The first of many wiring questions.

[Alaskabear99687]

Howdy, I am starting my first ever TD build this winter and have decided that K.I.S.S. is going to be my first of many rules that I chisel in stone. To that end I have decided to not include electricity for this first one but will go with batt. lights and camp lanterns. What I am thinking about doing is running the electrical (metal) conduiting inside the walls/insulation to points that I would like to have lights, power, stereos, t.v.'s, Disco balls, spot lights and personal sun lamps... Anyway you get the idea, my question is running the tubing thru the walls and capping it at each end a good idea until I decide what to do?

[toypusher]

That is an excellent idea, but I would not use metal. It is too hard to work with. Plastic tubing of some kind will be alot easier.

[starleen2]

Agrees with Toypusher.

[Dale M.]

If you absolutely have to have conduit.... Use flexible plastic its available at places like Home Depot and Lowes.... Primarily used for low voltage and data cables (usually blue in color) ....

Dale

[Alaskabear99687]

Great thanks, I thought there was some kind of building "code" for this. That's why I was thinking of that metal conduiting. If not then using a flexible plastic owuld be much better. Next would be, Do I use regular house coax?

[satch]

Great thanks, I thought there was some kind of building "code" for this. That's why I was thinking of that metal conduiting. If not then using a flexible plastic owuld be much better. Next would be, Do I use regular house coax?

Reg house wire would work, but it is better to use stranded cable, rather then solid, it holds up better with the vibration. Any wires you use ( for 110ac or 12 dc) make sure it will handle to current flow that you are going to use. I used 12 gauge for both ac and dc lines, that is more than enough.

[Dale M.]

If you are going 12 volt only.... Use 14 gauge multistrand wire... Red & Black?

Most often referred to as "primary wire"...

Only rules or codes are "do it safely"........

Dale

[Boodro]

Want some cheap tubing???? How about an old garden hose??
There is NO CODE when building these. Just use common sense & ask a lot of question here.
just question tho , if you take the time to run tubing , why not just run the wire & be done with it??? Just because you have the wire in doesn't mean you have to put the devices in. You can install them later.

Good luck!!

[wannabefree]

My solution is to run wire everywhere I think I might want it. Then I don't have to mess with all that tubing. It all comes to a central well in the floor where I can hook it up later if I want. I'll mark the inside walls where a wire ends so I can find it later.

As far as code goes, you are running low voltage wiring, not house wiring. There is no code for low voltage. Just use stranded, not solid, wire and preferrably something labeled "primary" or automotive. These have more robust insulation than is found on most wire.

If you're cheap or don't have access to the good stuff, lamp cord will work, but you have to keep your + and - straight. Lamp cord always (well, almost always) has some way to distinguish one wire from the other; usually a ridge in the insulation on one conductor, but sometimes a thread twisted into one of the conductors. Some people will probably not agree with me on using lamp cord, but if it's what you can get it works.

I would not use smaller than 16 gauge, 14 is better (wire bigger = number smaller). Fuse 16 gauge at 5A or less (this is very conservative). 14 gauge you can fuse at 7A. This fusing is rather low, but I would rather replace a fuse than rebuild my tear. If the fuse doesn't go the wire will. With current wire prices I'm going with 16 gauge.

One other thought -- stay away from rubber coated wire if you live where it gets hot. The rubber can rot and mice seem to like it more than the plastic stuff.

[tinksdad]

Howdy, I am starting my first ever TD build this winter and have decided that K.I.S.S. is going to be my first of many rules that I chisel in stone. To that end I have decided to not include electricity for this first one but will go with batt. lights and camp lanterns. What I am thinking about doing is running the electrical (metal) conduiting inside the walls/insulation to points that I would like to have lights, power, stereos, t.v.'s, Disco balls, spot lights and personal sun lamps... Anyway you get the idea, my question is running the tubing thru the walls and capping it at each end a good idea until I decide what to do?

If you really feel the need for a Dissco Ball that fits the scale of your trailer, In the past, I have cut up some CD disks with side cutters and glued the pieces to a small styrofoam ball that worked. You will have to come up with your own lighting source and a way to make it spin!!!.

[Miriam C.]

If you go to any auto parts store or big box store and get some 12 or 14 avg you will be good. Run it in some small diameter tube if you think you might want to pull it out some day.

Anything else for 12vdc is way over kill.

As for the vibration That's another thread.

[Mike C.]

We sell what is called "Smurf" tubing, flexible plastic, funky blue color, made by Carlon. Comes with couplings, connectors and junction boxes.
It is good for high or low voltage and comes in 100 ft rolls or 10 ft lengths.

I won't get into the solid vs. stranded discussion. I have sold wire for 33 years and if you are getting enough vibration in a trailer to break a 14 or a 12 solid......well you've got other problems. Maybe if you were running a 24 gauge or 22 gauge, but not 14 or 12. My 2 cents worth.

If it was mine I would run a 12 gauge, solid or standed, you chose. That would cover most, but maybe not all, loads in your trailer. You will need to figure the loads on the devices you are going to install.

[bobhenry]

I used a 12 gage 3 wire extention cord for the ac it was orange. I found a 2 wire black extention cord (used unfortunatly) and utilized it for the dc. The color code makes identification real easy when you get around to wiring. I wish mike had told ME about "Smurf tubing" I had a bad section of the used black wire and had to remove the inner luan to fix it. If I had had the wire in conduit I would have tied on and drug in the new wire with the offending old wire. This would have saved a world of time. I used 1/2 depth carlon boxes and regular duplex outlets and switches for the AC and hardwired the DC lights but put in bayonette fittings so they could be "Unplugged" if needed. The green tape lets me know that it is the negative side.



I purchased blank cover plates and drilled them for toggle switces and rotary switches. The toggles are AC and the rotary are for the dc this was done simply for easy identification of which is whitch in the dark. The same switch will work for ac or dc.