Wiring diagram for the second battery on a camper special

[bumt72]

I know I have asked this before at the old place but does anyone have a wiring diagram for the second battery on a Camper special? Or even a working set up? Da BUMT was set up for it at one time but a previous owner did away with most the wiring.

[Tim P.]

My camper special had that setup when I purchased it 8 yrs ago however i removed it due to constant shorts in the system. it was orginal and it shorted out several voltage reg,s batteries, and the silonoids. once i removed the box and related wiring,..... problem solved. however you can purchase a new system. it will come with instructions to install it properly and maybe a new one would be better that salvaging an old one,--- it might save you some headaches and several $$$. as a side note unless you're going concourse with this truck it might be better to shed 20 or 30 lbs. off the weight of the truck since they are not petro friendly at the gas prices we are paying today, as you know the FE's are torque mosters and that comes at a price in this day and age. Hope this helps, Tim.

[bumt72]

Thanks Tim, would you know where I could purchase the wiring harness?

[Tim P.]

Let me get back to you on exacts as i do not want to send you on a chase trail I dont know the exacts and it has been awhile since I,ve looked into this Item. Tim. I do Know that they exist.

[bumt72]

I found the second battery wiring while looking for something else, Painless makes them, not sure it's worth $120 to me. One a side note do you sill have your left hand battery tray and if so what kind of shape is it in and how much do you want for it?

[Tim P.]

Kep your on the right track with painless. excellent company to deal with, very good products. my truck had a very heavy duty plastic type tray in it. not sure if i still have it. I will look for it and let you know. you can purchase one thru lmc or dennis carpenter, or jc whitney. they just bolt thru the inner fender at the bottom and comes with the hold down hardware. to find an actual oem is a tuffy unless you're going concourse. the aftermarket is a nice setup. Tim.

[NM5K]

Myself, I'd probably just buy one of the aftermarket battery isolators, if you are going to mount the battery to stay. Many places sell them. Most rv/camper outlets, J.C. Whitney, maybe even some auto parts. The good part about using the isolator, is if you leave a device on and drain a lot of current, it will drain off the 2nd battery, but leave the first battery fully charged. That way you never have to worry about starting. I often use two, sometimes even three batteries, but I run them all separate, except for charging them up. I don't mount the extra batteries, as I often tote them around. I mainly use the extra batteries for powering my ham radios, but also a TV and VCR when camping. I use anderson powerpole connectors for all battery cables, and all my radios. Those connectors will all plug into any other one. So say if I want to charge one of my extra batteries, I just unplug my radio from the truck power, and plug the cable from the extra battery to the truck battery/charging system. When doing that, I charge both batteries at the same time. Oh BTW...$120 seems high to me for just a 2nd battery wiring setup...Shouldn't have to pay anything near that if you can handle a bit of the wiring. MK

[willowbilly3]

I think the original set up used a constant duty relay that looks almost like a starter relay so when the truck is running both batterys are in parelell but when the engine is shut off the camper only drains the auxillery battery. And basically an isolater does the same thing only does it a different way. The last isolater I installed was on a 78 Chevy school bus I had and I never could make it work right. Something about the way that truck was wired but I can't remember now. Anyway I have installed several on Fords with no problems just following directions.