1972 Hunter Compact 2


Jonathan

New Member
I have recently acquired a 1972 Hunter Compact 2 and may I add it needs a lot of work. I have put in new floor (wood floor rotted out) and am in the process of finding a new door for it. The crank up top has been removed and someone enclosed it as permanent pop up but that's ok, my main concern is that it is wired for 12 volt, it has a breaker box under the kitchen sink but nothing to convert it to 110 volt. Any cheap or ingenius ideas as to how I can convert it to 110 without spending a lot of money on the original converter which, by the way, from a local camper sales and service place they tell me it is around $275 IF they can even find one for that old of unit. Any ideas??
 

Gary B

Senior Member
1972 Hunter Compact 2

Hi Jonathan, welcome to the forum and to rving :laugh: . Lets see if I understand what it is you want to do, you say there is a breaker box so does it have a shore power cord? If so what you want is a 110 VAC to 12 VDC converter? All campers are wired for 12 VDC for the lights, furnace, the refer if it requires 12 VDC, the water pump, any fans, and the 110 VAC generally is for 110 electrical outlets, and maybe a light or two, and the 12 VDC converter if it had one some of the older campers didn't have converters they used a 12 VDC battery for the 12 VDC source. Your camper might not have ever had a converter only a battery and in that case you could just install one of the onboard battery chargers and it would maintain the battery while you are connected to 110. Good luck and happy camping.
:) :laugh: :cool: :bleh: ;) :approve:
 

Jonathan

New Member
1972 Hunter Compact 2

Gary thanks for replying... a lot of unsuccessful attempts to fix and/or alter the wiring on this camper have been done and I apparently am left to fix it right. There is a breaker box with one red wire and one black wire (heavy wire) that come out of the box and run to the front of the camper, underneath the bench seat, where the location for the 12v battery is. They are not connected to anything, just stripped back about 1/4 of an inch and lying there. Now everything seems to work on a 12v battery but I am also curious... should I be using a marine battery instead of the normal car battery? I have heard that suggestion but have not invested in one yet. I think the water pump runs off 12v, the lights do yet behind the small refrigerator (or ice box) there is what you would consider to be a normal home electrical outlet there. I can find absolutely no history on this compact 2 other than it is possible that it had a refrigerator, not an icebox. But if I could install a marine battery, and set it up to charge from the vehicle I am pulling it with, would that work too? Or can I modify the camper to be strictly 12v and would that be better? Again thanks for the help and anything further you could help me with would be greatly appreciated.

Jonathan
Kansas
 

Gary B

Senior Member
1972 Hunter Compact 2

Hi again, I take it that by breaker box you mean 12 VDC breakers? the red and black HD wires sound like battery feed wires to the box. Yes a deep cycle battery is what you want the largest one you can fit in the space, and yes it can be wired to your tow vehicle so it will be charged while towing. Yes the lights and water pump and the furnace all run from 12 VDC. Good luck with the project. :) :laugh: :cool: :bleh: ;) :approve:
 

Poppa

Member
1972 Hunter Compact 2

OOPs. Pull one of the breakers out and look on the side of it. There will be the information whether or not it is 12 volt or 120 volt.

As Gary B said one red and one black seems to lean towards the 12 volt system.

Battery wise buy a 12 volt deep cycle battery like for a trolling motor or a golf cart. Normal batteries do not like to be drained almost all the way down.

Another note as mentioned, I would use the on board battery charger because that leaves you the option of hooking up to shore power for an extended stay without havein to depend on your vehicle to charge the battery
 

Jonathan

New Member
1972 Hunter Compact 2

Ok I'm starting to figure it out now, there is a tag, on the outside left rear of the camper, that states a 112 - 120 volt hook up only. That is directly outside the area of where the breaker box is and they are 120 volt breakers. I haven't hooked up the red and black wires to the new battery yet because we've had a lot of wet weather here and last night was the first dry night so I put new side marker lights on the camper and got them working. Can't wait to try out the new receiver I have... it has polyeurethane bumpers inside the tube where the pin goes through to stop the "thump" "thump" from stopping and starting. Think it's gonna work good. That's the only problem I have with slide in receivers :angry: I did discover that someone put new shocks, springs and hubs under the camper so that saved me some work! Ok better go getting more storms here so will check back later.

Jonathan
Kansas
 

Poppa

Member
1972 Hunter Compact 2

Just a suggestion, Chase those red and black wires down and see where they go to if you havn't yet.
 
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