Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I've been reading thru this section and the electrical section looking for an answer to my question but haven't had much success. Actually, the more I read the more confused I get. I'm going to wire my CT with 110v. The 110v is being supplied by a generator to a breaker panel via a 30a or 50a shore cord hard wired at the panel. My question is concerning the panel itself. Here is a pic of the panel and the wiring diagram on the inside of the panel. My initial thoughts were, shore cord black to the top lug, jumper to the 2nd lug, white to the bottom lug, ground to the optional ground lug not installed yet. On my circuits then it would be black to the breaker, white to the bottom lug, and ground to the ground lug? Any comments/suggestions would be appreciated!

This would depend on if your going to use a 30 amp or 50 amp cord. If your using a 30 amp cord then yeah connect it like your talking about with the jumper wire connecting both legs to a single 120 volt black wire.. If your using a 50 amp RV cord you will have two black wires both carrying 120v each so no need for the jumper. Really no need for 220v in a trailer though..

Thanks for the reply. You've confirmed my thoughts on that 50a cord having 2 black wires. I don't have the cord yet but that's what I figured. My generator has a 30a outlet on it so I was thinking about staying with a 30a cord for convenience.

You can use a 50 amp cord and only use a single black and still use the jumper like you would for the 30 amp cord. But really I'd just stick to 30 amp inless you need 220 or inless you really need that much power. The biggest issue with using a 50 amp cord and using both blacks is if you use an adapter to plug into a 30 amp outlet half your circuits wouldn't work. At the same time using a 50 amp cord and only using one of the hots its kinda of a waste..

I'm planning on wiring 4 20a circuits and a light circuit. That leaves me with a couple extra circuits for future improvements. Generator's only capable of 5500 watts so I can't get too carried away.

The amount of breakers you have doesn't really matter all that much. Its kinda of like a house. You might have 500 amps worth of breakers in your breaker box at home, but if you have 200 amp service thats the limiting factor.. Your generator or the breaker in the outlet box will be the limiting factor almost like a main breaker in your house.

I have 30 amp in mine and thats plenty for a microwave and roof AC, ect. I only have two 20 amp circuits though. Mind you my generator is only a honda 2000i. Most of my stuff is 12v. That way I don't have to be plugged in or have the generator on for lights, radio, ect to all work.

Since I've came to this forum and learned much. I re-did much of my electrcial to make use of a WFCO 25 AMP CONVERTER to run 110 and 12v battery system. I run lights and many items from battery power. and run the refrig while traveling from an inverter off the battery if the trip is going to be longer. I like my system.
on a couple trips I have run a Coleman 2500 generator for the frig on longer trips. It's not the best thing to do while mobile for me.

Here is a site I like it explains how the 50 amp plug works. http://dasplace.net/RVWiring/wiring.html
If you use a 30 amp plug it only has three wires black-white-green, the 50 amp cord has 4 wires red-black-white-green
one leg of the 50 amp cord red or black supplies 120 volts to the second Air conditioner in big rigs the other leg red or black supplies the lights, receptacles etc.
note the part about the white wire carring the difference between the red and black wire.
both red and black pulling 30 amps white wire carries zero (0) amps.
if the red is pulling 30 amps and the black is pulling zero (0) amps the white wire would be carring 30 amps.
if you use the 30 amp cord and wire the panel they way you say it will work
I think you want to uses what you have instead of buying another breaker box
I was an electrian for 45 years I would get the proper panel for the job.
pete

Wolfscout wrote:Since I've came to this forum and learned much. I re-did much of my electrcial to make use of a WFCO 25 AMP CONVERTER to run 110 and 12v battery system. I run lights and many items from battery power. and run the refrig while traveling from an inverter off the battery if the trip is going to be longer. I like my system.
on a couple trips I have run a Coleman 2500 generator for the frig on longer trips. It's not the best thing to do while mobile for me.

Thanks for the input. We're using this trailer to pit out of at R/C races. The plan is to pit 4-5 guys out of it. I wasn't planning on wiring any 12v as all of our stuff is 110v or we already have power supplies.

pete42 wrote:Here is a site I like it explains how the 50 amp plug works. http://dasplace.net/RVWiring/wiring.html
If you use a 30 amp plug it only has three wires black-white-green, the 50 amp cord has 4 wires red-black-white-green
one leg of the 50 amp cord red or black supplies 120 volts to the second Air conditioner in big rigs the other leg red or black supplies the lights, receptacles etc.
note the part about the white wire carring the difference between the red and black wire.
both red and black pulling 30 amps white wire carries zero (0) amps.
if the red is pulling 30 amps and the black is pulling zero (0) amps the white wire would be carring 30 amps.
if you use the 30 amp cord and wire the panel they way you say it will work
I think you want to uses what you have instead of buying another breaker box
I was an electrian for 45 years I would get the proper panel for the job.
pete

The panel box is new, and I'm not opposed to returning it. What panel should I have gotten?

nitro_mt_racer wrote:The panel box is new, and I'm not opposed to returning it. What panel should I have gotten?

The panel you have is a 220v panel. Which is exactly what you need if you were going to use a 50amp 4 wire cable. If you plan on using a 30 amp cord which only is 110v and has 3 wires then a 110v panel is all you need. It really doesn't matter though Either will work the same. The advantage to your current panel is if you ever decide you need more you can make it 220 and use a 50 amp cord..

Im using this panel, it holds breakers for a D/C and also A/C breakers both, comes from midnight solar " Baby box". You can even install the breakers upside down if you need to. The Box is $30, breakers are $10-15, bus bars are $15.



Its so small, you can almost fit it into your pocket, don't know why you would need more then 20 amps in a trailer ? Are you planing to install a 30 gallon water heater, welder or a spa maybe ?




http://overthetopcargotrailer.blogspot.com/

8ball_99 wrote:

nitro_mt_racer wrote:The panel box is new, and I'm not opposed to returning it. What panel should I have gotten?

The panel you have is a 220v panel. Which is exactly what you need if you were going to use a 50amp 4 wire cable. If you plan on using a 30 amp cord which only is 110v and has 3 wires then a 110v panel is all you need. It really doesn't matter though Either will work the same. The advantage to your current panel is if you ever decide you need more you can make it 220 and use a 50 amp cord..

Haven't totally decided yet 50a vs 30a. Panel was purchased based on price ($17) and the fact that I knew it would work for what I needed. Should never need 220 but you never know.

OverTheTopCargoTrailer wrote:Im using this panel, it holds breakers for a D/C and also A/C breakers both, comes from midnight solar " Baby box". You can even install the breakers upside down if you need to. The Box is $30, breakers are $10-15, bus bars are $15.

Its so small, you can almost fit it into your pocket, don't know why you would need more then 20 amps in a trailer ? Are you planing to install a 30 gallon water heater, welder or a spa maybe ?

http://overthetopcargotrailer.blogspot.com/

My panel was purchased because I don't expect to use 12v and the price was right, $17 for the panel, $3.45 for the breakers, $10 for the buss bar and lug.

I'm using my trailer to pit out of at r/c races. Expecting to pit 4-5 guys using 20a per pair of guys. Also running one circuit for the 5th guy which would also include a scoring system, stereo amp for the PA system, printer, and a laptop. All the lights would be on their own circuit. Planning 5 4' florescent fixtures for the trailer. Would be interested in LEDs if I could find some that put out enough light to work by and not cost an arm and a leg. 4' florescent lights are $20 each with the bulbs. Eventually will install an lcd monitor and gaming system to take up the down time at the races.

Well had you said that sooner, then we all would have told you, that a min of 50 amps at 220 volts is required. Generally under the NEC the system would be increased to 125-150% if it will be a continuous load.
If you are using compressors , power tools like tork wrenches etc.
I would also guess you would need 12,000 watt or larger generator. Ie 6000 watts at 240.

If you run less, then your compressors and electric tools will see greatly reduced life or performance.

30 amps at 110 won't do jack.

In general with 20 amps you could pull out 1500kw per month, that's what a guy in Texas uses with his AC

At my house I use less than 300kw for me and the wife per month.