Trailer lighting help

CasterTroy

CasterTroy

Faster'N You
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
Location
Wallburg
I'm selling my 5x8 enclosed to move up to a bigger enclosed.

Shopping for a <20ft enclosed.

Looks like I'll only be able to afford a basic, plain-Jane metal box. But what I'm PLANNING I can do over time.

I tow motorcycles to two different places.

My Supermoto I tow to road course race tracks and stay overnight.
SOME of these tracks have 30 amp and 50 amp camper style hookups. Some just have 110 cord outlets. I typically spend the night and sleep in the trailer....or at least I WANT too in the new(ish) trailer. NOW I sleep in a tent :doh:

The other place I haul bikes is to Brushy and that's usually 3-4 dirtbikes for the day. HERE there is NO power hookup at all. But I DO have a small 1200w 110 generator.

I'd LIKE to spend the night up there and ride multiple days with the new(ish) trailer.


I say all that, to elaborate on my needs.

When I get to either place its likely dark...so I need immediate light from a 12v system to get started...then I need to switch over to 110 as to not drain the trucks system.

I'd LOVE some good lighting. Now I'm not sure I'll have the headroom for a big florescent light(s) and incandescent is a voltage suck and yellow lighting sucks.
I was thinking about LED’s for both the energy savings as well as brightness….but DAGGONE….to do it RIGHT that’s expensive as HELL???!?!
I’m speaking of things like THESE lights but I’ve seen several links to those cheap LED strip lights on eBay.
Any help on lighting? And advice?

Also….inverters…..I know nothing about them, but keep reading about how people have hooked their trailer lighting to inverters. What’s a wise way to wire the trailer for my desired use? I.E. I need 12v lighting to get set up…then switch to 110.
I don’t mean to sound like a total idiot…but I deal with water/sewer and stay as far away from lighting and electricity as I can (water+power=crispy fritter)

Got any pics or advice on what you’ve done to YOUR enclosed trailer?

Also need to consider heat and A/C at some point when the finances allow. Lots of guys at the track use portable swamp coolers/heaters with the vent thru the floor via dryer duct, which seems to be a valid solution but any suggestions are welcome. Also for heat I thought about a gas furnace w propane tank for electrical savings (make do with the small generator I have instead of buying a $2k monster), but even with direct vent I’m just not cozy thinking of sleeping in a BOX with a GAS heater.

Suggestions, advice, links….all welcome

Thanks
 
light it with 12v LED, put a battery on the tongue in a box, mount a 3way power center charger/converter somewhere inside connected to a 30amp RV cord.

the converter will be distribution for the 120v power you to have inside when hooked up, and also charge the 12v battery. how large of power center is on you, need to figure out how much power you want.

this is how most campers operate, 12v lighting and 120v outlets for appliances and the like. and will also run off the generator

12v with LED lighting you could easily last a week off the grid

12v power inverters suck batteries down pretty quick if you don't have a large bank of batteries or aren't running off the alternator on a vehicle. the higher the wattage of the inverter, the more battery ( or alt ) you need.

for AC, a small window unit would be all you'd need at night, during the day in direct sun mid-July..... good luck. ( this may even run off your existing small genset )

a small ceramic heater with a fan would probably be best for heat, you could hang it somewhere and circulate the air, some foil backed insulation affixed to the roof and maybe sides may help with heat and cooling as well.
 
Camper style fuse panels have basic battery minders built in. Put a 120V/12V split RV breaker panel and a 12V battery or two on the camper. Mount the battery and the propane tanks on the neck.

Mine uses 12v fluorescents in the camper and a mix of 12v incandescent and 120v fluorescents in the back. I'm picking up a pair of 6V deep cycles tomorrow, so I'll let you know how that goes. But I suspect it'll fix my battery issues. Mine ran half the night on Friday off the truck battery, the truck ran inverters all day Saturday, then powered the camper again all night on Saturday. Truck started right up on Sunday AM.

Camper heaters have a 12v blower on a propane furnace. Get a CO/Propane detector. Standard camper stuff.

Build the camper with a 30A RV pigtail, then adapt it down to a 15A NEMA when you're on generator or that's all you can get.

With some careful shopping, you might find a window AC that'll run on your generator, but I wouldn't count on it. Overhead R/V unit will definitely work, but you'll probably want a 3-4kw genset to run it. They range from 10-15A depending on how big they are.
 
this is prolly what you're looking to mount in the side of the trailer:
http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/parts/...m_medium=partsshopping&utm_campaign=partsfeed
...then wire that to a std gfi outlet inside .
A class 24 marine battery should do well for short periods running interior and/or exterior lighting and perhaps a small inverter for electronics.

If you end up installing a battery, it's usually recommended to install a trickle-charger between the vehicle and the battery. this prevents current from flowing back to the vehicle when you start the truck (and also charges the battery while you're drivin). Same sort of charger you use for a breakaway box.
Hope that helps.
 
Sure does!

Thanks

Starting with a blank canvas:

awww.troybaker.com_trailer_tr07.jpg
 
Good looking start! Is it insulated? If not, do it now and you will never regret it!
 
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