Sun-Lite camper

[rodt]

I believe this may be my first post. At least it is, having anything relevant to say/ask.

I have watched for several years as I saved my pennies. My dollars go towards our son's college tuition at least for another year. Well the stars aligned a few weeks ago and I came home with a 2002? Sun-Lite camper.

I drove it with ratchet straps for a few weeks as the weather just would not cooperate. I now have camper tie downs so it is secured to the truck bed. I still need to reposition it a bit. I have a spacer in the front that really does not work as intended and the camper needs to move forward about 4 inches. Hopefully, I will get that complete this weekend.

Here is the obligatory picture. I am pretty excited and have some questions and adventures to come.

rod in Nebraska; Wandering the Midwest...

 

[ski3pin]

Rod, congrats on your new camper and welcome to Wander the West!

 

[rtpvibes]

Congrats and enjoy it

 

[Vic]

Welcome Rod - our first camper was a 2000 Sunlite and we loved it for 15 years. Would still have it but the family outgrew it. Good quality camper. BTW ours was prewired for a fantastic fan should you get the inclination to add one.

 

[rodt]

Ok. Now that my first post is out of the way...

I should probably mention a least a bit about my truck. It is a 2002 Ford F-150 V6 4X4 manual. Meaning it did not have a lot of power to begin with and the camper does not help 1 bit. However it only has 45K, and I am rather fond of it. It needs bucket seats, and cruise control added to make it a real driver, but baby steps - right.

I would like to remove the AC and install a fantastic fan. I think that at some point I may need to add a small window AC, but that is someday and today that big box really irritates me. Its too tall, too heavy, and needs to go. I believe I have a fiberglass top which best I can tell means I should use butyl tape as the primary sealant with self leveling caulk / adhesive. Does that sound right?

The camper came with the sofa option which is nice and seems much better than a dinette. It is actually pretty darn comfortable. The previous owner installed (if you can call it that) a dorm fridge which I removed. Eventually I would like to get a 12V fridge, but for this season it is cooler all the way.

Next issue is the furnace. I have no idea it is works, or if I really even want it to work. I am thinking about removing it and just using a Little Buddy heater. That would save some weight and some complexity. Same goes for the stove. I have a Coleman that I love. It is one of those pump up white gas stoves. I doubt I need 2 stoves. Again weight and complexity.

Finally, the mattress is some discount store item that needs to go. I am thinking about a real nice air / foam mattress?

I am planning on upgrading the cabinetry to Cherry veneer and shaker doors at some point. I like to build things and have some experience building kitchens.

Ok enough blabbering. Here are a few interior pics just for perspective.

rod in Nebraska; Wandering the Midwest...

 

[rodt]

Just for perspective. When I am done the kitchen area will look something like this. Of course at scale for the truck camper.

 

[Old Crow]

Welcome, Rod....

My brother has an 89-or-so Sun-Lite Eagle RK. I like that camper a lot and was looking for a similar one when I ran onto the FWC Hawk shell I have now.

My plan at the time was very similar-- buy a Sun-Lite or similar and lighten and simplify.

My brother's Sun-Lite doesn't have a furnace. We mostly use it when day-time temps are in the 50s and 60s and night-time temps get into the 30s and 40s. We use a Portable Buddy (the single-panel model using 1# bottles) for heat. We only use it for a few hours in the evening and sometimes for 10-20 minutes in the morning. That works fine for our week-long trips. If, on the other hand, we were often camping in daytime temps below 40 and night-time temps below 20, I'd think twice about removing the already-existing furnace you have in your camper. The furnace does require more battery management (i.e., being sure you can fully charge it the next day) but in colder weather is so very, very nice to have if you're going to be sitting in the camper for any length of time.

Removal of the rooftop air conditioner seems like a no-brainer - at least in concept. I wonder if there's 12V wiring up there on yours. I imagine the rooftop unit was a factory option and might need additional bracing. Would the factory include 12V pre-wire on a roof they're building specifically for a 110v air conditioner? If not, you might be able to tap into wiring for the lights.... not sure.

Also - I've not seen anything before on a fiberglass roof option for a Sun-Lite. The units I've seen have all had an aluminum skin over wood. The photo of yours appears to show the classic corner-caps of the aluminum-over-wood roof design and I wouldn't think them necessary on a fiberglass roof but who knows. I'll be interested to learn more on this as you proceed with your plans.

I'm also with you on having a stove I can take outside and keeping that counter space open for multiple uses in the meantime. It requires more setup time but I only use a stove at the end of the day so that's not an issue.

Good luck with your mods! Post pics!

-OC

 

[rodt]

First off, Aluminum roof. I am just not that smart. Ordered the fantastic fan and sealer. Will take pics of the installation next weekend.

Right now I am kinda (ok really) struggling to get the camper electrified.

The Sun-Lite has a 4 prong connector (round) with a black, white, and green wire. I took it apart and only 3 wires are installed. My truck has a 4 prong flat connector which has a brown, white, green, and yellow wire. Some online research shows me that the truck trailer wires are:

Brown: tail lights
Green: Right turn
Yellow: Left turn
White: Ground

On the Sun-Lite I am assuming that black is power, white is ground and green is marker lights???? Is black power when the truck is on? And green power when the lights are on?

These really do not seem compatible? I have an typical truck camper charger, 12v regulator, inverter and want to charge the truck camper battery off this connection.

I am thinking that I should be able to charge the camper battery via my truck with this connection, or is it really the WRONG connection and I need to run new wires to the camper?

Somewhat confused as you can probably tell.

rod

 

[rodt]

doing some research on the camper I have found the following:

White is ground, green is running lights, and black is constant power to everything inside the camper. I used a lead wire and a buddy to help me figure it out. Actually, my buddy figured it out before he was done with his first beer. I just handed him beer.

To me this means that my trucks 4 pin is crap and not going to work to connect the camper. It would seem like I need to run a new connection from the battery. I have the parts to do this following the $50 second battery post from Expedition Portal. I will install the constant duty solenoid and fuses. That will get me to power and ground. But I have no idea how to get marking lights other than to steel the brown wire from the trucks trailer connection. Does this seem right???

I would really like to get this up and working before the first shake down trip scheduled in a couple of weeks.

rod

 

[Vic Harder]

Rod,

Have you got a multimeter? Measure the output of that plug and confirm when power is on where.

Edit - I see you did figure it out... good. You CAN charge the battery over that wiring, with limitations. You will need to fuse both ends, you can only put a relatively small amount of current (amps) over those wires without melting them. And you should use a battery separator to avoid discharging both batteries and being unable to start your truck.

Ask more questions, and/or buy a few cases of beer for your buddy

 

[rodt]

Today was a good day. Great weather and no work. I took advantage of it and went to work (fun) on the camper.

First I repositioned that camper. Moved it up a few inches forwardwhich does not seem like much, but it made a noticeable difference in driving the old V6. Had 1 jack fail which was kinda scary, but I recovered. Removed the jacks to save a few pounds. Going to have to determine next steps to remove the camper when required. I like the stable lift option, but boy it cost as much as the camper.



Second I built out the battery charging system. Next I need to get a 4 prong plug so that I can electrify that camper and I need to steal power for the marking lights. In all a good day of progress towards our shake down run in 2 weeks. You can see the + cable running from the battery. to the fuse, to the solenoid, to another fuse, and then it joins up with the - cable to run back to the camper. Used a set of jumper cables to do this and now need to step them down to somethings more reasonable to connect to the camper.



Fantastic fan is in the mail so next weekend???

rod

 

[Hunterbuild]

Did you have the 3 jack system? I did on my 92 model. I bought another jack and moved and added to the corners, much better.

 

[rodt]

I have 4 screw type jacks with the tripod bases. It will go up to just about far enough, but any further and it seems to have a week spot where it falls back down a couple of inches. Scared the "#$%" out of me. Luckily I was just repositioning the camper on the box. But before I get too excited I will probably replace at least that jack and maybe all 4. Right now the camper is fine to stay on the truck as I have a few trips planned for May.

 

[rodt]

Fun with electricity.

Ok trying to get the 12v figured out. I have already tested the camper on shore power. The electrical outlets as well as the lights all seem to function as expected. I next want to get a 12V battery installed. As you can see from a picture previous I have some strange 4 prong adaptor to contend with. My truck is bare bones so it does not have power going to a tow hookup - only lights.

I ran 4g wire (jumper cable wires) to a solenoid and then under the truck and up to the 3 prong connection. I believe this 4 prong has power, ground and running lights. There 3 3 wires and they are something like 12g wire.

Q1:
Should I forego the connector and run the 4g directly to the battery. Seems like I can still hook up the convertor to run the 12 volt items, and when plugged into shore power it will also charge the battery? Why do this? Just working to reconcile the change in gauge and keep the system as efficient as possible.

Or should I step down the 4g to something smaller and find a 4 prong round connector to tie directly into the convertor. And by the way what is the correct term for this thing? Convertor, investor, charger???

I have a new battery box to replace the old one pictured - just FYI.

Many thanks to all the folks here. rod

 

[michgoblue]

I had the same converter and just replaced it since it was acting up (beeping under minimal load) and pretty much is just a single stage converter - not good for batteries as they tend to boil them when always connected to shore-power. I put in a WFCO-8735 which is an older 3 stage converter you can find on Amazon pretty inexpensively. I chose that over a 4 stage because the WFCO was supposed to be a drop in replacement - but I still had to do some cutting of my cabinets to fit it in.

Anyway I think you should replace the converter before you buy a battery. Then I suggest getting an isolator to connect between the truck and the battery. I use a True brand Automatic Current Relay (ACR) also on Amazon. I connect it with 4g to the battery and then put an Anderson plug on the outside to connect it to my truck. You don't don't want to wire directly to the house battery as you'll likely drain your truck battery.

Anyway if you get a replacement for your converter, it will come with instructions for wiring appliances and your battery - pretty simple with the WFCO since they used all the same colors as you ELX30, but have a couple extra DC circuits. You might have to get new breakers though.

 

[shellback]

Not sure what all that spaghetti is at your battery box. Normally your camper battery would be tied into your converter. Plugged into shore power it would provide for your 110v outlets or appliances, and the converter would change that to 12v DC for your lights and other 12v accessories. It will also provide battery charging. I think 4 ga wiring from your truck battery to the camper is overkill unless you plan on powering your camper off your truck battery. A normal 7 way towing harness has a small ga wire, not sure of the exact size, but it's purpose is to provide charging to the camper battery while you are traveling. A couple of those leads at the battery box should be providing 12v to the converter. Maybe the other wires are from the truck plug. I'd find the wires to the converter, hook them up, and check your system. See that you have 12v power to the lights with no shore power, then check to see if you are getting 13.5v charging to the battery with shore power. If the camper side is working good, then I suggest getting a male and female 7 pin trailer connector. The 7 pin is overkill, but it will allow you to wire the truck and camper correctly to the right pins in the plug. The 7 pin provides for ground, 12v pos, running lights, left and right turn, backup lights and electric trailer brakes. Just use the pins you need and leave the others empty. Wiring it correctly will allow you to plug into another truck in the future. My power off my truck plug goes to the converter. I'm guessing the crazy plug you have is something a previous owner Rube Goldberg'd to get power from the truck to the camper.

 

[Old Crow]

Here's a manual for the Elixir ELX-20 converter....

http://www.fourwh.com/elixirpowerconverter.pdf

 

[rodt]

Time for my weekly update.

I managed to get the truck power to the camper over the weekend. I would like to say that I did a fine job of creating a clean professional looking connector. Turned out that I might very well be a redneck (although one of the more rare snowflake kind). After 3 trips to the auto parts store, 1 to the hardware store and even a visit to Tractor Supply the fine starter battery the previous owner left me is charging off the truck. I also installed a voltage meter and USB ports fused inline just to have those available temporarily. Hooked to shore power it would appear that NO charging is occurring. I have decided to let it just be for a short time. I really want to get an overnight or 2 in the camper to determine what we forgot and what we did not even consider needing.

Longer term I will invest in a meter and some serious investigation/education on the wiring and then replace the convertor as suggested. I do not have the skill for that at the moment.

A more positive project was removing the AC. 4 bolts and some grunt work and it was on the ground. Installed the Fantastic fan, but still have to finish off the interior. No 12 volt - so another temporary solution was to hook up a cig plug to the wirings - worked like a charm and looks pathetic. More to come on this project.

The truck drives significantly better without 80 pound of weight at the highest point. It was a good weekend, Everything works somewhat as intended.

Thanks to all the replies it was valuable information.

rod

 

[rodt]

Lets move away from electrical for a post or two. I am curious if most use the water tank? I have about 1/4 inch of water in the tank and who knows how long it has been there. I have read the cleaning process; which seems simple enough.

I assume the following. I fill the tank and it does not leak. I so much as look at one of those plastic shut off valves and it starts leaking everywhere. OK, so buy replacements just in case before starting the project. Now I fill the tank and add the bleach, even get all the smell our after several rounds of flushing the system. I then fill the tank and use 2 gallons of the 7. Do I just let the remaining water stay there? How long can I leave it before doing another round of cleaning? Just top off and go. Bring separate drinking water?

I have the following trips planned

May 19/20th - Handworks Amana Iowa (hand tool woodworking)
May 25 - Over night with the wife (official test run)
June 1 - 4 Spoon Gathering Milan Mn (wood carving)
Late June - Canoe Niobrara river with wife (she never has)
July - probably not much, too many peers at work gone for vacation and Nebraska is hot as #$%^
August - North Shore of Lake Superior via Duluth. To Grand Marais (North House) and most likely Grand Portage with the wife.
That as far as I can plan at this point

So clean and use for the summer? Abandon water tank and go portable? Other thoughts?

 

[rodt]

Here are a few pics of the fan. Just to give people a good laugh. And what's up with the 6 inch cover plate? My roof is like 1 1/2 inch thick. Going to have to trim that a bit...