electrical wiring questions

[Aaron Coffee]

Just thinking about three steps ahead of myself, but am thinking of drilling holes in my frame crossmembers to run wiring trailer lights and 110 and 12 volt. Will then run wiring under the trailer. On the 110 will I need to run the wiring in conduit or not. I will only have one run of 110 from gallley to front for air conditioner.
Thanks

[Tombstonebilly]

I think running wires thru the frame is a lot of work and a chance for a problem shorting out. Why not run all wires in elec. pipe. The galv. pipe shines up real nice.

[sdtripper2]

Tombstonebilly:

Danny = halfdome, Danny has good idea

See pictures below~
Danny ran his along the ceilingand then covered the wire race way.

This could be helpful if you have problems down the line.

I think Danny's instillation of wire, protects and hides and for trouble shooting
has many benefits.

How ever you run wire be sure to think about standard color code and
labeling the ends of your wire as you run it. If you don't you may have
some gnashing of teeth or someone else who has your trailer could have issues later on.

[bobhenry]

Just thinking about three steps ahead of myself, but am thinking of drilling holes in my frame crossmembers to run wiring trailer lights and 110 and 12 volt. Will then run wiring under the trailer. On the 110 will I need to run the wiring in conduit or not. I will only have one run of 110 from gallley to front for air conditioner.
Thanks

Do your self a big favor and run all of the wires in conduit yes 12 volt and 110 ac .
I used 3/4 pvc plumbing pipe. With the 45's and 90's and tee fittings it is easy to custom design a chase from point to point. with a few nylon ties it can be fastened to the frame without drilling and will protect the wiring from snow and ice buildup as well as road hazzards.

For those with tube type frames use the frame as a chase. In the unlikely event a hot wire would rub thru and make contact with the frame nothing will happen UNLESS you are using the frame for a ground source. I ran dedicated wire grounds to each fixture and each run to a grounding buss that grounds to the tow vehicle not the frame. The only way a chaffed hot wire would short to the frame is if a ground wire was also chaffed and the both connected to th frame at the same instant. If you can accidently make that happen buy a lottery ticket.

[Miriam C.]

See Bob's and make sure you have an insulator "something" to protect the wires from the frame at the hole. Something that won't come out or get a hole in it. I would use elect. conduit personally. MHO.

[brian_bp]

...For those with tube type frames use the frame as a chase. In the unlikely event a hot wire would rub thru and make contact with the frame nothing will happen UNLESS you are using the frame for a ground source. I ran dedicated wire grounds to each fixture and each run to a grounding buss that grounds to the tow vehicle not the frame. The only way a chaffed hot wire would short to the frame is if a ground wire was also chaffed and the both connected to th frame at the same instant. If you can accidently make that happen buy a lottery ticket.

I added the bold to show where I see an issue:

Whenever the trailer is hitched to the tug, the trailer frame is (poorly) electrically connected to whatever structure of the tug the hitch is bolted to. Since the grounds are connected to the tug... the tow vehicle structure is connected to the frame. Some trailers (probably accidentally) depend on this, as they have no working separate negative ("ground") connection for their tail lights.

Is someone buying a lottery ticket?

[bobhenry]

...For those with tube type frames use the frame as a chase. In the unlikely event a hot wire would rub thru and make contact with the frame nothing will happen UNLESS you are using the frame for a ground source. I ran dedicated wire grounds to each fixture and each run to a grounding buss that grounds to the tow vehicle not the frame. The only way a chaffed hot wire would short to the frame is if a ground wire was also chaffed and the both connected to th frame at the same instant. If you can accidently make that happen buy a lottery ticket.

I added the bold to show where I see an issue:

Whenever the trailer is hitched to the tug, the trailer frame is (poorly) electrically connected to whatever structure of the tug the hitch is bolted to. Since the grounds are connected to the tug... the tow vehicle structure is connected to the frame. Some trailers (probably accidentally) depend on this, as they have no working separate negative ("ground") connection for their tail lights.

Is someone buying a lottery ticket?

Duh!

Boy do I have egg on my face. You are absolutely right.