Camper Questions

Never owned a camper before so I have a few questions.

While I really do not want to get into why; one of my kids bought a 2001 bumper pull camper trailer and wants to park (live in) it in my yard for a few months till better arrangements can be worked out.

I agreed to run a "TEMPOARY" wire from my electric pole to the camper. Could get it about 30 ft away but 80 to 100 ft would be so much better. Was thinking about buying a 250 ft roll of THHN and cutting it into 3 pcs and coding the different wire ends with different color tape. That would give me a 83 ft run. Have not really checked prices but a full 250 ft roll might be my cheapest way out.

THINK the camper (have not seen it) is 30 amp 110 volt by the picture of the plug end I saw.



Two people (1 adult 1 child)
A/C in the roof will be run 24/7
Not sure what the water heater runs off of
Fridge is suppose to be gas and battery power
All lights are 12 volt

Now to the questions.
For 83 ft what wire size you suggest???
I am thinking 8 ga.

Battery is dead and not chargeable.
What kind of battery does a camper use??
I am thinking a 12v deep cell marine type battery.

Thanks for you help.
I am sure I will be back with more questions when the trailer gets here next Saturday.

30 amp 110 v is correct. A/C unit is 110v. Water heater is usually gas/electric combo. Fridge is almost always 3 way and runs 110 v when parked. Lights runs off a big 12V convertor box and should work even with dead battery. Deep cycle is correct. I think biggest load for it may be the fans or the water pump, not sure which.

In laws run theirs off 15 amp outlet here but can't run A/C via a 100 ft 12 gauge extension cord. At their other spot he bought 75 ft of 8 or 10 gauge SOW extension cord that plugs into the dryer outlet.

AC is a big draw, I suggest picking up a 30 amp cord(looks almost like a garden hose) I think mine is 04 gage. Prolly cheaper to buy the stock and make one up.

120v/30 amps is correct. That plug is shot so I would remove the cord and connect the supply to the trailer load center.
8ga has 3.5 volt drop in 100 feet. Good choice.
6ga '' 2.4 '' '' " "
10ga " 6 " " " "
I would install a battery eventhough the converter will carry most things.
If they have a micro-wave,it should only be used while ac is off.

That is not the camper plug

That is a picture I found on the internet of a plug that looks like the picture on my kids phone.

Due to working a long distance from home I lived part time in a camper for an extended time. Besides the regular 30 amp service the camper came with I had an electrican friend hard wire a fused auxillary wire and installed an outlet that I used for heavy draws, such as an oil filled electric heater. Saved worrying about overloading circuits.

You will need some place to dump the wast water, and I would plan on at least a 100# LP tank, better yet would be 250 gal tank plumbed to the trailer. Make sure your water line is food grade, a regular garden hose will bleed vinyl into the water system(and it is baaaad)

Thanks for the ideas 504

We have a legal place to put the waste for now; and was hoping the small LP tanks will work for a few months. If what I read is correct the only thing that will be LP is the small stove.
Another poster said the fridge and water heater are dual power so may be able to use electricity for that.

Never really thought about the water hose. I think I have a hose made to hook a mobile home's water up in my shed. Will have to look for that. If not I can make a piece of hose out of a piece of pex.

The plan is for them to live in my driveway for 2 or 3 months tops. Over this time a septic tank; mobile home electric pole; large LP tank; water line to well house and driveway will be installed in a pasture behind my house.
The camper will be moved to this spot and hooked up to that service till a mobile home can be bought or a SMALL house can be built.

If everything goes to very early plans and I do not get arrested for murdering the person that caused all these problems; they should be in something permanent by next spring.

83' on 8 gauge to me is borderline. 30 amps runs on #10 for short distances. I have the numbers out in the shop for wire size, amperage, distance and 2% line drop. If your power is high like mine (124 usually) you would be borderline. Course the question is, does it continuously run 30 amps? If not then you are probably OK. If so, I'd go with #6.

I think most appliances are rated down to 110 volts. 2% of 120 is 2.4. That leaves a lot of margin.

Thing about the smaller wire is that when the AC compressor kicks in, or the refrigerator, the lights will dim. If both kick in at the same time one may not start.

Once you spend the money it's spent. What's left to live with is what you bought with it!

My 2c,
Mark

I did this for a few years--had a camper parked on the farm for living arrangement when i was there on weekends. Campers are fine for short periods of time but extended times can get tough.

HOOK-UP: I set a short telphone/electric pole (3-4 feet tall) put a yard facuet(sp) along side and the electric panel box and a phone box on the pole. Because i was planning to build a house I put in the septic and brought a pipe close to the pole. An electric supply house has a supply box just for campers--has an outlet for 30 amp plug and 2 20 amp outlets with a weather cover. A short length of hose to the camper from the facuet will work fine. It will freeze should the temperature drop low enough.
I found that a 100 gal propane tank was sufficient for heat and hot water. Everything else runs off electric.
You can bring a phone line in through a window pretty easily.
I set the camper on concrete blocks as the tires allow the camper to sway and they do loose air over time. I used it for 6-7 years until a summer storm pushed the camper off the blocks. By that time I was ready to move into the shop and get the house building.

Sounds like "fun" ????????????? lol

I've owned, bought and sold, and well used RV's over forty years and will take an "educated guess" at your questions:

"Not sure what the water heater runs off of"


Its likely a 6 Gallon LP Gas ONLY appliance. While some have an auxiliary 120 volt element, I cant say yours has one from here??? They are a fairly high gas use appliance and it may have one or two 20 or 30 LB Gas bottles on board, so those would have to be taken to the LP fill station, but not all that often DEPENDS ON HOW MUCH HOT WATER THEY USE DUH


"Fridge is suppose to be gas and battery power"

That may well be so (Im not there to look)
HOWEVER its more typical it is a combination
LP Gas or 120 VAC versus LP Gas or 12 VDC.
REGARDLESS while plugged in it will run on 120
VAC anyway so I dont see that as a problem...


"All lights are 12 volt" YEP THATS TYPICAL for lights, vent fans, and water pumps.

"8 Gauge Wire" (8/2 with Ground) will get you by fine although, sure, 6 would be better. The AC is the biggest load, it may draw 10 to 13 amps or so depends on its size DUH

NOTE that looks like the typical 30 amp 120 VAC RV Plug. You can buy the matching 30 Amp 120 VAC receptacles at any RV shop.

"Battery is dead and not chargeable.
What kind of battery does a camper use??
I am thinking a 12v deep cell marine type battery."

They typically come with a 12 volt semi deep cycle RV/Marine battery but NOTE it liklely has a 120 VAC/12 VDC Converter Charger that runs the 12 volt loads plus keeps the battery charged, so if its plugged into shore power the 12 volt stuff (fans, lights, water pump etc) would still work REGARDLESS...

A garden hose will work to supply fresh water, although 83 ft will yield some pressure drop. Id use a 3/4 hose which will drop less pressure then a 5/8 and a 1/2 inch would likely be out of the question.

Grey water needs to be dealt with. I know this "dude" who runs his down over a hill into the middle of his forty acres ????????????

Black Water Sewage IS THE BIG PROBLEM. That needs to be dealt with somehow somewhere???????????? not down over the hill either

Do as you please, sure Billy Bob it will "work" but I dont like the sound of running three spliced paralell conductors myself. For wet environments I always specified THWN conductors verus THHN, but some say they are the same??? A 100 ft roll of 8/2 with Ground type UF (the gray Undergeround Feeder) would work nice.

Any other questions Weedhopper???

John T My custom modified Dry Camping Special
2001 Four Winds 29 ft. Class C
454 Chevy Vortec with 4L80E Overdrive Tranny
110 Gal fresh water, 80 Gal gray water storage
460 Amp Hrs (4 Golf cart batteries) storage
Xantrex Truecharge2 Smart Battery Charger
200 Watts Rooftop Solar Panels & Controller
Onan 4 KW Genset
The "first wife" and I can easily dry camp 8
days fully unsupported (no electricity, no
water hookups) before we have to dump and take
on water

The campers that I have or have seen are only gas for the water heater and fridg is only 110 or gas, no 12 volt. And if you do not have to run the furnace a 30# tank will last quite a while and that is what most campers will have, fold down 20# tanks. And most campgrounds used to only have a 15 amp circut to plug into, some of the better ones had the 30 amp system and even the big motor homes with the 50 amp system had to use the 15 that was avaible. I do have 2 of the regular extension cords for about 70 feet. I do not have air though.

You're going to have to take inventory of the camper and see what you got.

Things were still largely "old school" in campers in the early 2000's. The computerized automatic stuff wasn't common yet, but it was coming along, so you could have either.

My 2000 camper has a 120VAC/12VDC/Propane fridge, but it's completely manual. 12VDC is not even worth wasting your time on because it sucks so much battery power.

Water heater on mine is just a dumb gas-only model.

8ga wire should be adequate, but 6ga would be better. The camper should have a 25ft cord of its own.

You might consider erecting a metal roof shed over the thing when you get it moved out to the pasture.
It would use way less juice to cool. Plus, less leaking during rain... easier on the roofing...etc.
good luck
Kenny