12V to the RTT - the nicer (?) way...

BlueGerbil

C´est le gerbil plus bleu
Like many of you I feel the need to have some power in my RTT - and light.

I was thinking about the following things:

- In the RTT I´d like to mount this tripple outlet with 2x 12V and 1x USB - that should be enough for charging the iPad, iPhone etc.
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- On the inner side roof I´d mount some LED stripes in a surface mounted aluminium profile together with a dimmer
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- On the outer side of the roof I´ll later mount a small solar panel, the wire goes through a sealed small hole into the RTT and is routed to the floor.

Now I have to route the power from the vehicle into the RTT and later the power from the solar panel into the vehicle where it´s handled properly (solar charging controller, feeding my IBS dual battery system)

I was thinking of mounting two of these "AquaSignal" connectors - one to the vehicles roof, the other one into the "floor" of the RTT.
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The AquaSignal connector has 5 pins, each can transmit 16A of power. So I´d have more than enough wires for the solar panel and the light/power combo in the tent. While driving the solar panel feeds power into the electrical system of the car and in the evening, when I pop the RTT I can use the outlets and lights. Should I need to remove the roof rack and RTT from the vehicle I just unplug the two connectors and there we go...

What do you think of this idea?

My main concern is drilling a hole in the shell of my RTT - it´s a Maggiolina Carbon Fibre Small - so not exactly the cheapest one. On the other hand - people are using this AquaSignal thingies on their much more expensive boats...

I´d like to avoid dangling cables, fed through the window or the rear hatch and into the RTT via the regular opening. Or do you have any other ideas how to route power to and from the RTT in a secure, weatherproof and "nice" way?
 

Rattler

Thornton Melon's Kid
I like your ideas BlueGerbil. The past year we were using a jumper box for power to run the kid's DVD player. On the cold nights we would kill teh jumper with a car electric blanket to warm the bedding up. Recharge the next day while driving! I would like to mount some type of semi-permanant lighting in mine with some outlets too. I have a 110 inverter that can run some decent-sized stuff and wouldn't mind putting a 110 plug somewhere in the tent too. Come up with some sort of quick-connect for it all also.
 

Utah KJ

Free State of Florida
This is what I did, just me and Amazon. The led strips are also used inside as well on a different switch.

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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Mgyver1

Observer
This is what I did, just me and Amazon. The led strips are also used inside as well on a different switch.
Do you have info on what supplies you used? I’m very interested in that project box. I’m trying to get a setup inside my RTT where I have two 12v plugs and 2-3 switches - one switch for the outside light on the roof rack so I can see at night when I climb down to pee, and a switch for an interior white and red light (can be one 3 position switch or two regular switches).
 

Utah KJ

Free State of Florida
Do you have info on what supplies you used? I’m very interested in that project box. I’m trying to get a setup inside my RTT where I have two 12v plugs and 2-3 switches - one switch for the outside light on the roof rack so I can see at night when I climb down to pee, and a switch for an interior white and red light (can be one 3 position switch or two regular switches).
I don't remember the exact size that I used, and my trailer is stored away until camping season starts up again. Here's a link to the junction box options from the manufacturer I ordered from. I used them in a great many jobs.

 

Mgyver1

Observer
Thank you for the links to those project boxes. Looks like you just drilled a hold for a Blue Sea 12v outlet?


Just throwing it out there, but a KISS approach to this problem is just get a USB power bank and some USB powered lights, I used some of these that could be daisy chained with great success w/a powerbank: https://www.amazon.com/Onite-20-US24USB3W-WW-Warehouse-Emergency-WarmWhite/dp/B00QX096L0

Best part, dont gotta drill any holes in anything.

Oh, I wish my brain worked that way sometimes, but if you knew me you would know that’s impossible. I took an under sink RO water system install that should’ve taken 45 mins with everything but a granite counter drill bit included in the kit and turned it in to 7 (yes SEVEN) trips to hardware stores to finish with a prefiltered (All cold water supply at sink is filtered) system with independent shut offs for the RO and sink via 1/2” copper to a ball valve shutoff and remote mounted storage tank that took 2 full days to install. If I can’t find a way to complicate something then I will make up a way to complicate it!
 

calicamper

Expedition Leader
I did this kind of 8 yrs ago on my Lifetime tent trailer. Stitched led strip lighting into the top of the bed divider curtains ran a loose power wire down with loose stitching over it so it can move when tent gets packed up etc. Small micro in line switches. I ran a USB 12v charger puck in also. Power is a Small 50cal ammo box That contains fuse panel, solar controller, neg bar used a ground bar, 18 amp hr battery all in the ammo box. I have two 10watt hard panel solar panels. Works great!!! Zero issues replaced the first $28 battery at 5 yrs.
 

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