Newish camper owner with a few questions:

[SierraTraveler]

Hello there, I'm the proud owner of a 1995 six pac mini that rests peacefully in the bed of a 2001 Toyota Tacoma TRD with an added leaf spring. My question is regarding the power for the camper, the previous owner modified the plug to a six square type which is not very common. My truck has a four flat connector from battery to power the trailer etc, but I am interested in simply connecting the camper power to a 12 volt 80 amp hour deep cycle battery that will be charged by a 100 watt rooftop solar panel. Basically, my question is this - I know I have to test each individual wire to see what goes where, then say if I test it and its the lights, I just plug that directly into the battery, correct? There is a fuse panel in the camper, but this particular camper did not have a place for the battery inside the camper, like it was designed to hook up to the car battery via the trailer power connector.. Are there deep cycle connectors that I should use to plug the wires in before they touch the battery? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I only need to power lights, fan, water pump, and fridge is electric/propane. So I need to splice into the wires that are currently plugged into the six square plug and connect to the battery. How do I do this properly, meaning is there a recommended plug that goes to the battery that I can plug the wires into?

Also a question with the propane fridge, its a dometic RM 2191 12 V DC 9, 6 amps and since I don't currently have power, I want to just run the fridge off propane when its sitting. I follow the directions to light it manually, and can get the pilot light lit with the propane setting button held down, however it will not stay lit when I let it go. I've tried holding it down for a long time, to no avail. Any advice would be incredibly appreciated. Thank you for reading.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

Also a question with the propane fridge, its a dometic RM 2191 12 V DC 9, 6 amps and since I don't currently have power, I want to just run the fridge off propane when its sitting. I follow the directions to light it manually, and can get the pilot light lit with the propane setting button held down, however it will not stay lit when I let it go. I've tried holding it down for a long time, to no avail. Any advice would be incredibly appreciated. Thank you for reading.

According to THIS article, you NEED 12 volts dc in order for the propane to work.

http://www.rvhelpdesk.com/rv-refrigerator/

 

[SierraTraveler]

According to THIS article, you NEED 12 volts dc in order for the propane to work.

http://www.rvhelpdesk.com/rv-refrigerator/

Thank you for the information, makes sense why it wouldn't stay lit.

 

[wuck]

According to THIS article, you NEED 12 volts dc in order for the propane to work.

http://www.rvhelpdesk.com/rv-refrigerator/

I guess you're referring to this line in the article:

"The refrigerator L.P. gas valve requires 12 volt dc power to operate.
If the coach battery is dead, the refrigerator will not operate."

​Which is actually referring to a generic automatic changeover LPG/AC/DC (3-way) refer.

The Dometic 2191 is a manual changeover 2 way - LPG/12VDC Installation manual here.

This manual states :

"DO NOT attempt to operate the refrigerator by both gas
and electricity at the same time. Always ensure that
one method of operation is turned off before using the
alternate energy source."

I had a dometic 3-way years ago, the controls were set up to interlock the various modes precluding operation on more than one energy source. That doesn't appear to be the case on this refer.

I found a parts listing for the 2193 model here, probably a superset of your 2191.

I would guess you refer has either a bad thermocouple or gas valve. The "Push and Hold" button holds the gas valve open while the pilot warms up the thermocouple, which then should generate enough current flow thru the valve to hold it open.

 

[SierraTraveler]

Ya, I thought it was a 2 way, propane when stationary, electric when in transit. Does anyone know where I could order a thermocoupler from? Domestic themselves or is this something I could get at the hardware store ?

 

[SierraTraveler]

Also, the wires coming from the camper that need to be hooked up to my deep cycle are black red blue and white. Does anyone know where I could look to find out what these wires go to and where they need to be hooked up to ( + or - or both)

 

[Beach]

If you are not familiar with using a volt/ohm meter and experienced in D.C. wiring I would recommend you hook up with someone to help you or have a shop wire up the camper as needed. Sounds like you need to install a fuse/switch panel, don't wire your accessories straight to the battery.

 

[SierraTraveler]

If you are not familiar with using a volt/ohm meter and experienced in D.C. wiring I would recommend you hook up with someone to help you or have a shop wire up the camper as needed. Sounds like you need to install a fuse/switch panel, don't wire your accessories straight to the battery.

There is a panel with three fuses in the camper

 

[wuck]

With a voltmeter you can test the thermocouple, it should put out 25-30 millivolts (.025-.030 volts) with the end in a flame. I found a replacement part on Amazon using the part listing I posted above, but that might different from yours note the model number.

I have used a hardware store universal thermocouple (about $10) in the Suburban water heater in my camper. Of course, not having your fridge in front of me I can't guarantee any of this!!

 

[wuck]

Here's a couple of threads to get you started on wiring

http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/topic/16247-wiring-in-camper-battery/#entry194011

http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/topic/13230-i-need-more-power-scotty/#entry153790

 

[SierraTraveler]

Here's a couple of threads to get you started on wiring

http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/topic/16247-wiring-in-camper-battery/#entry194011

http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/topic/13230-i-need-more-power-scotty/#entry153790

Thank you for the response, I found the wiring diagram for my camper on six pacs not yet defunct website and hooked everything up, lights and vent work, water pump doesn’t, any idea what could be wrong ? I’m assuming it has power since everything else does , it’s been sitting a long time though. It’s a pretty big nice sure flo pump. Any common issues with getting a water pump going after sitting ?

 

[wuck]

Four wheel camper owns six-pac, that site will probably be around for a while.

Check your fuses, probably a separate circuit for the pump. Maybe an inline fuse somewhere. Is there a switch somewhere? A voltmeter or a simple test light is your friend.

Grounds can be an issue, some devices use a ground return wire, others use the chassis. Trace the connection to the pump make sure all is good.

The smaller pumps run whenever the pump switch is on. This can be a panel switch or perhaps one built into the faucet. I owned a camper once that had an automotive horn button mounted on the cabinet in front of the sink about knee level. You just had to lean on the switch a bit to run water.

The larger pumps have a built in pressure switch to cycle the pump. You can identify these by an extra wire running across the pump. Depending on how these are plumbed, a high pressure city water connection will keep the pump from cycling. So, the outlet of these pumps need to see low pressure to turn on.

If all else fails, take the pump apart, clean the motor brushes, commutator and pressure switch contacts.