My truck has been running great, so I haven't posted much lately or asked any questions. And for once I have a question that isn't a mechanical problem.

My wife and I started shopping for travel trailers lately, or maybe a slide-in camper if the price is right. We have decided though to wait until next summer so we can pay cash. For our camping this Fall/Winter we will just use the camper shell. Since we live in the California High Desert, Fall and Spring are the best times to camp, and even winter if we want to spend a weekend in nearby Death Valley.

I have already built a queen size bed platform and my wife is making some privacy curtains for the shell. I would like to add a deep cycle RV battery somewhere under the platform and use it to run multiple lights installed in the shell, fans, inverter, 12V outlets for charging etc...I don't want to be camping in the middle of the desert for 3 days to find that I ran the battery dead by leaving a light on or something.

I was debating on using a simple isolator or one of the voltage sensing ones. I'm also trying to figure out a good place to mount it where it won't get in the way. Basically I would like your ideas on how to do this neatly and also not be too expensive. I know of one site where someone did this, but I think it was overkill since it was for an emergency vehicle with dozens of lights and radios to run.

If and when we get an RV I will probably continue to use it as an additional battery since we are the type that would rather do "dry" camping then go somewhere to plug in for the night.

 

you can get an E-250 battery box (yes, I said E-250) on ebay, and mount it directly on the passenger side chasis I-Beam

 

That would be great! I was worried about pulling the whole thing out when I needed to use the truck to actually haul something. It would be nice to have it out of the way.

UPDATE: Well this thread is pointless now. My wife found a 1978 Layton in awesome condition with everything working for under the lowest NADA value. We wanted a late 70s or 1980s trailer as they are built like tanks from my experience. Went and picked it up last night and the truck towed it great on our 2 our drive home in the rain and dark climbing the Tehachapi pass. Now I'll just have to get advise elsewhere to add a second battery and solar panel to it as well as modernizing the electrical system a little bit.