Wiring a Little Guy Teardrop Electrical

[DaveandDebbie]

Hi all, just today found this unit online. I have not tried it yet but it sounds pretty good. Designed for a car, it contains DVD player, TV tuner and AM/FM radio. It outputs 50W per channel so the only other things we would need are the flip down monitor and a pair of speakers.

http://www.allaudioexpo.com/nav/details ... &catid=159

Regards, Bill

Thats a great price and it has it all maybe its time for an up grade here check this out they are really coming down http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Mf ... 0082899155 I paid more than that for 10.4" monitor 2 years ago

[wlooper89]

Hello Keith,

My trailer was purchased built but the electrical only consisted of two or three interior lights on AA batteries, besides the 4 wire tail lights, etc. from the tow vehicle.

I am pretty well settled on the DC wiring thanks to your help and that from many others. Still unsure what to do about the AC side of things. Mainly I just want an AC outlet in the galley area and one in the cabin. Shore power goes into a box on the trailer tongue, which contains a battery and charger/converter.

My question is how to run the AC wires safely? Do they need to be in a metal tube if they go under the trailer or if they run inside the trailer? And would one use normal house wiring cable? I imagine we do not have to meet residential codes but we do want to be safe.

Thanks, Bill

[wlooper89]

I have added a photo of the nearly completed control panel. Our cat is also in the picture. She stays in an attached screen room tent or inside the tear with us. It has taken several months to design and build the electrical system, but it is almost ready to go into action. Most things such as lights and AV system in the tear will run on 12V DC, but there will be 120V AC outlets for when shore power is available. Our trailer is a double-wide Little Guy platform model.

Bill and Patricia

[Micro469]

I have added a photo of the nearly completed control panel. Our cat is also in the picture. She stays in an attached screen room tent or inside the tear with us. It has taken several months to design and build the electrical system, but it is almost ready to go into action. Most things such as lights and AV system in the tear will run on 12V DC, but there will be 120V AC outlets for when shore power is available. Our trailer is a double-wide Little Guy platform model.

Bill and Patricia

Your going to have to explain that picture to me, because the only thing i recognize is the switch.......

Edit..Oh Yeah, and the cat.....

[deserthawk]

Hello Keith,

My trailer was purchased built but the electrical only consisted of two or three interior lights on AA batteries, besides the 4 wire tail lights, etc. from the tow vehicle.

I am pretty well settled on the DC wiring thanks to your help and that from many others. Still unsure what to do about the AC side of things. Mainly I just want an AC outlet in the galley area and one in the cabin. Shore power goes into a box on the trailer tongue, which contains a battery and charger/converter.

My question is how to run the AC wires safely? Do they need to be in a metal tube if they go under the trailer or if they run inside the trailer? And would one use normal house wiring cable? I imagine we do not have to meet residential codes but we do want to be safe.

Thanks, Bill

Hi Bill,

I have a six wide little guy with platform and we dropped a metal coax complete with wire down through the expanded metal and then strapped it to the plywood underside with U-straps. It enters the cabin and galley areas from holes drilled from the underside and the coax metal housing continues right to the electrical boxes. These are finished off with wood or aluminum covers. I picked up the wire/coax combination from Lowe's. This works best to keep road chemicals off the wiring and it makes for a clean install.

Hope this helps,

Deserthawk

[deserthawk]

Oh yeh.....we cut a hole through the left side wall about 2" above the fender to install a 550 AC unit. This works well because there is a lot of extra space in a six wide after dropping in a queen size mattress. The AC Unit is given added support by a hardwood block bolted between the fender and air conditioner. This keeps the AC from bouncing while on rough roads. You could also install the AC in the galley area but there is little space there as it is.

Deserthawk

[Alphacarina]

It has taken several months to design and build the electrical system, but it is almost ready to go into action. Most things such as lights and AV system in the tear will run on 12V DC, but there will be 120V AC outlets for when shore power is available. Our trailer is a double-wide Little Guy platform model

That is one ingenious 'rig' you've made there - I'm sure it will do the job just fine

I'm presently installing the electrics in my 5 wide Little Guy and it includes an inboard Optima Yellow Top, mounted in the passenger side rear corner - I've never cared too much for the look of tongue mounted battery boxes . . . . besides, my 2 KW Honda genset is going to reside permanently on the tongue. My window shaker is also inboard mounted, venting the hot air out the back - I had to lower my license plate light and bracket a little to fit the vent

Don

[wlooper89]

Wish I had gotten the 5 wide, but the six wide goes into my garage or mini-warehouse with a little extra effort. I am adding a photo of the Delta box on the trailer tongue. This will hold the electrical control panel, vented battery box, converter, slim 11 lb propane tank, and Halon fire extinguisher. It is tight but just fits. I realize some of these items should not ordinarily go in the same box, but I do not plan to charge or use the battery when shore power is connected.

We will set the propane tank by the picnic table for the Coleman stove. I am still trying to figure out how to attach the newly arrived PetCool. There is an area near the taillights that looks promising for the inlet and return lines, behind a panel that covers that area.

Bill and Patricia

[wlooper89]

Hi,

Great ideas for the Lttle Guy improvements from all your posts. My Petcool attaches with hoses from the outside, not as neat an installation as the one described earlier for an AC unit above the fender. Hopefully the hoses from the Petcool can go in on the side at the rear, behind the panel that covers the tail lights. So far it seems the unit itself will have to sit on the ground in use and be transported on the platform or inside the trailer.

This is all somewhat down the road as I am still working on getting DC and AC wiring from the box on the platform back to the tail area.

Regards, Bill

[wlooper89]

I have added a photo of my new digital voltmeter and switch mounted in a hand made box. The box will be placed on the inside of the lid of the electrical compartment on the trailer tongue.

I am not sure how to interpret the gage, but presume a lower voltage reading would indicate it is time to find shore power for the converter or Battery Tender to charge the battery, or to charge enroute from the tow vehicle.

My next step is to install some 12V reading lights and then a DVD player with flip-down screen. Everything seems to take much longer than I expect.

Bill

[07rascal]

Just picked up our Little Guy Rascal last week and are planning on getting 12v lights (1 dual) in the cabin and (1 dual) in the galley installed, also plan on getting a 12v power port in the cabin and also 2 in the galley. As for the power source, seeing as how the Rascal is lightweight....and I mean lightweight....460lbs....we are going to use a small 12v power pack (for jumping cars) and use one of the 12v ports in the galley for the connection. This way when we get set up all we have to do is plug a male/male cord from the pack to one of the 12v ports in the galley and we have power to all of the 12v points. The pack is small, 10" x 6" x 12", and will sit in the galley when in use and will store in the trunk of the car when not needed or traveling. As for keeping it charged...it will charge itself while traveling, plugged into the cars power port with the same male/male patch cord.

As for the 120v, I think were leaning to a power strip under the cabinet in the cabin and route a cord from it out the floor in the back drivers side corner with a male plug on it secured up under the trailer. This way, all we would have to do it plug an extension from it to the shore supply at the site. All we can ever see a need for the 120v for is heat from a small ceramic heater or elect blanket in the colder camping months.

Simple is what were going for to keep the equipment light so as to add very little weight to our unit but make it a bit more convenient. I will take some pics and put them in our album when I get going on it in the next couple of weeks!

Great board and ideas.....sure glad I found it!!!

Terry

[07rascal]

Well....we installed the 12v part of the system today.....I have added the pic's to my Album. Install went pretty smooth...took a few hours...most of the time was trying to route the wires as clean as possible, without getting to obsessive about it! I still may add some trim to hide a bit of the wiring but overall this portion is done. Light in the cabin is a GREAT improvement over the sorry 6V battery eaters that it came with.

The 120v will be next and I will also post those pic's for those who may be interested on how we did ours.

Terry & Lisa

[wlooper89]

Wow, great pics of a super trailer. I am plugging along and your enthusiasm is an inspiration. Bill

[07rascal]

Wow, great pics of a super trailer. I am plugging along and your enthusiasm is an inspiration. Bill

Thanks, Bill

I added the pics for the 120v wiring to my Album. Simple way of getting pwr in from the shore supply and not blowing a hole thru the new trailer for the power cord to come in thru!!

[wlooper89]

New photos in our album show the completed electrical system for 12V DC and 120V AC. With the platform model Little Guy I was able to put most of the electrical things in a keystone shaped box on the trailer tongue. A 30 amp shore power cable plugs into the side of the box. Inside the larger box is a battery box vented to the outside. The battery is 110 AH deep cycle. The 25 A WFCO converter sits in a small frame on the battery box and is secured with Velcro. Also in the electrical compartment is a homemade control panel that contains a Battery Tender. Other items are a slim 11 lb. propane tank, fire extinguisher and attached to the inside of the lid are a work light and DC voltmeter. The propane tank is there for transportation only. We usually use it at a picnic table or a folding "Camp Kitchen" table. All the added lights are 12V, although we left in place the AA battery ones.

We recently spent a long weekend in north GA and it was great to have the lights and outlets working. We used a small microwave in the galley and an oscillating fan in the screen room tent. In cooler weather we can use an electric blanket. We decided not to install the PetCool for now because we want to leave the trailer door open for our camping kitty. She goes back and forth between the attached tent and inside the teardrop. We are not sure now if we want to add the 12V DVD player with flip-down screen. We might get more use from an AC TV/DVD in the screen room. Or maybe both. When I discussed the TV-in-the-screen-room idea with Patricia just now, she thought it might make too much noise for campground neighbors. She is probably right. Maybe headphones?

We very much appreciate all the help from this group during the design and building of our trailer electrical.

Bill and Patricia