Shore power - what is supposed to work?

[Cpratt]

Hi all, new owner of a 1997 8 ft cabover here. The previous owner basically didn't know anything about the camper and never really used it. I'm trying to wrap my head around how everything works, if it works.

Right now I have the camper plugged into the house with an extension cord. I have not yet purchased batteries, so none are installed. The interior lights work, but that's it. The hydraulic lift does nothing when I press the button (I've seen it operate on the previous owner's batteries), the water pump does nothing when I turn on the faucet, and I'm not sure the dometic fridge is doing anything (it's been plugged up for a few hours and the interior temp has not changed. It's set to electric). Is all this normal? Shouldn't everything work when plugged into shore power, even if there are no batteries?

Thanks in advance!

 

[CougarCouple]

Hello Cpratt
I would suggest that you contact the manufacturer and ask if they can provide some assistance or maybe even their customer operations manuals.
Sometimes shore power only operates those appliances which are 120 volt, like an air conditioning for example. Also enabling the battery charger, the battery is what operate all the 12 volt appliances, water pump etc. Sorry can't help more, but the manufacturer would be the best way to try first in my opinion.

Russ

 

[larryqp]

My guess is that without batteries installed, there are many open circuits. Since you are going to want the batteries in the camper anyway, install the required # of deep cycle batteries. I'm pretty sure everything will work properly. Getting the manuals from the manufacturer as CougarCougle suggests is a great idea, you'll need them, many times they are downloadable as a PDF.

 

[Old Crow]

You may want to read through this 1969 Alaskan Owner's Manual. If nothing else it will give you some background info and I see it has troubleshooting guidelines for both electrical and hydraulic systems. Yes, that's for a '69 but truck campers are slow to change and you may find useful info there.

Good luck!

 

[Cpratt]

Thanks, all, for the replies. That 1969 manual is helpful for understanding the basics, and I emailed Alaskan asking for manuals and any other resources they have for 1997 models. And batteries are on the way. The project begins...

 

[kmcintyre]

I don't know about AK's but FWC/ATC the shore power does different things depending on if you have an inverter which I'm pretty sure you do. It could power just about everything and charge the batteries. As someone else pointed out, w/o the batteries I'm not sure if things like the refrig would work or not; probably depends if it works off the batteries or hard wired to the inverter. I would think it runs off the batteries while the batteries are charging otherwise everyting would be hardwired to the inverter which would be a lot more complicated to wire.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

I don't know about AK's but FWC/ATC the shore power does different things depending on if you have an inverter which I'm pretty sure you do. It could power just about everything and charge the batteries. As someone else pointed out, w/o the batteries I'm not sure if things like the refrig would work or not; probably depends if it works off the batteries or hard wired to the inverter. I would think it runs off the batteries while the batteries are charging otherwise everyting would be hardwired to the inverter which would be a lot more complicated to wire.

I believe you’re meaning converter, not inverter. Yes, DC circuit power probably depends on which bus the circuit is wired to. Something that has a large current draw (jacks, had pump) are good candidates to be on the battery bus.

 

[Denver Alaskan]

Being old and simple, I have a simple way to remember the difference between a converter and an inverter. A Converter contracts 120 volts to 12 volts, whereas an Inverter increases 12 volts to 120 volts. To keep it simple, my memory aid ignores the difference between direct current and alternating current.

 

[kmcintyre]

Thanks you guys for straightening me out on Converter vs. Inverter... I guess I could see you needing/wanting both but surely these campers have converters when you hook to shore power .

 

[michaelvk]

I know the isn't directly related but does anyone know where the 7pin 12v connector or cord located on the outside of a 1994 fleetwood elkhorn 9t? Mine appears to be missing.

 

[Old Crow]

I know the isn't directly related but does anyone know where the 7pin 12v connector or cord located on the outside of a 1994 fleetwood elkhorn 9t? Mine appears to be missing.

I don't know if this will help but I found a video of a 1998 Elkhorn 8S showing the cable...

Elkhorn 8S video

I positioned it to start at the one-minute mark.

I believe that's the 7-pin cable as that's the general area many truck campers use for that purpose. The shorepower connection is further along the side of the camper.
.