My electrical plan...opinions wanted.

[Lonnie Gillette]

Lacking the ability to provide a complete diagram I will do my best to describe my plan and see if it passes muster. My intention is to use 12V most of the time, however, when shore power is available I would like it to charge my battery and provide a few 120VAC outlets. So here it goes...

I will provide a "pass through" of some kind under the trailer where I can connect a device like this to the shore power outlet in the campground. It will have a circuit breaker and GFCI and be permanently mounted in an inside cabinet at the front of the trailer.


My battery will be mounted on the tongue and I will also mount a battery charger like this in it's own enclosure near the battery.
The power cord for the charger will be fed into the cabinet and plugged into one of the outlets on the above GFCI and the leads will connect to the battery.


Also plugged into one of the GFCI receptacles will be, essentially, an extension cord which will feed two 120VAC oulets, i.e. one in the cabin and one in the galley (and maybe one on the exterior of the trailer?). They will be hard wired at the outlets.
The battery charger and outlet cord will always be plugged into the GFCI but will only become "hot" when the GFCI is plugged into a shore power outlet.


The charging system and the 12V system will be nearly identical to the one that Joanne posted in the, "now famous", thread.

Does this make sense?
Is this safe?
Is there anything I'm forgetting or should do differently?

I've tried to keep it simple but adequate for my needs. I appreciate your comments

Lonnie

[planovet]

Does this make sense? YES
Is this safe? YES
Is there anything I'm forgetting or should do differently? Looks good to me but I will let the electrical experts weigh in. One thing I question is the GFI on the shore power plug. If it rains and the plug gets wet will it trip the whole thing even though everything inside the tear is dry? Once again, maybe one of the electrical experts will know. Good luck!

[Lonnie Gillette]

Thanks for your response Mark. Hopefully some others will chime in. A couple other questions come to mind...

Are there any issues with the proximity of the charger to the battery? Maybe I should mount the charger in the same cabinet as the GFCI? While in use, do those chargers making any kind of humming noises that would disturb my beauty sleep? Do they get pretty hot?

Would the extension cord to the 120VAC outlets be run in the ceiling through the spars, insulation, etc. or should they be in conduit under the frame and come up through the floor?

[planovet]

Are there any issues with the proximity of the charger to the battery? Maybe I should mount the charger in the same cabinet as the GFCI? While in use, do those chargers making any kind of humming noises that would disturb my beauty sleep? Do they get pretty hot?

Would the extension cord to the 120VAC outlets be run in the ceiling through the spars, insulation, etc. or should they be in conduit under the frame and come up through the floor?

My charger and battery are in the same space. No problems at all. That particular charger is very quiet, no humming. And they don't get hot at all.



As far as the extension cord, either way would do. I ran mine through the ceiling but you could run it under the floor. But that is one more hole that lets in water or bugs. The orange on the left is my 120V, I used an extension cord. The white on the right is my 12V.

[Lonnie Gillette]

Thanks again Mark! You've given me a few other things to think about. I assume you put a second layer of insulation in the ceiling and actually covered the wires?

[Miriam C.]

If you make a hole in the bottom you can add some caulk to keep the critters out. You can even screen over it and then caulk. Plan looks good to me. KISS is always good.

[planovet]

Thanks again Mark! You've given me a few other things to think about. I assume you put a second layer of insulation in the ceiling and actually covered the wires?

Yes

[satch]

The GFI (ground fault interupter) would only trip if the plug in points get wet and ground. If the shore plug is covered, and your plug in point on your trailer are in a dry place (inside), you shoud'nt have a problem.

[mikeschn]

As you can see I kept it really simple on the Lil Diner too!



Anything that needed to get plugged in got fed into that little hole on the upper right...

Mike...

[Lonnie Gillette]

Thanks for all the replies everybody Then it's settled. All I have to do now is figure out the specifics of what goes where and how to run the wires. I appreciate it...

Lonnie

[Newman39Fan]

Mike,
Did you just run an extension cord outside for this setup on the lil Diner? Where did you “storeâ€