{Ultimate Camping} Trailer - the mobile kitchen/power plant

[AlienSKP]

A design question: why is the 12 VDC power to the pump wired in series with a relay coil that controls 12 VDC to the fridge? The way it's wired, every time you turn on the water pump, the fridge goes off.
That's not a good idea especially if the fridge is a real compressor-type fridge, not a peltier cooler. The constant cycling of the compressor power will unduly wear on the compressor and motor.
And the voltage drop created by the relay coil may be such that you haven't enough voltage to run the pump with enough water flow for your use.

Hi Chas
Thanks for your comments. I really appreciate it.

I forgot to mention (but everyone understood) that I AM NOT an expert in electrical design lol

About the fridge, I thought that it would have been a good idea to turn off the fridge when the pump is on to avoid heavy load on the charge controller. Apparently it wasn't
I bought this fridge, and I have no idea what kind of fridge it is. My understanding of fridge is: there are good 12V fridges and there are crappy 12V coolers As far as I understand, it's a compressor fridge.
I can get rid of the relay if you tell me it will damage the fridge..

For better understandability, you should use conventional schematic/wiring diagram symbols for things like terminal strips. It's difficult to evaluate the design as you've drawn it.

I don't really know it. My knowledge is very limited..

It also looks as though the negative side of your batteries are not connected to your common ground except through the charge controller. That is not good wiring practice. Your grounds should all tie to one common point or bus. That way if your charge controller fails, your entire electrical system doesn't go down.

I have 2x12V batteries in parallel. + with + and - with - . This diagram is not correct regarding batteries. I'm going to fix this ASAP.
I will add a ground connection to the chassis, is it fine ?

Again, thank you very much

[AlienSKP]

Also your volt meter is in series with out put of charge controller (in +PV lead) ... Volt meters are a parallel arrangement meter, one side need to be tied to PLUS (positive) side of circuit and other side to MINUS (negative) side of circuit...
Ammeter is wired ok at this point....

Hi Dale ! Thanks for your input. You're helping me a lot.
So I shall put the Voltmeter in parallel with the solar panels, right ? is the one in the updated diagram ok ? (I changed the image in the post)

And why at least 6 ground bars.... Technically you only need one large one.... And everything (12 volts and ground) should source from a single point not multiple bars scattered around trailer, these cause multiple (excess) connections and each extra connection is a additional failure point...

OK I didn't know that. In this diagram, I used ground bars to split circuits, I'll try to use less in the next version.

You are also somewhat indication your batteries are in series, are you using 2 6volt batteries in series to get 12 volts or are you using 2 12volt batteries for 24 volts..... Think you want to indicate 2 12volt batteries in parallel...

this diagram is not good for batteries. I have 2 12V batteries in parallel. + with +, - with -.
Is this one better ?

Screen Shot 2015-01-30 at 11.48.30 AM.png (10.06 KiB) Viewed 2015 times

You have one light (LED) circuit going through 4 switches and 3 fuses ... "WHAT?"

1st switch and 1st fuse are the main power switch/fuse. It's possible to get rid of the main switch as I can switch everything off using the battery switch.. but the fuse needs to be here, isn't it ?
2nd switch and fuse are the main light switch/fuse. I want to be able to switch off all the lights in one switch.
and then the following fuse is the fuse for the two outside side lights (one on each side of the trailer)
these 2 lights can be switched on/off from the kitchen, and then there will be one outside switch on each side close to the light. I need these 2 switches because I plan to install a hammock stand on each side, so these lights will be used as 'bedside lamp'
I don't see the problem here, it's what I require. Is it a problem ? I mean except your personal consideration of overdesign. Again, I AM NOT and expert in electrical system at all. I know a bit about electronic, but that's it.

With your zeal to have awesome design software you have made it over complicated and quite a few mistakes....
Kind of wonder what else is wrong if one takes a hard look at your schematic...

You refer at this other thread where I complained about trolling, and I can feel a bit of disdain. Sorry if I hurted your feelings. It is true that it might be over complicated, and I'm open to any comments and advice to help me doing a better job.
I have a lot of stuff to plug together, I have some very specific requirements, and I spent a lot of time sketching with pen and paper and using photoshop to make a design.
This software I found is VERY helpful and instead of arguing about it, take a look at it and I'm sure it will be of some help for you as well the next time you want to design a wiring diagram
My project is here

I'll update with zeal my overcomplicated diagram in a couple minutes.
Thank you for your comments, Dale. And thank you again

[Socal Tom]

for the fridge, it should have a dedicated circuit to the battery, with a rather substantial guage of wire ( at least 10, and possibly . If you do that then the pump draw will be of little consequence.
Does the refer have a built in low voltage sensor? If not you might look into whether you should have one ( or at least a warning alarm). Some motors can be damaged by extended low voltage operation.
Tom
I have a waeco CF 35 fridge, the amp draw while running is fairly high, but it runs very infrequently. on a 75/55 degree day, I can go a weekend without charging my batteries when in refrigerate mode ( when full of cold stuff).
Tom

[AlienSKP]

I posted pictures of the V3 design. It should be close to what I'll build

Do you like it?

[AlienSKP]

{Ultimate Camping} Trailer - Building of the interior

March 7-8

So finally, Mother Earth decided to bring temperature above -25F (5C), so I can get back to work in the garage.
I went to get a couple skids, lay down the frame on them and started working.
It took some time to bring all the parts from the basement and to set up my workshop. Now I'm ready to do it !!!

Kitchen countertop was cut to fit, I cut the hole for the sink too.
As the saw was warm, I also cut a piece of wood to give it a L shape, it will go at the back of the countertop, vertically. All the electric parts will go on that part, and it will also help to insulate the fridge from the rest of the trailer. I still have to seal that piece before I can use it.

I spent some times to start working on the electric system. I will surely have to create a thread to ask TNTTT guys a couple questions about my terminal blocks, as I'm really not satisfied with them.

Here is a couple pictures of last week-end work :


layout of the back : fridge at the center, right drawer, left drawer and countertop


Countertop has been cut for the sink. I love the black & chrome !

March 14-15

Spent the week to varnish the countertop with a lof of thin layers of outdoor varnish (outdoor polyurethane). It's now all glossy and shiny.



Drawers are close to be ready for install. I prepared the slides and attach them on the drawers, I still need to decide the spacing between the front and the drawers and screw them in place. I might varnish the top again, like I did for the countertop. I also need to finish the left drawer to install the gas stove and make it more stable.

[AlienSKP]

{Ultimate Camping} Trailer - Wiring !

I started to connect all the stuff.
If you haven't read my post about the design of the electrical system, see that post (and read interesting questions from people)

So I have to connect :
* 3 nice marine flexible 100W solar panel
* a MPPT charge controller
* a mini 12V fridge
* a water pump
* a fan to cool down the fridge (and it's thermostat to control the fan)
* a lot of LED lights (3 "ceiling" lights integrated in the kitchen door, 2 side lights, and some fancy LEDs around the countertop
* USB and cigarette lighter sockets.

Last week-end, I've cut, stained and varnished a wood panel where I'm gonna screw all my components.
This week, and today, I've worked hard on it and it's close to be ready to install in the trailer.

And now, picture !!!


Your comments are welcome.

I really HATE using terminal blocks like that, if you have better ideas, feel free to comment that will really help !
thanks

*** EDIT ***
I've just plugged the fridge, the pump, the thermostat and the fan and it's working ! yeeeha!
Here is a quick video of it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRoD9PcKxt4