the port did not produce enough electrical power to support the electric winch, but our van battery does.
MANY THANKS !
Cyn








U

Cyn,

Did you ever find the battery on the trailer?:confused:. You would be FAR better off wiring the winch directly to the trailer battery (use a 30A in-line fuse on the + side). I don't mean through a cig lighter either. The wires from the winch should go directly to the camper battery.

That way, you don't have to mess around with hooking it up and unhooking it every time that you want to use it. If it were wired direct to the camper battery, you would just have to push the button and it would go.

There are also risks with hooking up to the van battery. I won't go into it but trust me, that is not your best or safest option.

[Cyn-Cyn]

Wayne,
Thanks for staying with me on this issue.  The fact is ....  I CAN'T FIND A BATTERY IN MY CAMPER !!!   I've tried today to locate a manual for another popup from 1993... maybe a Coleman to read online, but never got it.
I don't believe that I have a battery.  I'm going to work on the camper right now while it's open.

Is it safe and workable to buy a car battery and mount it somewhere in the popup for this purpose ?  I deeply appreciate your concern and advice.
Thanks,
Cyn

[oreo57]

Wayne,
Thanks for staying with me on this issue. The fact is .... I CAN'T FIND A BATTERY IN MY CAMPER !!! I've tried today to locate a manual for another popup from 1993... maybe a Coleman to read online, but never got it.
I don't believe that I have a battery. I'm going to work on the camper right now while it's open.
 
Is it safe and workable to buy a car battery and mount it somewhere in the popup for this purpose ? I deeply appreciate your concern and advice.
Thanks,
Cyn

Never mount the battery IN your popup unless its mounted in a sealed and vented to the outside battery case.
JMTC

[Cyn-Cyn]

Dear JMTC:
You sould like you know what you're talking about.  So, I'll take your word for it.  A battery will ONLY be mounted outside.

Question:
Does a plain old car battery produce electricity if it's not hooked up to a car ?
I'm looking for a way to raise and lower the popup without opening our back gate and carefully driving the Caravan into the back yard.
Thanks,
Cyn

[wavery]

Dear JMTC:
You sould like you know what you're talking about.  So, I'll take your word for it.  A battery will ONLY be mounted outside.

Question:
Does a plain old car battery produce electricity if it's not hooked up to a car ?
I'm looking for a way to raise and lower the popup without opening our back gate and carefully driving the Caravan into the back yard.
Thanks,
Cyn

Please read post #7 (in this thread) again.

If your camper does not have lights or an electric water pump, it may not be set-up for a 12V battery. All you have to do is make a stable platform for the battery on the trailer tongue and mount the battery (in a proper battery box). You will also have to buy a 3-stage car battery charger to charge your battery. Charge the battery before each camp-out and it should raise and lower your top with no problem.

You could also install 12V lights and water pump in your camper after you have a battery installed.

If you could take a picture of the tongue of your trailer and post it on here, we may be able to assist you better.

[Cyn-Cyn]

Hi Wayne,
Thanks for hanging in there with me. My camper has electric lights, tiny refrig, and AC which runs when I plug in the elect. ext. cord. to an outlet. It seems to have a heater, along with a 3 burner stove, which is propane. Wait !  
I ASSUME that the heater is NOT electric, but I don't know.

I need to figure out how to load pics to make this less of a guessing game for you.  I'll work on that. A storm seems to be coming in tonight and the wind is about to blow my.... never used (by me)... camper away.
Please be patient.
Thank you.
  Cyn

[wavery]

Hi Wayne,
Thanks for hanging in there with me. My camper has electric lights, tiny refrig, and AC which runs when I plug in the elect. ext. cord. to an outlet. It seems to have a heater, along with a 3 burner stove, which is propane. Wait !  
I ASSUME that the heater is NOT electric, but I don't know.

I need to figure out how to load pics to make this less of a guessing game for you.  I'll work on that. A storm seems to be coming in tonight and the wind is about to blow my.... never used (by me)... camper away.
Please be patient.
Thank you.
  Cyn

I'm fairly certain that you have a spot on the trailer tongue for a battery. The fact that your 12V lights work (I'm assuming they are 12V) while plugged into AC tells me that you must have a converter in this camper. That means that you may well already have a black and white wire out on the trailer tongue somewhere. Take a look and see if you don't find those 2 wires.

[oreo57]

Is this a Sun-Lite popup truck camper or a trailer with a popup top ??

[Cyn-Cyn]

Hi Mike, I looked at the pics of your camper and mine is somewhat like yours only ours is OLDER and NOT as NICE as yours. We don't have a table and booth either. So, mine is an antique compared to your bright, clean camper.
I see that your photographs came from Picassa.  That's were mine are too, but I don't know how to move them to this site for public viewing.
Any simple suggestions ?
Thanks,
Cyn

[wavery]

Hi Mike, I looked at the pics of your camper and mine is somewhat like yours only ours is OLDER and NOT as NICE as yours. We don't have a table and booth either. So, mine is an antique compared to your bright, clean camper.
I see that your photographs came from Picassa.  That's were mine are too, but I don't know how to move them to this site for public viewing.
Any simple suggestions ?
Thanks,
Cyn

OK.......Open Picasa and find the particular pic that you want to post
Click on the pic >

Just to the right of the pic.....click on "Link to this Photo" >

In the box below where it says "Link", highlight and "copy" all of the characters in the box >

Come back to this thread and open a reply post >

Right click in that post and "Paste" the "Link" into the post >

Put . . after the link.

It should end up looking something like this:
[ IMG]http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/qfbUhEUT061eFiILhmgOcw?feat=directlink[/IMG]

That will put the pic into your post

[oreo57]

Great job Wayne........or to cheat a little click on user CP and edit your details and add the home page URL to your profile which would look like this :http://picasaweb.google.com with the subdirectory where the files are for your pictures mine is, (mypopupmods) as you can see.
 
But thats JMTC = just my two cents.
 
Best of luck ,Mike

[Cyn-Cyn]

Hello Everyone, especially Wonderful Wayne. We recently bought a new marine/rv battery and box for the little pop-up. Now, with a touch of a switch.... the top goes UP and DOWN, as if my magic.

I hope to eventually take our first trip.  Perhaps, our first trip should be in our own backyard in case my husband's back injury becomes painful.

Please accept my most sincere thanks for your help.
Wayne, you're wonderful !   Thanks for hanging in there with me.

Cyn:U

[wavery]

Hello Everyone, especially Wonderful Wayne. We recently bought a new marine/rv battery and box for the little pop-up. Now, with a touch of a switch.... the top goes UP and DOWN, as if my magic.

I hope to eventually take our first trip.  Perhaps, our first trip should be in our own backyard in case my husband's back injury becomes painful.

Please accept my most sincere thanks for your help.
Wayne, you're wonderful !   Thanks for hanging in there with me.

Cyn:U

Glad the project was succesful.

Now you can start thinking about adding some 12V lights to that puppy........or a 12V water pump......:sombraro: