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SierraKP · 10-07-2019, 03:54 PM

We just purchased a 1972 Sovereign Land Yacht, and it didn’t come with a battery. The seller suggested a marine battery, but I don’t know what else I’m looking for. It also appears someone has cut the power cord and replaced it with a 220 end, it looks like a dryer plug. Hopefully that’s not too difficult to replace?

uncle_bob · 10-07-2019, 05:26 PM

Hi

A good start for the battery is "whatever RV battery Costco has on sale this month". Size will be either group 24 or group 27. That at least will get you going. If you also have the original Univolt Converter / charger that also likely needs to be "updated". ( = scrapped and replaced). Why go cheap? It sounds like you are at the very start of what may be a long process. With no power at all you have no way to work out what's what.

The other options for the battery depend a lot on what you plan to do with the new toy once it's up and running. If indeed you plan to dump 10's of thousands of dollars into a fancy solar setup, then that will include fancy batteries as well. There are *lots* of choices in-between Costco and "go crazy".

Note that to legally pull the trailer in most states, it needs to have a battery onboard and the breakaway system needs to be functional.

=======

The plug used to power an RV is indeed the same thing as you would use on a dryer. That's the end that goes into the campground power post. Newer Airstreams use the same sort of plug you would find on a boat for the RV end of the cord.

Bob

overlander63 · 10-07-2019, 07:26 PM

The 220v looking end is 120 volt. DO NOT CONNECT TO 240v. It will end badly.

uncle_bob · 10-07-2019, 07:48 PM

Hi

Indeed ...

Assuming it's still stock, a 1972 trailer *should* be set up for 30A / 120V "shore power". The connector has three blades on it. It should look something like this one:

https://www.amazon.com/Replacement-T...a-834401681517

Later on, the world became more power hungry and a 4 blade version came along. That one is called a 50A connector. If you have one of those, a bit of a deep dive is called for. Either it's the wrong plug or your trailer has been modified in a pretty significant way.

The 50A look like:

https://www.amazon.com/Camco-PowerGr...67&s=hi&sr=1-4

Bob

tbashin · 10-08-2019, 09:27 AM

My 76 takes a group 31 battery.

SierraKP · 10-08-2019, 02:27 PM

Thanks all! Got the battery, and an adapter for the plug. Installed everything, and nothing happened. Went to the fuse box, they all appear to be good, but noticed these two wires not connected to anything. Guessing that’s part of my problem, any idea what they should be connected to?

SierraKP · 10-08-2019, 02:28 PM

For some reason the image flipped, but it’s the black and white wires on the right of the image.

Wazbro · 10-08-2019, 10:04 PM

Did you remove the fuse that should go to the big red wire?

SierraKP · 10-09-2019, 09:05 AM

Yes, took it out before taking the pic. All fuses are present and appear to be good.

We ended up hooking the wires up, and they appear to be for the AC unit. It hums but doesn’t do much else, and nothing else electrical would come on. Even checked the breakers and they seem fine. Guess we’ll just have to replace the univolt.

uncle_bob · 10-10-2019, 08:15 AM

Hi

Even if you have a Univolt that still appears to be working, it's time to replace it. 1972 is a long ways back for that sort of stuff. They can get real stinky if they fail the "wrong" way. Even when working, a modern converter / charger does a much better job charging a battery.

Bob