Battery in play pac??

[Meghan]

Do play pacs have battery that you can run the electric off of? Is this factory? If so where do I put the battery and how do I hook it up?? Otherwise, if it Is not a factory option can I do it and where would I start finding out how? Thank you!

[Paul Chet]

Hey Meghan,
I just found this thread and am bringing it back to life. Did you do anything about a battery yet? As far as I can tell the Play Pacs did have a battery but I can't say how it was set up since ours has been modified. Our battery is currently under the passenger side bench. It was nicely done by the P.O. - in a sealed plastic box that is vented by a hose to the outside. It is wired to the Solar charge controller, the voltage indicator, and the inverter.

Since my Reno is fully underway (looks like a crime scene - What have I gotten myself into?!) ... I am seriously considering moving it to the tongue. I was really worried about the fumes and the explosions folks talk about. But since I really only use it to power some LEDs and charge the phones, and because it is almost always trickle-topped off by our sweet solar panel ... I am now reconsidering the move out to the tongue. It would certainly save me a lot of trouble with running 12v wires to three different places (charge controller, inverter, voltage indicator) since i have learned that 12v wiring differs from the 110v Romex (anybody need 30 feet of Romex?!) ... and 12v wire is not cheap.

This begs a question for the electrical gurus - can I pig-tail the three inside (controller, inverter, indicator) and just run one wire out to the battery on the tongue? If not, I don't want to have run three sets of wires to the outside so I might just rewire inside and keep it put. Anyone feel free to chime in thoughts.

If you have done anything with a battery Meghan, let me know as I am still in process and have time to decide what will go where and am interested to know what other PP owners might be doing along these lines. Hope all is well!
-Paul

[ScampBum]

Paul...I'm not a 12 volt guru,but I now a little.I'm in the process of installing two group 27 deep cycle batteries in parallel...still 12 volts,but increased amp-hours,powered by a bank of three solar panels rated at 55 watts total.If I were you,I would keep at least the inverter on it's own circuit.Not sure how many watts your's is,but even with a 200 watter,I use 10 gauge wire with it's own in line fuse.I try to keep all electrical circuits stand-alone because in the case of a problem,it's easier to trace the cause just by unhooking each circuit to find the problem.

[Meghan]

I haven't done anything with the battery. I don't even know where to begin to look to see if there are any signs that there were a battery. Should there be wires leading to where it used to be??
Sorry I'm no help at all and am more need of help! Lol!!!

[Paul Chet]

No prob Meghan! This so tough with these neat little beasties as there is so little info available other than the 2 pager here in the documents center (wouldn't it be great if a repair manual like the one I had for my UHaul just popped into existence!?). We can at least try to sort it out together. Since mine had Solar added after the fact and I dont think they came with Solar (do you have a panel?) ... I am guessing they may not have come wired for a battery either, as the 2 pager indicates they are only electrically ready for a campsite hook up.

You would basically have to do what they did for ours in terms of adding everything, but there are several wiring examples I saw here where people have started from scratch and added their own batteries, inverters, solar panels, charge controllers, and I see there are some nice inverters with built in charge controllers. I am going to get a bigger inverter but try to use as much of my existing set up as this renovation is adding up! I can give you a detailed description of how mine is done if you are interested.

Al, thanks for the advice - when you put it that way it sounds Pretty common sensical. I am running a 40 watt panel. It keeps the battery pretty much just over 12v no matter what, I am really happy with how much power it gives us and we haven't come close to running it down. I misspoke - the indicator just goes to the charge controller. All thats running to the battery is the line from the charge controller with an in-line fuse, the line out to power our 12v sockets (also w/ inline fuse), and the heavy gauge wire to the inverter which has its own fuse. Wondering if with all three lines having fuses, can I solder all three together (after the fuses) and run just one set of wires to the battery out on the tongue? Starting to think might just be better to keep it put inside!

Thanks for chiming in Al and sorry for hijacking Meghan, but hopefully if I can make some sense of mine, by the time you are ready to add on-board power storage, I will have a functional and streamlined method to share with you!

[ScampBum]

Paul...Yup that's do-able as long as each circuit is fused.but I would use a heavy gauge (10 gauge) lead to the battery.

Meghan...My sorry also for hijacking your thread.But here's hoping it helps with your battery/electrical questions.

[Paul Chet]

Thanks a bunch for getting back Al! that 12v wiring isn't cheap. I was getting ready to buy a lot of it off the spindle at Home Depot and the gentleman helping was a retired avionics electrician. he had some interesting advice i thought i would throw by you - he said "it would be a hell of a lot cheaper if you went out and bought some jumper cables for $10 new and re-purposed them for your project." I thought "hey ... now that is clever."

they are like 4 gauge and very cheap plus nicely insulated and meant for 12v wiring. i figure if i get all my wiring business taken care of inside and soldered to the jumper cable wires - i can run the two leads out (using the same existing hole made for the gas line before i reseal it), replace the clamps for terminals to screw down to the battery, it will be a durable, simple, and cost-effective way to get the battery on the tongue.

and ... if I dont blow up my Play Pac, i look forward to sharing all my findings with Meghan!

[ScampBum]

Good idea about using jumper cables.I've even used extension cords for 12 volt wiring,as they are pretty heavy gauge,flexible,and cheaper than bulk prices.

[Donna D.]

You are better off and cheaper in the long run buying 12 volt wire from a vehicle/tug store. O'Reillys, Pep Boys, etc. will sell it far cheaper than a big box home improvement store. This is based on volume of sales. Home improvement stores will sell less 12 volt items than a store where that's all they sell.

As far as using something designed for one thing and used for another... and you're talking about "electricity," please remember... just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

I'm spending $$$$$ having a classic vehicle rewired using spec wire. The OP ran "extension cord" wiring to the tail lights, etc. and I'm flaming' lucky I didn't lose my hi-asset because someone else cheaped out.

YMMV.

[Thomas G.]

I'm adding some wiring and found this speaker wire to be great. Being siamesed is a nice convenience.

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[Riddle]

I need help wiring my 1973 playpac. Does anyone have a diagram or schematic?

[Donna D.]

Jason, don't worry about your brand. Tail lights, marker lights, converters, etc. wire the same. There's nothing special about one brand over the other... other than options. If yours is simple the standard Scamp wiring schematic will serve you well.

[Paul Chet]

I don't think a schematic exists for the Play Pac per se, mine has been modified several times so I don't know how they were originally wired. I'd go with Donna's suggestion. Have you made any progress on your renovation?

[Riddle]

I have made good progress, but the wiring is holding me up right now.