Scared of electricity!!!

[alloffroad]

I will be wiring the trailer soon and I am nervous about it. I want to have full climate control (heat and air). I will run 110v and 12v in it. Should I run seperate wiring for each or can I run the same wiring for everything. I have a small generator that I will use for 110v. What about solar charging for a 12v battery. Or solar to operate devices during the day (i.e. radio) I will not have a T.V. Has anybody used wind to charge batteries. O.K. I have to stop. My mind is going a thousand miles a minute. Let me know what you use and what devices you run.

I already have an idea of using a normal wind mill with a v-belt and an alternater attached.

[cablerunners]

Hi,

Yes, you must run separate wiring for your 12VDC and 110VAC. They are two different systems.

Go slow and look at each system separately. You should start by making a wiring plan.

If you look a it one segment at a time, it's alot easier...

You Can Do It!

-phil

[eamarquardt]

Hi,
Your question anounced in bold letters your unfamiliariy with both ac and dc electricty. I would encourage you to find someone familiar with both types to help you. You can hurt yourself and perhaps someone else if you don't do it right. Please get help.
Hope this helps,
Cheers,
Gus

[Micro469]

Might also be a good idea to have someone experienced to look at your work before you cover it up......

[bobhenry]

Might also be a good idea to have someone experienced to look at your work before you cover it up......

Here is one of the best aids I can offer for the 12 volt dc side of life It was invaluable to me.

Thank Joanne it's her excellent handy work !

[Dee Bee]

I will be wiring the trailer soon and I am nervous about it. I want to have full climate control (heat and air). I will run 110v and 12v in it. Should I run seperate wiring for each or can I run the same wiring for everything. I have a small generator that I will use for 110v. What about solar charging for a 12v battery. Or solar to operate devices during the day (i.e. radio) I will not have a T.V. Has anybody used wind to charge batteries. O.K. I have to stop. My mind is going a thousand miles a minute. Let me know what you use and what devices you run.

I already have an idea of using a normal wind mill with a v-belt and an alternater attached.

Even 12 v DC can cause harm if not understood.
The DC wires need to be able to carry the max. amp load you expect. Otherwise the wire will overheat, melt insulation and cause a fire. The DC system needs to have a catastrophic event fuse at the source, ie the battery.

This protects the entire system against an unexpected amperage discharge - "short circuit". DC wires need to be connected securely. In most situations, this means solder them.

I recommend reading all the info at this link as your basic lesson in DC 101.
http://www.ccis.com/home/mnemeth/12volt/12volt.htm

I am not an electrician. Here is what I did. At the end I had an electrician friend check it out for me.

http://www.nfdc.net/home/cbdb/Teardrop%20Electric.htm



Having said all this you can learn and do this. Have someone check it out before you connect the battery.

Happy and safe camping.

Dee Bee

[Steve_Cox]

I will be wiring the trailer soon and I am nervous about it. I want to have full climate control (heat and air). I will run 110v and 12v in it. Should I run seperate wiring for each or can I run the same wiring for everything. I have a small generator that I will use for 110v. What about solar charging for a 12v battery. Or solar to operate devices during the day (i.e. radio) I will not have a T.V. Has anybody used wind to charge batteries. O.K. I have to stop. My mind is going a thousand miles a minute. Let me know what you use and what devices you run.

I already have an idea of using a normal wind mill with a v-belt and an alternater attached.

You are considering a fairly complex electrical installation for someone that is scared of electricity. I take it that scared, means unskilled or lacking knowledge to work safely following electrical codes. It is important to know what you are doing when wiring. The knowledge can be gained through these pages with the many tutorial type postings. If you don't want to take the time to learn first, serious injury or death is a possibility. Not just to you but anyone that ever sleeps in your teardrop. That being said, if you aren't sure about your capabilities, have someone else that is qualified do it for you or with you.

_________________

[Miriam C.]

There are lots of folks using air conditioners and heat without fancy wiring.

You can use a full breaker box and GFCI or you can get a grounded, breakered, GFCIed cord.

You start by making a wiring diagram like those above. Then you will know what size wire to buy.

See the sticky's a the top of the forum. I started a thread for pictures of how to that has some good stuff in it.

http://tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?t=20164

This was done a few years ago and is wonderful
http://tnttt.com/viewto ... c&start=90

[alloffroad]

Thanks everybody for your help. I will deffinately read first and then I will have an electrician look at it before hooking to power and covering it up. This is one area that I never got a chance to learn, but it seems the time has come.

[Alphacarina]

You are considering a fairly complex electrical installation for someone that is scared of electricity. I take it that scared, means unskilled or lacking knowledge to work safely following electrical codes. It is important to know what you are doing when wiring. That being said, if you aren't sure about your capabilities, have someone else that is qualified do it for you or with you.

I agree, 100%

If he needed to ask if 12 volts and 120 volts should be done separately, then it's time to call in a professional to either do it all, or offer some hands on training, QC the job to ensure the project will be safe to use

You wouldn't do your own gall bladder surgery with no medical knowledge - It isn't much safer to do your own wiring with no background in electricity. They won't allow you to do it when building a house and for good reason

Don

[Miriam C.]

A good learning tool. Probably more than you want to know.

http://www.williamson-labs.com/basic-ele-pt-1.htm

[reiltear]

I would be very cautious using that web site. While fun to look at, there are too many mistakes to make it an authorative reference, imnsho. Too many to list here also.

[Miriam C.]

I would be very cautious using that web site. While fun to look at, there are too many mistakes to make it an authorative reference, imnsho. Too many to list here also.

List a few and I will be happy to pull it. I didn't read the site through (should have).

I really don't believe normal wiring is beyond the novice. Integrating solar and 12 vdc may be a challenge. I certainly have trouble thinking in 3's.

[eamarquardt]

I haven't done any of my recent surgeries (11 unsuccessful) and hopefully I'm done with them for good. I do, however, usually remove my own stitches.

Cheers,

Gus

[reiltear]

I'm sorry Miriam, I didn't see your response sooner.

First, the "ampmeter" is actually called an ammeter. Then, the battery depiction does not represent a real one(could be irrelevant in this case) and the negative pole has little green pluses drawn instead of the customary minuses. I'm also not so sure that using the word "holes" with respect to the positive pole of the battery is appropriate. This terminology is from the semiconductor theory. Moving on to voltage dividers. The second one(75 ohms in series with 25 ohms) is actually a 4:1 divider and the voltmeters should read 1.125 volts across the 75 ohm resistor and .375 volts across 25 ohms. In order for voltmeters to read what they do in that picture, the 75 ohms needs to be 50. May not seem like that much of an error, and at the same time, if our electrical and electronic devices were designed like this, cars, TVs, computers, etc., simply would not work. In the section on "I Current" there is a mention of "hole flow". The holes actually never flow anywhere, except as a philosophycal concept maybe... And to top it all off, I'm not a big fan of "lamp licking" jokes.

Hope this helps, Ilya