Trailers

[Steve F]

Decided to add a jockey wheel but wanted a removable one as I don't need it most of the time, also offroad I can put it in the tub where it won't get damaged.

Welded a pipe mount on.



Painted it and done



Pull the pin to flip it up, put the pin back in, then wind it out to lock it against the chassis/tub so it won't rattle.



Cheers
Steve

[Steve F]

Slapped some paint on so it looks like it belongs, need to get some plastic primer so I can do the wheel as well at some point.



Cheers
Steve

[Steve F]

Started doing the wiring to connect it up to the dual battery setup in the Jeep, still want to use it as a box trailer so trying to keep it out the way and discreet from the outside. The plug attaches to the inside of the tub where the ribs are, see the post above, so you can't see any screws from the outside.







And on the back, this was where the Army had a NATO socket but it is long gone, perfect for a Anderson plug though.





Just waiting on some plugs so I can finish the battery box now.

Cheers
Steve

[Steve F]

So I was going to put a DC-DC charger between the auxiliary battery in the back of the Jeep and the 105AH in the trailer, as after hooking it up I was loosing 1.3v at the trailer battery connection. Then I realised the Anderson plug to battery clamps that I grabbed from my solar panel bag were really only meant to handle 10A and were way to small so it wasn't a good test.

I made a proper cable to go from internal trailer plug to battery and now I get 13.8V at the trailer battery when there is 13.9V at the Aux battery in the Jeep. So no need for a DC-DC charger in between as this is really only to keep the battery fully charged while on the road to camp as solar will be plugged in when I set up and the battery will be fully charged when I leave home. That's a few hundred saved.

Next to put all the plugs and things on the battery box so it is self contained.

Voltage at the trailer battery



Voltage at the starting battery and second battery setup in the Jeep.



Cheers
Steve

[Steve F]

Ended up deciding to buy a battery box and ill addd extra sockets to it etc. Already put a 50A circuit breaker on the posts on the box as there was nothing. I added a CTEK comfort indicator flush mount panel as well, lets me plug my CTEK charger in without having to connect with alligator clips, much neater. Next I'll added a couple of Anderson plugs a USB charging plug and one or two merit plug sockets so all bases are covered.





Cheers
Steve

[Steve F]

Got the battery box done and tested the solar. To do this I put my Ammeter in line with the solar and battery, since the battery was pretty much fully charged it only put 4.1A/H into the battery for the first minute or two and then dropped to maintenance mode where the regulator cycled from 0A/H to around 3.5A/H.

Anyway, happy with the setup now but will probably grab another fold out solar panel to go to a total of 240W which in full sun will push around 13A/H into the battery, that's enough to take it from flat (50% charge) to full in under 4 hours or a touch over 4 hours if the fridge is in use at the same time. Since Winter gives 5 to 6 hours of good sun (if it's sunny) 4 hours is a safe number.

Ammeter in line with solar, now fitted an isolator switch as well, it isolates everything but the CTEK charging port.



80w of solar doing a fine job, it's previously run my fridge for 3 days and kept the 66AH of battery in the Jeep fully charged with no problems.



Cheers
Steve

[Steve F]

Testing out the full solar farm (except for the 40w on the roof of the Jeep). All well and good having solar that will keep up on a sunny day but what about when it's overcast, or like today, raining. Well I got both panels out (total of 240W) and tried them out.





1.02A/H not bad and enough of a charge to give it a few extra days of running time, should stretch it out to 5 days running a fridge.



Cheers
Steve

[Steve F]

Made a simple power box that can connect to the trailer via my anderson plug extension lead, should easily be able to get 20A down to the box. Anyway, now I can charge the phone in the tent and run the lights off the 105AH battery in the trailer.



Cheers
Steve