Lady Tear Droppers, drop in and say "Hello"!

[CAJUN LADY]

HAPPY THANKSGIVING BARB! Have a safe, fun trip.

Rebecca

[toypusher]

Hi ladies,

How is everyone doing?
I have a dumb question and I thought I would run it by you.

Do any of you have a hard time understanding the technical talk in the electrical section, cause I do.

I wish someone had a step by step manual on how they did their electrical work. I know they make diagrams but I have no idea what it all means.

I just wish some one would post every little detail on where they put their, lights, their fan, their plugs both 120 and 12v, where they run their wires, what kind of wires they use, where their fuse panel or breakers or what ever how to ground everthing and how to connect it all.

I have a hard time with all this, this is why I may never have electrical in my TD

Bye
Mandy

I am certainly NOT a lady teardropper, but I read some of this thread sometimes.

Mandy,

Please list just what you would like to put into your teardrop such as lights (how many and where), Vent/fan, outlets (both 12volt and 120 volt and where do you want them), will you have a water pump, outside lights, Air Conditioner, etc.

If you post a list of what you want, then folks can help you better. If you go through the thread that Joanne started, there are some posts that are more simplified that may help. I posted somewhere (can't remember where) how to do basic 12 volt wiring, like how to strip wire and attach fastners to the ends. The wiring in my built is pretty basic and my be of some help to you if you look through my build photos.

Let me know what you want/need and I will try to help you out and maybe just help lots of other folks too!

[Tcurr]

Hope all you lady's get better soon. I am no expert on electric but will try to help if you let me know what you are trying to do.

[mandy]

You are all awsome. Specifically what I want is two seperate systems. I want some plug-ins for 12 v and AC. I want 2 6v batteries mounted on the tounge and have 2 12 v plugs for reading lights in the frount.

I want shore power to come in on the rear driver side, connect it to a fuse pannel and then to a GFCI receptical in the rear of the cabin for a dvd player and a fan.

I am not sure what kind of wireing in need or how to splice it. I don't know how to ground the wires or set up the fuse panel.

I'm one of those show me how to do it people, I need a diagram showing where all the wireing gos in the td then I might have a fighting chance at figuring out how I am going to pull this off.

Thank you all

Mandy

[toypusher]

Mandy,

Dual system? Do you always plan to camp with hookups for power? Or will you occassionaly camp without the hookups? If you will be camping the vast majority of the time where there are hookups then you could get away with just the 120VAC system and use flashlights and other battery powered devices when power is not available.

You will need some basic tools. Wire strippers, wire cutters, wire crimpers, screwdrivers, drill and bits, and possibly a soldering iron(or gun). Some of this stuff may not be needed for the 120VAC, but will be needed for the 12VDC system if installed.

Why are you plannin two 6volt batteries vs one 12volt battery?

Are you planning on installing permanent lights or just outlets for them and will they be 12V or 120V??

What profile are you using? If you have a profile drawing or picture, then you should decide which type and where you want both lights and outlets. Be sure to mark whether you want each item to be 12V or 120V. Then mark their location on the drawing or picture, ensure that if you want one on each side, then annotate that also.

[Chip]

Ladies,,, why yall want to be all healthy and spry,,, ya'll can already out run most of us,, and some of us old pharts are happy to sit in the sun and wait for one or two of ya to run by close enough we can trip ya up wid our cane,,, Come on now,,, I am still chasing but dang it I cant catch em iffin they is healthy,,,, Fake it,,,, the running thing that is,,, heck walk slow,, walk close, and be sure I am awake when ya do,,,,

Yall get healthy but at least let us catch up,,,,

chipper

[mandy]

Thanks for the help Kerry, as for the reason for two seperate systems is most of my time I camp w/o electricity but I would like to have the option if it arises in either situation. I'm still in the planning stage and am leaning to somthing similiar to a generic benroy with a tounge box. I want to keep it simple. I could easly go with one battery I just thought that two 6 volt batteries is what everyone uses.

Thanks
Mandy

[toypusher]

Mandy,

Most people use just one. I use an Optima battery. It is a bit expensive, but produces much less gas which allows me to put it in the galley. I think that most people use a deep cycle marine battery and either put it in a tongue box or in a well vented area somewhere else in the tear.

Try taking the profile of the Generic Benroy and do some planning with a pencil(or with a computer program). Decide and mark where you want what. It will be much easier to plan exactly what you will need and decide if you need something else or even something less. Planning is very important to getting things the way you want them.

I ran a basic 12VDC and an even more basic 120VAC in my tear. The 120VAC only has two recepticles - one in the galley and one in the cabin.

I am working on a document to explain the basics of doing 12VDC wiring and will send it to you when it is done or at least mostly done. I will also do one on the 120VAC in time.

I think we may have to start a new thread for this also.

PM me if you have any specific questions and I will get back to you.

Make that drawing and post it or just send it to me and we can get started.

[Mary K]

Hi ladies,

How is everyone doing?
I have a dumb question and I thought I would run it by you.

Do any of you have a hard time understanding the technical talk in the electrical section, cause I do.

I wish someone had a step by step manual on how they did their electrical work. I know they make diagrams but I have no idea what it all means.

I just wish some one would post every little detail on where they put their, lights, their fan, their plugs both 120 and 12v, where they run their wires, what kind of wires they use, where their fuse panel or breakers or what ever how to ground everthing and how to connect it all.

I have a hard time with all this, this is why I may never have electrical in my TD

Bye
Mandy

Ya know...this is a good Idea. If you can wait a few weeks I can put together a "manual" on how I did my electrical. Unfortunately I also deleted the PM explaining the 120vac power and inlet wiring I sent to Barb.

I think this could help a lot of folks feel more comfortable about the electrical part of building a TD and not be scared off all together from building one.

Of course I will have someone review it for me. I don't want to give any bad advice....ahem.....

What do Y'all think?

Mk

[toypusher]

Mary K,

Ask Barb if she still has it! When you get your manual done, please send it to me (or send as a draft and I will have a look at it for you). I am not an electrician, but know a bit about it. The stuff that I am working on is intended for folks that have absolutly no idea how to do their wiring, or at least I hope that it will be something of that nature!!

[Miriam C.]

Ok guys and girls I started a thread in Electrical. I also started a picture " how to". This is going to take a day or so. I started with 120 VAC because it is what I know. Mandy I will send what I have so far. It is only how to wire the breaker box so far, but it is pretty detailed

When I get through this next round of tests I can work on it some more. Or someone else can add to it, if they want.

[mandy]

Whoo hooo, Mary K and Kerry and Miriam you all are the greatest I know I could have asked this in the electrical area but I was afraid they just roll their eyes at me and say I thought we covered this already.

Yesterday I looked back as far as I could in the electrical tread and just came back more confused than enlightened.

Thanks to all of you.

Mandy

[flygal6]

Mandy,
Looks like Kerry, MK and Miriam have you on the right track. I use the 12v deep cell marine battery which has worked great. I do use shore power most of the time and esp for my CPAP machine (sleep apnea) at night. I'm sure you will have simple diagrams soon.
Thanks everyone for the kind words and get well wishes. Miriam I hope they get stuff worked out for you soon with tests, meds etc, so you can start feeling better soon.
So now so you all can have a good laugh at me. I joined last June and have been so adicted to the site that yes I was checking it and reading stuff and esp showing off my pictures to folks at work. Well guess what....Dah! Big brother was watching oh so closely, so now the site is blocked totally and no more showing my pictures at work Ok I felt stupid and really paranoid. I'm waiting for the big "you are such a bad girl" letter. So far so good, no letter.
So its an after hours adiction now only!
Carol

[Gaelen]

Hey, everyone...I've been so slammed at work I've only had a few minutes to check in.

First--I agree, way too many of us on the disabled list (including me, sometimes, if physical therapy gets too rough) So hey, feel better and be careful out there.

Second--Mandy, I am no electrical expert, but rewiring my camper's 12V system and adding two simple 120VAC outlets is my plan for this winter. I've read a LOT of the electrical threads, and it is confusing...but I like to actually 'see' things like that in front of me, too. Kerry's suggestion about planning on paper is what I've been doing for the last four months (if your back hurts too much to camp, you can at least be doodling!) Until my system is rewired, I'm using battery powered lights inside, a long extension cord, and I'm planning on using one of those all-in-one air compressor/jump starter/emergency batteries. I was flipping between the 700 amp and 450 amp sizes, but the 450 is under 10 pounds, is powerful enough to run a small coffeemaker or crockpot, and is probably all I'll need in the garage this winter (the garage has no lights or power, so I want to be able to have a couple of worklights.) The all-in-one will be useful in other applications after it's no longer needed for the garage or the camper.

But thanks for asking your question, and Miriam, thanks for the thread, and everyone who's pitched in, thanks for the advice.

Third...Mandy, nobody here has ever (publically) rolled their eyes at one of my questions, no matter how basic or silly I think it is. Now, maybe they are rolling their eyes at their computer screens...but hey, that's all their business. So ask away.

Fourth...Flygal, don't take it personally. IT folks everywhere are being directed to close off web access or block forums that don't seem to be directly business-related. The first time they block some bigwig's access to yahoo! finance or some equally personal non-business site, it opens back up again. But the message you get about a blocked site is canned; it's not personal.

If it makes you feel better, I get it at work when O go to the Palm and Microsoft sites TO GET SUPPORT INFORMATION FOR THE IT DEPARTMENT. I sent the 'submit a business justification' message to the Director of one of the informatics group I work with...and magically, I don't get stupid spyware messages anymore. I may be a 'bad girl,' but now I have permission from the boss of bosses.

Now off to work to fix the upgrade that failed last night. I can hardly wait...

[Miriam C.]

Third...Mandy, nobody here has ever (publically) rolled their eyes at one of my questions, no matter how basic or silly I think it is. Now, maybe they are rolling their eyes at their computer screens...but hey, that's all their business. So ask away.

And anyone inclined to do so might want to remember that your face might get stuck like that. Ok back to my couch.