Any comments on the Northstar 650sc popup camper?

[Jim-FallCity]

I'm finding out that due to the coil springs on my 2022 2500 RAM I'm fairly limited on the camper I can safely use. So I'm switching to check out popup campers, which are quite a bit lighter in weight.


The Northstar 650sc caught my eye as a good possibility. Dry weight is 1,650lbs, and fully-loaded weight is ~2,370 lbs - 700 lbs lower than the Wolf Creek 850 I was interested.


Any + or - thoughts on that particular camper?

[MORSNO]

Northstar has made a quality camper for many years, I'd have no problem looking at them myself.

[j.smith]

I have an 850SC on my 2018 Ram 2500 diesel and I like the package. I will be replacing (and upgrading) my springs some day soon just due to age (I have 160k miles, almost every one towing or carrying something). I do have 5000 lb air bags with the onboard compressor, and Bilstein 4600 shocks. Other wise the truck is completely stock. Has taken me everywhere I have wanted to go including 5 trips to the great white north.

The pop up campers and cassette toilets take a little getting used to, get yourself a spare cassette for the times when you just need a little more capacity.

Northstar’s are in my opinion pretty good campers for the price. I have been disappointed a few times trying to get information on how and where things are installed, kinda like the rest of the industry. I think the difference in camper construction these days comes down to the tech that assembles it. It’s almost like the tech is given a pile of parts and it’s up to the tech to run the wires and plumbing as he see’s fit.

If you’re looking at Northstar’s, take a look at Bundatech (sp?) also. Similar designs.

[GS4]

We were looking at Pop-ups first and the Northstar was our choice.
Price is fair and their rep for quality is good.
They've made some good updates since we've looked at them too.

Good luck!

[Jim-FallCity]

Thanks for the reply. I'll certainly check out the 850SC. I haven't physically gotten into a 650SC yet, but from the photos the dinette looks extremely cramped. Looking at the 850SC photos the dinette looks much more roomy.


What accessories did you get? Heading up to Alaska toward the end of summer is on my wish list.

[j.smith]

Originally Posted by Jim-FallCity

Thanks for the reply. I'll certainly check out the 850SC. I haven't physically gotten into a 650SC yet, but from the photos the dinette looks extremely cramped. Looking at the 850SC photos the dinette looks much more roomy.

The 850SC feels much larger than the 650, the floor length for the 850 is 8’6”. I have a short bed so it hangs out the back about 20” so I carry stuff I don’t want inside the truck or camper on a rack in the rear receiver hitch (under the overhang). I think what I have is a 24 x 60 rack and can fit the generator, a spare 20 lb propane tank, hoses, blackstone grill, etc there.

What accessories did you get? Heading up to Alaska toward the end of summer is on my wish list.

Living in Texas an air conditioner is mandatory. I have installed 300 amp hours of lithium batteries, a 2000 watt inverter, soft start for the a/c, power jacks, and a wireless observation camera. I also carry two small dehumidifiers to keep the humidity in check. I can run the a/c 8 - 12 hours off the batteries, or the dehumidifiers for a couple of days before I need to worry about charging. I have a single 170 watt solar panel (will probably expand this to 400 watts in the future), and the alternator provides 30 amps at high idle or going down the road with no electrical modifications to the truck. I have a diesel truck so if yours is gas you might get different results. Humidity control can be difficult so you always need to have air moving thru the rig or be using a dehumidifier, although this is true for all small campers.

One thing to remember is that the charging line from the truck to the camper is not isolated when the truck is not running, so if you are not careful you could run your starting batteries down when you are using things in the camper. For an overnight I don’t worry about it, more than a couple of days I unplug the camper from the truck or pull the trailer charging fuse.

[Jim-FallCity]

Thank's for taking the time to respond and give great advice. Excellent idea on the trailer hitch rack. I like that! What generator do you have?

[Stircrazy1]

Originally Posted by j.smith

Living in Texas an air conditioner is mandatory. I have installed 300 amp hours of lithium batteries, a 2000 watt inverter, soft start for the a/c, I can run the a/c 8 - 12 hours off the batteries, .

can you clarify this statement a bit more. a normal RV A/C draws about 1600 watts when running (some a little less some a little more, we are in the truck camper section so I will assume the lower end of about 1450 watts. a 300 amp hour lithium has approximately 3840 watts at the nominal 12.8V. divide that by the 1450 running watts of the smaller A/C's and you get 2.6 hours of run time, with out taking any losses or power use into account. the 175 watt solar will add a bit during the day, maybe another 15 to 20 min of run time.

so what I am wondering is did you find a lower power A/C unit, and if so share it with us so we can all run out and buy one.

[j.smith]

My a/c is a 9000 btu dometic, I have modified it to only run when needing to cool instead of the fan running continuously. I have measured the current draw at 400 watts when running. Does not need to run much to cool a small truck camper. Don’t try to hang meat inside, just cool enough to be able to sleep and dehumidify some. I doubt you would be happy with the 9k btu unit in anything other than a small truck camper.
Looking at what I previously wrote I see where there could be a little confusion, I should have said I added 300 AH of lithium batteries, the 850SC comes with a single 100 AH.

[Stircrazy1]

Originally Posted by j.smith

My a/c is a 9000 btu dometic, I have modified it to only run when needing to cool instead of the fan running continuously. I have measured the current draw at 400 watts when running. Does not need to run much to cool a small truck camper. Don’t try to hang meat inside, just cool enough to be able to sleep and dehumidify some. I doubt you would be happy with the 9k btu unit in anything other than a small truck camper.
Looking at what I previously wrote I see where there could be a little confusion, I should have said I added 300 AH of lithium batteries, the 850SC comes with a single 100 AH.

I'll have to see if I can find more info on it. do you know the model number of it?

the smallest they list on the web page is 10.5 which is still over 1700 running watts. all the compressors on the 10.5 and up seam to be in that 8 to 9 amp range and the fan is about 4 amps when running.

that would work in pretty much any non slide TC I figure.. I don't need air very often but it would be nice to have it even if its for that one weekend a year.

[RKCRLR]

Originally Posted by j.smith

One thing to remember is that the charging line from the truck to the camper is not isolated when the truck is not running, so if you are not careful you could run your starting batteries down when you are using things in the camper. For an overnight I don’t worry about it, more than a couple of days I unplug the camper from the truck or pull the trailer charging fuse.

I have auxiliary switches in my truck. I pulled the power fuse for the 7 pin connector and used a 1/8" spade terminal to connect a wire from one of my aux switches to the fuse box (I have a 2024 Ram, the fuse boxes maybe different in the earlier models). I set it so it is only live when the ignition is on and I can turn it off if I want.

You could do something similar with a relay and switch if you don't have aux switches. You may be able to find an used switched power source in the fuse box and jumper to that if it is capable of 30 amps or piggyback one. Or you could just put in a switch capable of 30 amps and manually control it. Don't forget an inline fuse if you do any of these.

[j.smith]

Originally Posted by RKCRLR

I have auxiliary switches in my truck. I pulled the power fuse for the 7 pin connector and used a 1/8" spade terminal to connect a wire from one of my aux switches to the fuse box (I have a 2024 Ram, the fuse boxes maybe different in the earlier models). I set it so it is only live when the ignition is on and I can turn it off if I want.

You could do something similar with a relay and switch if you don't have aux switches. You may be able to find an used switched power source in the fuse box and jumper to that if it is capable of 30 amps or piggyback one. Or you could just put in a switch capable of 30 amps and manually control it. Don't forget an inline fuse if you do any of these.

I do have the aux switches, that is a clever way to solve that problem, I will keep it in mind, but am leaning towards a 60 amp DC to DC converter. If I really run the batteries down it takes a very long time to charge them with the 400 AH battery bank.

[j.smith]

Originally Posted by Stircrazy1

I'll have to see if I can find more info on it. do you know the model number of it?

the smallest they list on the web page is 10.5 which is still over 1700 running watts. all the compressors on the 10.5 and up seam to be in that 8 to 9 amp range and the fan is about 4 amps when running.

that would work in pretty much any non slide TC I figure.. I don't need air very often but it would be nice to have it even if its for that one weekend a year.

So, I’m working from memory so bear with me. I am not able to find the model number without taking the cover off, i do not know where I have put it, but will send it to you if/when I find it again.

When I started down this path I tried to identify the unit because it just did not cool as well as I expected it to. Dometic kept telling me the model number I had was incorrect. I was having other work done and asked the tech about it and was told that he believed it was a unit they made for a very short time, was not received well so they just dumped them and want nothing more to do with them. At the time that answer was good enough for me so I never pursued it further.

When I was selecting batteries and inverters I was initially looking to power appliances and the like but had the camper in my driveway plugged in and running so I plugged it into a kill-a-watt meter and was very surprised (and pleased) that I was seeing 400 - 600 watt load with the a/c running.

When I am traveling I normally stop for about 6 hours to rest. If it is cool enough, I will just run the dehumidifiers. If too hot I will run the a/c. If I am going to be stopped for days then I either run the generator, stop where I can plug in, or if it is just too hot I’ll get a room. We rarely have days here where it is cool and not humid, but on those rare days I just open the windows and let the breeze blow thru.

When this a/c requires replacement I will probably increase the battery bank if needed to be able to give me the ability to run the replacement a/c for a minimum of 6-8 hours. It is very convenient to be able to stop for a short time without having to mess with the generator. Lithium batteries are now cheap enough to make this possible for a small camper, and are getting cheaper every day.

There you go, that’s everything I know.

[Jim-FallCity]

Originally Posted by RKCRLR

I have auxiliary switches in my truck. I pulled the power fuse for the 7 pin connector and used a 1/8" spade terminal to connect a wire from one of my aux switches to the fuse box (I have a 2024 Ram, the fuse boxes maybe different in the earlier models). I set it so it is only live when the ignition is on and I can turn it off if I want.

You could do something similar with a relay and switch if you don't have aux switches. You may be able to find an used switched power source in the fuse box and jumper to that if it is capable of 30 amps or piggyback one. Or you could just put in a switch capable of 30 amps and manually control it. Don't forget an inline fuse if you do any of these.

I have the AUX switches in my 2022 2500 RAM and appreciate your tip.