Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

In a cargo trailer coversion, your thoughts on solid or stranded electric wiring?

Thanks

Johnnie

Stranded; look at ANY car or trailer and you will find stranded wire. It's also easier to work with. Solid is for homes.

Where to buy stranded 12/2 110 volt electric wire?

Johnnie

Johnnie
As far as I know romex 12/2 wg is not made with stranded wire unless you use 14 or 12 SO/wg which is rubber coated like an extension cord.
12 THHN is what I have used it has a thermal plastic coating which offers some protection from chafing it is one wire made up of many strands.
and comes in many colors red, black white and green ect.
the plastic coating will with time come loose and look like a snake shading it's skin if the sun's uv hits it.
stranded wire is more forgiving than solid wire when it comes to bending and vibration.
I will say I used THHN because I could get it free in lengths I needed.

just try to protect any wire you use from rubbing on anything.

Pete

There's alot of folks, me included, that are using extension cords. I calculated that 10/3 would be nice to have in my toy hauler with the AC and 45 amp panel. When I looked at 10/3 romex, well, I wondered what else I might try I picked up a 100' 10/3 extension cord with a triple end from eBay for $60 delivered. I only used 60' of it, so now I have a 40' 10 gauge extension cord too



The blue wire in the image is the extension cord. The sheath around it is very robust and much more difficult to penetrate than Romex sheathing.

If you're doing a smaller build, any old extension cord will do. I had an old 12 gauge laying around with both ends cut off. It had an abrasion in the middle, so that's how a jobsite safety guy will "disable" your cord for you at the Space Center. I've used it all over the hauler for wiring on outlets and such.

Good luck

I second what Pyrofish said. I bought a 100' 12ga extension cord and cut what I needed out of it. Eventually I will use what is left over for an extra extension cord. It easy to work with and will withstand a lot more vibration than Romex. Lots of tt's are wired with Romex, but I think it's more because of cost. Most agree that stranded has better vibration resistance.

Ok stranded is best, allways has been in mobile applications. I have allways soldered the stranded wiring connections with 12 volt stranded wire. Do you all solder the 110 volt stranded wire?

Thanks Johnnie

I didn't do mine, but I'm not done yet. I bought some solder wire nuts, and solder butt-connectors. They're supposed to work with a heat gun, but I've ended up melting them clean through all 3 times I tried to use them...

I'm sure I'm just using too much heat... or too close... or too long under the heat...

I used BX cable. Its solid copper wire in a galvanized steel jacket. I used that because pretty much every cargo trailer I've seen with factory 110v wiring was wired with the same stuff. Most commercial travel trailers are wired with standard solid wire romex. If installed right the wire really shouldn't be flexing. I also don't really think the vibration is all that big of a deal as long as the connections are solid. Maybe the main reason for them using it in trailers is it dissipates heat much better then stranded wire.

If you want to use stranded wire for your wiring I'd probably go buy the stuff off the roll at your hardware store vs cutting up extension cords.. I forget what they call it. I think its something like so cable. It has very thick heavy insulation. Some extension cables have thicker insulation then others so I guess if you can find a good quality cable its probably fine. I don't think any of them are rated for permanent installations though..

You want the most strands touching each other if you use wire nuts.

soldered wires would be harder to "wrap" light wires to the extension wires.

but soldered wires would work better when hooking them to a 120 volt outlet screw or a toggle switch (light switch).

your on the right track.

Pete

8ball said "is it dissipates heat much better then stranded wire." actually stranded which has more exposed sides would dissipate heat better.
think block ice vs cubed ice.

I have ripped many factory made travel trailers apart for various reasons and every one of them had solid wire for the 110 circuits. I think for the small amount of traveling (movement) you all should be fine with solid household wire for 110 circuits. Keep in mind that all manufactured trailers are certified by UL and another RV certification that won't come to mind at the moment...lol.

I'm sure solid wire is fine too. I just know that 100' of 10/3 romex was $120 at my local Blowes. 10/3 heavy sheath extension cord from eBay, $60 with free shipping, and a left over 40' heavy duty extension cord. Just too good a deal to pass up. If I had found solid wire for a good deal, I'd have bought that.

I used 14/2 romex. Ive used it in a work trailer that got bounced down the road every day for about 7 years, and never had an issue, so I figured id be ok for a seldom used trailer.

Note: my work van is also ran for 110 using solid romex, and ive put about 193,000 miles on it. With no issues. Wired it once, did it right and forgot about it. Ymmv


CW