Trailer and truck projects

So much for lollygagging around in those beautiful woods by that lovely river with so many cheerful birds all around.  Now it’s time to get out the tools and the shop rags and get to work on a few projects around the trailer and the truck.

One of the options that ETI offered and that I chose was a permanently mounted 160-watt solar panel on the roof (photo below, the black panel on the roof).  While I was at Kanaskat State Park, I un-plugged the 120-volt shore power a few times for an hour or so at a time to see how the solar system performed.  Since the trailer was parked under trees and didn’t get direct sunlight on it, the solar panel didn’t generate a great deal of amperage but it did just fine … it produced as much as 1.4 amps even in full shade.  Of course, early in the morning and late in the afternoon, the output was less.  That solar panel worked as expected, actually a bit better than I expected given the amount of shade.

Since I’m likely going to be camping mostly in the Pacific Northwest, and likely mostly under trees, I want more solar input than that roof solar panel gives me.  I don’t want to worry about the trailer’s battery power when I’m not plugged into power.  One good way to do that is to add a “solar suitcase” to the system.  It’s a foldable, remote solar panel that’s wired into the trailer’s solar system such that the remote panel can be moved away from the trailer (with long wires) into a sunny area and the panel can be angled so it faces the sun.

Here’s the unit I purchased (above and below) from Renogy.  These photos show the unit set up with the legs out, but with the wiring simply coiled on the ground and not connected.

 

The photo above shows the unit packed with the legs retracted, the wiring stored inside the panels, and the “suitcase” starting to be closed.

The suitcase folds completely, then fits into the case above which zips closed.  The tires in the photo above are the trailer tires, so you get an idea of the size of this “solar suitcase”.

Once I had the suitcase solar panels wired, I needed to decide where/how I would run the wires in through the trailer wall and then attach the wires to the existing solar controller already installed inside the trailer.  The existing solar controller (for the roof solar panels) is in the right/rear dinette seat.  The closest exterior wall to that would be on the right side of the trailer, but then the housing for the suitcase solar wires would stick out the side of the trailer and might get hit and broken off.

So I decided to locate the housing for the wiring connectors on the back wall of the trailer just below the right hand taillight and above the bumper so it would be less apt to get hit and be less apt to get wet from road spray.

The wires from the suitcase will attach to these two wires (photos above and below).

The white housing above protects the wires and keeps moisture and critters out of the trailer.  The instructions for installation of the housing specified the type of “glue” to use for the white housing and said screws/bolts were not needed, but I through-bolted the unit along with the glue anyway and used lock nuts, just in case.

The two wires in that housing come into the trailer through the hole I cut in the back wall of the trailer.

And then those two wires eventually tie into the existing wiring from the roof solar and then connect to the solar controller.

Photo above is the solar/battery monitor panel that’s readily visible inside the trailer.  I tested the new solar suitcase while the trailer was parked in her covered storage unit.  Because of the roof over the trailer, with just the roof solar “on”, there was no input … when I plugged in the solar suitcase, there was 3.2 amps input even at 9:30am!  This is excellent!

Ok, now on to the next project … figuring out what the trailer weighs.

The entire trailer is rated at 5,000 GVWR (gross weight with the trailer fully loaded including full water tanks, etc).  It’s critical to keep stuff stowed inside the trailer so the weight is evenly distributed, for towing safety and so each corner jack supports about the same weight when the trailer is parked.

My first step was to find out what the “tongue weight” was.  I purchased this simple spring-loaded measuring tool (below).

The photos may not look like the foot of the tongue jack is OFF of the wooden blocks, but it is.  The full weight of the tongue is on the measuring device.

The rule of thumb is that the tongue weight should be 10%-15% of the total gross trailer weight.  The tongue weight of my trailer is currently 500 lbs and that’s right smack at 10% of the 5,000 GVWR … A-OK.  As I add more things to the trailer, I will continue to monitor the tongue weight.

One of these days, I’ll take the trailer to a truck scale and weigh the trailer with only the axles on the scale.  Adding that axle weight to the 500 pound tongue weight should give me the total trailer weight.  There’s a recycle/garbage station with a truck scale that’s not too far away from me that’s usually not at all busy from noon to 1pm.

Ok, now on to the third project!

You might remember that the other trailer I used to own had an electrical connector that did not fit into the socket (photo below) in the truck’s bumper.  I cut that trailer connector down so it would fit.  But, a year later, when I got ready to head to Canada to pick up my new Escape trailer, I didn’t want to have to cut THAT connector down as well, so I got out my Dremel tools and proceeded to smooth off the bumps inside the truck socket … wrong thing to do!

Turns out the connector on that other trailer was over-size, not industry standard.  And it turns out that the socket (below) on the truck WAS the industry standard and I should not have sanded off those interior bumps.  When I plugged the new trailer into this socket (now with no bumps), the connector from the new trailer fell out!  Oops.

Any good mechanic has any number of rolls of duct tape hanging around handy, so I just taped the ETI trailer’s connector to the truck’s socket and put this on my list to fix.  When I went camping at Kanaskat, I simply taped or un-taped that connector as needed.  Eventually I researched the part number and ordered a new socket for the truck.

 

The photo above is the old socket, which worked just fine electrically except I had messed up the plastic housing.  The new socket looked just like this old one except the new one had the proper bumps inside the housing.  You can see how convoluted this item is.

I took a variety of tools with me, crawled under the back of the truck on my creeper, lay on my back looking up at the underside of the truck, and this is what I saw (below).

Hmmm, I know the socket that I want to replace is up in there somewhere.   Hmmm.

Actually, it was fairly easy and took only a moment to find the old socket and to figure out the replacement process.  The hard part was getting my hands and arms up in the right spots with the proper size screwdrivers or small pry bars … AND be at an angle where I could see what I was doing at the same time.

The photo above is the back side of the new socket installed.  The photo below is the back side of the new socket with the wiring connected that leads up to the dash of the truck where the light switches are.

 

Photo above is what you see after you’ve rolled out from under the truck and gotten up off the creeper and are looking at the back of the truck … the new socket is installed (and working perfectly) right next to the license plate.  Now the electrical connector from the trailer stays put, doesn’t fall out, and I don’t need to duct tape the dang thing to the truck.  🙂

I love completing tasks like these.  The trailer and the truck are improved and safer.  I’m safer and more comfortable and happier.  And I’ve saved myself a bunch of money doing these chores myself.  If anyone would like more details about the parts used or the wiring or the installations, please let me know … I’m happy to share all of it.

In the near future I’ll get the trailer weighed at the axles.  I also need to adjust the trailer’s brakes.  And I need to read the instruction manual on battery charging for these dual 6-volt batteries.  Fun stuff!  🙂

Oh, say, one more thing.  I found out what that orange fungus is!  It’s called Common Eyelash Fungus.  Here’s a link to information about it, http://www.mushroomdiary.co.uk/2012/06/scutellinia-scutellata-common-eyelash-fungus/.  More interesting things to learn!