'70 Caravanner restoration

[dbj216]

Originally Posted by Jeremy9107

David. Do you recall where you bought that bronze bushing? Think that would be better than the plastic one.

I believe I purchased them from Fastenal. David

[dbj216]

I too think using the existing antenna hole would be too high for the shore power inlet connection. Keep in mind most campground are designed with the utilities toward the rear on the street side: electrical, water and sewer are usually located there. This means you may need extra cord to reach the front inlet.

I put mine in the street side rear in accordance with the usual placement.

David

[Jeremy9107]

David thanks. Spot on. Will measure carefully and see if they have exact size. Fastenal lists them as flange bearings. Looks like bronze is all they carry.


Was thinking aluminum would be a better material, but a quick online search shows them averaging $25 a piece for those little guys. Not worth it. Should there be any concern about a bronze bearing on a steel bolt in that aluminum hole where the outside wet elements have easy access to? For curiosity sake more than anything.

[Jeremy9107]

David. Found some other sources for those flange bearings which include aluminum material. Measuring dimensions needed for those vent crank bolts and will post if matching size is available.

We had the same idea as you for the relocation of waste valve only your tanks hang lower and ours are within frame so am exiting within belly skin just below hot water heater door. Plan on having a second opening there with tube that will hold stinky slinky.

Just purchased the same Marinco inlet that you appear to have (like that look) and will follow advice given by you and others and not use the old antenna spot for placement. Does make sense to not hang all that weight there. We boondock more often than hook up and had thought hook ups were generally located in the front street side. My wife was quick to correct me, but didn't want to admit I was wrong. Searching on forums, I see that I am wrong. Was considering putting batteries and electric components under front gaucho, but now think will replan for under bed in rear bedroom and will put that power inlet rear streetside somewhere low.

[Jeremy9107]

Need to install a city water inlet soon as want to have all holes in skin sealed up before putting new insulation in. Would really like to find something that is similar to this Marinco power inlet but can't find any options that have a cover. Does anyone know of a covered option?

[Iansk]

Hey Jeremy,

I put this one on my SilverStreak a few years ago:

https://www.vintagetrailersupply.com...-p/vts-660.htm

It’s holding up well.

Ian

[Jeremy9107]

Ian. Saw that one too. It was tough choice between it and Marino. But man they are expensive. Had to go with the one I found used and cheap.

[dbj216]

I think the front of the trailer under the gaucho is a good place for the batteries and converter. The rear street side is a good place for the 115v AC breaker box for 115vAC circuits. You would have to have a place to plug in the converter to 115vAC, which may involve running a circuit or circuit extension. Not a biggie. The converters are not a big power draw like an air conditioner or microwave.

I could not move the converter and 12v fuse panel in my Overlander as all four 12v circuits radiated from it's current location. I did tidy up the converter installation to free up space in my exterior storage cabinet.

But I am moving the battery to the front of the trailer as I don't like the weight of the battery at the rear of the trailer. I will "invest" in a AGM battery for this purpose. I will install a battery disconnect plug so I can simply unplug the battery and lift it out of the trailer for the winter. I won't need a wrench to disconnect the cables from the posts. I won't install a battery shut off switch. I'll just unplug the batteries instead if I need to kill 12v power for some reason.

I think Airstream started locating batteries in the front of longer trailers in about 1977.

David

[Jeremy9107]

David's post spurred thoughts about setting up wiring after insulation is in (plan this next weekend). Like most things on this project have no idea what to purchase or how to set up. Will read through forums for suggestions but any ideas here are welcome.

Was going to put batteries and other equipment under front gaucho but since was advised not to put power inlet in old antenna hole will keep original location in rear and run our shiny new Marinco through rear street location.

1) Thought would keep all electric components together for ease of access and less wire runs. Is there a minimum distance to keep between power inlet, circuit box, battery and converter?

2) Old wiring was in decent shape. Provided no mice chew spots or other compromise is it OK to reuse or best to replace with new wiring? If replacing, then what gauge?

3) Keep using the old Univolt or replace? What is a worthy replacement?

4) How many breakers and what amps for AC circuit box? Even though will not have big watt users such as AC/microwave/toaster/hair dryer/electric heater/etc, do want to have set up for these in event will use in future.

5) Going with golf cart batteries. Is 2 enough? Do these need to be vented? Heard you have to remove batteries during winter so they don't freeze or keep on trickle charger. Is this true? Have never done this and battery has lasted 4 years thus far.

6) Want to install inverter. What is a good brand?

7) Will prob think about solar install next year but want to pre wire for it now. What should we put in?

Is there anything else missing. Appreciate all advice.

[Iansk]

Originally Posted by Jeremy9107

David's post spurred thoughts about setting up wiring after insulation is in (plan this next weekend). Like most things on this project have no idea what to purchase or how to set up. Will read through forums for suggestions but any ideas here are welcome.

Was going to put batteries and other equipment under front gaucho but since was advised not to put power inlet in old antenna hole will keep original location in rear and run our shiny new Marinco through rear street location.

1) Thought would keep all electric components together for ease of access and less wire runs. Is there a minimum distance to keep between power inlet, circuit box, battery and converter?

2) Old wiring was in decent shape. Provided no mice chew spots or other compromise is it OK to reuse or best to replace with new wiring? If replacing, then what gauge?

3) Keep using the old Univolt or replace? What is a worthy replacement?

4) How many breakers and what amps for AC circuit box? Even though will not have big watt users such as AC/microwave/toaster/hair dryer/electric heater/etc, do want to have set up for these in event will use in future.

5) Going with golf cart batteries. Is 2 enough? Do these need to be vented? Heard you have to remove batteries during winter so they don't freeze or keep on trickle charger. Is this true? Have never done this and battery has lasted 4 years thus far.

6) Want to install inverter. What is a good brand?

7) Will prob think about solar install next year but want to pre wire for it now. What should we put in?

Is there anything else missing. Appreciate all advice.

1) the run between batteries - load center - inverter/converter should be as short as possible to mitigate load loss.

2) keep if you can, my licensed electrician friend looked at the really old wiring in my ‘64 silver streak and deemed it safe to keep. The advantage to running all new is you can reinstall pass through grommets in the ribs easier. If replacing,
12 or 14 awg romex for 120v runs and anything from 10-18 gauge for 12v depending on the load. I’d just copy what was there.

3) replace. Progressive Dynamics InteliPower is a popular choice. Sold at Vintage Trailer Supply.

4) mimic what was there, or refer to a wiring diagram. Generally, More is better.

5) have no experience with 6v batteries. I leave my trailer plugged in while not being used.

6) see number 3

7) no experience with wiring solar

[Wabbiteer]

Distances come down to…

How dear will it be to come by electricity then vs. how dear is heavy copper conductors to come by now… using large conductor sizes and short runs would get the most out of a small generator for air conditioning or battery charging.

Having all DC components at A-frame would maximize tow vehicle charging, my 27’ was looking at 45-foot-plus wire run from alternator to house battery, so with copper losses the house battery would never get above 20 or 30% charged even with 12 or 15 hours towing...

Wiring: New terminations, new lugs/crimps/splices are probably all it will need.

I tested the wiring insulation out of my ’73 to see if it self-supported combustion and it passed, early plastics often burned but AS supplied good stuff, you might try to see if it will self-support combustion, burn without continued flame exposure, then if you have enough slack its trimming back wire to fresh bright copper and recrimp lugs on etc..

My trailer harness itself was in very good shape and did not need to replacing; however most of the destinations for it had changed, then there was an incident of getting wires caught in an angle grinder <cough> that made tearing it out much easier.

First thing installed back would be stop/tail/tag/marker and electric brake circuits, then the sky is the limit for customizing.

Converter:
Univolt – make it gone. Replacement – will you be using the 120-12V converter to charge house battery? Will you be using the high DC draw 3-way refrigerator on 12V? If not a 30 or 40A plain converter to keep the lights, water pump & fans on will do. Note that now a new 12V fuse panel will be required.

Circuit Breakers:
There are ‘tandem breakers’ by the leading brands, two breakers built into one space, even with different amperages on same breaker, so if you go with a four-space panel it might be stretched to six or eight in the future. Note the panel specs will likely call out 6 spaces, 8 total circuits or similar to define what they’ve been set up to accept so four of six spaces will lock-out accepting tandem breakers - four main spaces: AC, water heater, inverter-charger, converter then two spaces with tandems for four breakers for lighting // outlets etc.

Batteries: There are almost religions founded on battery types. Golfcart style batteries are cheap and nearly disposable, if you want a few nice weeks a season that's the way to go, not pile big bucks into batteries that will sit unused most of the year, remember you may have a solar assist...

For ANY battery heat is the enemy, just doing the minimum safety vents for hydrogen / sulfuric acid mists/smells may lead to cooking the life out of the battery on hot days. VRLA and AGMs are particularly vulnerable. Research 'temperature compensated charging'.

Inverter: Pure Sine – and umnn – what’s your budget?

Solar pre-wire: Heavy copper will pay small dividends back on purchase price every minute they’re used, think free day of sun every three or four weeks weeks if it helps.

[dbj216]

Wabbiteer offers great advice. I can't improve on it. The modern multi-stage converters are worth the $250 in terms of battery life. Progressive, Boondocker, and WFCO all make good ones. Best Converters. com is another source. My Overlander has a 65 amp converter. I put a 50 amp in my Trade Wind. I tend to buy bigger than I really need.

Golf cart batteries offer better power delivery. Most are lead acid type. I'm going to spend more and try an AGM battery as it will operate "un vented" if the temp doesn't get too high. AGM batteries are about twice a stock lead acid battery. My car has an AGM battery under the front seat. It is not vented.

You need a 30 amp main breaker, a 20 amp breaker to start and run the AC. Same with a big microwave. Otherwise I've been using 15 amp breakers for the standard outlets. I have a AC circuit at 20 amps (with an either/or switch for the microwave) and two 15 amp outlet circuits. Keep in mine you only have 30 amp input, so you can not run the AC and the microwave at the same time. Most of this wiring is likely in your trailer already.

Your moving forward at a good pace.

David

[Jeremy9107]

Thanks all. Going to read up on your suggestions and look for deals. Gonna miss that Univolt. It gave good character to the Airstream. Hoping there are plenty of "how to install" instructions on these converters, inverters and fuse panels though. Not looking for top of the line, but also not limiting budget per say.

[rugjenkins]

Progressive dynamics converter look on vintage trailer supply

[dbj216]

Heck, I just purchased a Progressive Dynamics 60 amp converter today. I paid $225 at camping world. It has a "charge wizard" with it. I hope that wizard doesn't come out in the middle of the night. What will these marketing folks think of next. It will tend to my AGM battery good enough.

A converter is a straight forward install. Think of it as another battery. It powers the 12v circuits and charges the battery when you are plugged into 115vAC. It does nothing when you are boondocking. It "converts" 115v AC to 12vDC. It is a little like the charger for your cell phone, but bigger.

Your fuse panel is wired in such a way that the "bigger voltage" wins. If you are boondocking, the battery 12v is bigger than the 0 volts from the converter. If you are on shore power, the 13.5v from the converter wins and the battery begins to succle a charge from the converter.

Your fuse panel has four big wires to it; plus and minus from the battery, and plus and minus from the converter. To install, you will hook up a big positive lead and a big negative lead from the fuse panel to the converter. You will also hook up a ground wire to the converter. Then you plug the converter into the 115v AC outlet.

Modern converters sense battery voltage and prevent overcharging the battery. The Univolt doesn't and can cook a battery dry as it doesn't automatically reduce the voltage charging the battery.

A new converter is a good "investment" for your Caravanner. At least that's what I told my wife for my Overlander.

David

[Jeremy9107]

David et al.

Hoping to invoke further discussion. Like the reviews on the Progressive inverters. Have also been reading about WFCO which seems to be about 25% cheaper. Is there a stark difference in quality? If there is, don't mind paying the extra money.

Considering we are starting from scratch and need converter + fuse panel + circuit breaker box, would it be wise to get one of these all-in-one systems? Seems as if these are same price as converter as solitary unit.
https://www.progressivedyn.com/rv/po...r-4000-series/
http://wfcoelectronics.com/product/wf-8955-55-amp/#_
Believe they have adequate number of AC circuit breakers based on thread discussion. How many DC branch fuse holders would be adequate?

Wabbiteer. Will not be running fridge on DC. Would like to have ability to charge battery though. What would recommended Amp be in that case?

[dbj216]

My former Trade Wind had 3 DC circuits. My current Overlander has 4. I believe the number of fuse positions depends on the number of DC circuits Airstream wired into the trailer. The Trade Wind DC circuits are protected by 20 amp blade type fuses. The Overlander has old fashioned glass tube fuses.

So the fuse panel you need it at the beginning of the 12v circuits you run.

The fuse panel I used in the Trade Wind worked fine. I got it at VTS. I found it small and lightweight for the needed wire size of a 12v circuit. I would have prefered a bigger one, but this one worked. I am not changing the fuse panel in the Overlander. The factory one is quite good. It is labeled and fuses are easy to change. (They are glass tube type fuses.) I did not rewire either trailer or add any major 12v "devices" like fans, lights, etc.

I might add that the Overlander has a fuse for the red charging wire going to the battery, a fuse for the car charging blue wire coming to the fuse panel, and a fuse for the negative ground (black) to guard against switching leads at the battery.

I have not researched or have knowledge of the combined power centers. But they make sense to me.

I took out a WCFO converter in my Overlander. It was erratic and causing "brown outs". I installed the new Progressive Dynamics converter today and it works just fine. Now I don't have to work in the dark.

David

[Jeremy9107]

OK. Thinking will go with the Progressive distribution panel with converter/charge wizard combo. Like the idea of having less things to hook up.

[rugjenkins]

I like the progressive panel also. All in one unit. My next purchase.[emoji847]

[Jeremy9107]

Having a tough time getting the shell to sit on the floor at the rear end plate. It is resting on each of the corners, but there is a 3/4" gap or so at the middle. Placed a 6 foot level across the floor there and sure enough the floor is bowed.



Was thinking maybe there was supposed to be a strip of ply on top of the last cross member where a lot of elevator bolts attach the floor but that cross member was not recessed like the others that we placed that strip at.



Any suggestions?