A toyhauler cargo conversion

[Gadget Man]

Pvangel

If your tow vehicle has the round 7 prong plug, you should be able to look on the plug cover flap and see if one terminal says 12V
This 12 volt wire goes straight to your battery, not through this power converter. (use a nice heavy wire)
You do not need the power converter to use the charge function from the tow vehicle.

Make a list of your 12 volt wires and mount them in the box accordingly, so you will keep all the 15-20 amp loads together, like 15 on top and 20 below.
(see my fuse picture)
I used the same Power Converter you have, it's worked well, and I have no complaints. I did have to trim the plastic front panel to get the breakers to fit.
When you're all finished it should look something like this...









Good Luck

Gadget Man

[pvangel]

GM, Love the floor and thanks!
If I hook up the trailer plug 12v right to the battery will it overcharge the battery? How does it know the condition of the battery?

[Stanbiker]

GM, Love the floor and thanks!
If I hook up the trailer plug 12v right to the battery will it overcharge the battery? How does it know the condition of the battery?

Your truck will be regulating the voltage. Be sure to install an isolation solenoid to prevent the trailer from discharging your truck battery when it's not running.

[pvangel]

What a great site! Anything you need to know is here, so I read up in the electrical section on wiring and found this which makes a lot of sense,



After reading about the grounding of the 120v system and that it should not be grounded to the frame of the trailer( but some people have without an issue) but will be grounded through the plug (which makes sense to me), what about on my EU1000? where is the ground then? I don't camp anywhere it can be plugged in so will rely on Gen/battery for my use. I would plug it in at home to keep the battery charged which will provide a ground then, but not camping.

[capt4903]

I have personally felt the effects of an ungrounded trailer frame...grabbed the door knob of an aluminum skinned job-site trailer and just about wet myself....lucky......in my opinion, I would bond the trailer frame to your 120v grounding system....if one of your 120v hot wires gets chafed and makes electriclal contact with frame or skin it will become energized....without it being properly grounded, your circuit breaker will fail to operate.....minor case, shock...worst case, electrocution or fire......the trailers are on rubber tires, most of the time with wood or plastic under jacks to keep them sinking into the ground....isolated from the earth.....you touch the frame or skin while standing in the damp grass and become the path to ground......

in regards to your generator, there should be a grounding lug on it to hook to a driven ground rod....most people wont bother with driving a rod.....once again, circuit breakers will fail to operate......

Ive been on the electrical forum on this website and its scary to look at some of the cobbled up installations.....

yours is looking like a well planned out design.....overcurrent protection on each cicuit......

Im not an expert, but have spent about 15 years in the electrical trade and 5 years through an I.B.E.W. apprenticeship program......

just my 2 cents....

[pvangel]

[quote="capt4903"]I have personally felt the effects of an ungrounded trailer frame...grabbed the door knob of an aluminum skinned job-site trailer and just about wet myself....lucky......in my opinion, I would bond the trailer frame to your 120v grounding system....if one of your 120v hot wires gets chafed and makes electriclal contact with frame or skin it will become energized....without it being properly grounded, your circuit breaker will fail to operate.....minor case, shock...worst case, electrocution or fire......the trailers are on rubber tires, most of the time with wood or plastic under jacks to keep them sinking into the ground....isolated from the earth.....you touch the frame or skin while standing in the damp grass and become the path to ground......

in regards to your generator, there should be a grounding lug on it to hook to a driven ground rod....most people wont bother with driving a rod.....once again, circuit breakers will fail to operate......

Ive been on the electrical forum on this website and its scary to look at some of the cobbled up installations.....

yours is looking like a well planned out design.....overcurrent protection on each cicuit......

Im not an expert, but have spent about 15 years in the electrical trade and 5 years through an I.B.E.W. apprenticeship program......


First the generator, had it for years and never noticed the ground connection.



And you are right, I am not driving a ground rod down every time i use it. Although, I have a friend that does spray waterproofing and they drive a ground rod next to there truck before starting the generator and to keep the truck grounded because of static electricity and explosions.

So my issue in my tiny brain has been why ground to a trailer frame that is not grounded itself, maybe grounded to a battery but not "grounded". Even hooked to the truck there is no grounding.

But... If I did ground to the frame and then made sure my jack or stabilizers were down and even welded a short rebar or grounding rod to the foot then my frame would be truly "grounded" when I run the generator or even double grounded when plugged into the house.

What do you think?

[CurtMarsh]

To properly use the genset, the lug on the front of your honda should be grounded to the frame of the trailer. When on shore power the grounding will be from the trailer frame to the ground bar in the distribution panel and that is grounded to the main power source through the bare or green wire in your cord. Curt

[pvangel]

Ok, So I just make up a small lead wire that i can clip to the trailer when I plug it in. Sounds good, and easy! Thanks.

[capt4903]

the receptacle, generator frame, and ground lug are tied together on your genset.....you will still need a proper ground rod or plate (sized to N.E.C. spec's) for a safe installation when your power cord is plugged into the genset......

the trailer frame needs to be bonded to the ground lug in the trailer panel......keep the neutral bar and ground bar separate....they will be tied together at the transformer or first panel in the commercial power system or at the genset on temp power system.....

if an unbonded frame or metal skin gets energized, you can become the path of least resistance when you touch it while standing on the earth.....resulting in shock or electrocution....

dont confuse the 12 volt negative terminal as "ground"........

hope I've explained things well enough.....

[roadinspector]

http://www.noshockzone.org/category/rv-safety/

This site has a lot of good information that is worth reading. Hope it helps.

Earnest

[pvangel]

Wealth of information, thanks guys! I think I have a plan now...

[pvangel]

Boring delivery from Mr. Brown today but one more piece of the puzzle, the battery box and i got some 12/2 out of the dumpster(yes I'm cheap) for my (grounded) 110 outlets.

[pvangel]

Anybody ever use one of these?

[jmsokol]

After reading about the grounding of the 120v system and that it should not be grounded to the frame of the trailer( but some people have without an issue)

I'm Mike Sokol, the author of the NoShockZone articles on RV electrical safety at http://www.noshockzone.org. I'm very curious about where you read that the 120v system of an RV should NOT be grounded to the frame? That's completely untrue per all RVIA and NEC guidelines. You MUST have a low-impedance connection from both the frame and the body of the RV to the safety ground contact of its shore power connection.

Also, ref generator "grounding", the NEC does not require that portable generators are grounded. However, I personally think it's a good idea and have designed a portable "grounding mat" that should work quite well for portable use. I'll publish plans on this design soon.

However, everyone should be aware that your portable generator itself may not have the Ground/Neutral bond that your RV's electrical system requires. That's because an RV's electrical system must keep its Neutral and Ground buss's separated internally. While many contractor generators include the G-N bond, typical suitcase generators, such as the Honda inverter series, definitely DO NOT have this internal G-N bond connection. This problem can be solved with simple G-N "kludge" plug in one of the generator's outlet, or simply wiring a short generator cable with an internal G-N bond. I have confirmed this with Honda, who state that they expect the G-N bond to be done externally, and a ground rod driven in the earth as required by local code.

Also, here's a quick way to test your RV for a hot-skin condition using a NCVT (Non Contact Voltage Tester) such as a Fluke VoltAlert. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8h64X33aKg

More on this later, but I just want to make sure you guys all stay safe with your wiring.

[pvangel]

Mike, I spent hrs reading about wiring a trailer here and other places one day recently to educate myself in doing my trailer properly, electrical work is not my forte'.
I don't remember where I read it but I believe it was here in the electrical section. The problem with reading about it is that people write about putting a "G-N "kludge" plug "(what the heck is that?) so you have to google what that is and then read more technical articles which not having an electrical background can make it more confusing.

I do know that ground and neutral are different but what is confusing to me is that if you ground to the frame and the frame is not grounded and the generator is not grounded then it is not "grounded" and if you touch the skin you will ground it. I run my suitcase generator all the time at the track running a big fan and charging phones and never get a shock and it is not grounded? I had a class C motorhome with a generator on board that was not grounded and there was no issues? I guess if there were a + or hot line in either situation frayed or open somehow across some part of the frame than there would be an issue.

I can't see driving a ground rod if I am at the track for 4 hrs and want to start the generator so my plan is to make my jacks (3) my grounding rods, to make sure there is continuity I will run jumpers to the feet and a small ground rod welded on the bottom. So at least I can put the front jack down in a couple seconds and have a safe ground and when staying somewhere for a couple days all 3 jacks would be down anyway.

I have to say I agree with you 100% and read a bunch of your articles (as Roadinspector suggested) and need to read more on the subject .