A toyhauler cargo conversion

[jmsokol]

Got my "bond" or ground in laymans terms, double lock washers and double nuts, second is a nylon locknut,

In this context you can call it the "frame ground". Looks good!!!

[roadinspector]

Ditto on the looking good!!

I work cheap for myself too. If you don't go over budget, you did something wrong.

Earnest

[pvangel]

Colder than a titches wit in NY tonight but promised myself I would spend at least an hr after work everyday even if I just cleaned the garage so I did! Even did some of the mundane chores like drilling out washers for wheel chock spacers....real exciting...but one step closer...

[hankaye]

pvangel & jmsokol, Howdy;

Got my "bond" or ground in laymans terms, double lock washers and double nuts, second is a nylon locknut,

In this context you can call it the "frame ground". Looks good!!!

In the above, are you refering to bonding the Trailer frame to ??? what ???
There is no reference as to where you, pvangle, installed the bolt, washers and nutz.
Would be kinda handy to know the where... at least for me.
Thanks for taking the time to educate me a bit.

hank

[pvangel]

So in preparation of my wiring I drilled a hole in the frame in a area that will be inside my base cabinet which I will attach my frame ground.



The frame is all welded together and the skin is attached with a couple hundred of screws so should be continuity throughout.

After installing the plywood I now have a ground terminal to attach too.



I will be attaching my junction boxes where the wires come through the cabinet and my converter will be cut into the cabinet on the left.

[pvangel]

I have a plan in my head(which is not so easy to get out)which I believe is correct but will get started on that later, still have some of the bull work to get done.
It's about 10 deg outside tonight and if I run this small electric heater it is at least bearable inside, made a bunch of measurements tonight so I can order materials for the walls etc.

[pvangel]

I have to order some diamond plate and even the thin stuff is expensive so I wanted to do a sheet layout so I didn't waste any material($), this will pretty much use up all the material with no waste.



3 sheets of 4'x8'x .090 should do it.

[jmsokol]

In the above, are you refering to bonding the Trailer frame to ??? what ???
There is no reference as to where you, pvangle, installed the bolt, washers and nutz.
Would be kinda handy to know the where... at least for me.
Thanks for taking the time to educate me a bit.
hank

One problem we've seen with some trailer manufacturers is that they paint over the "frame ground" bonding point before they run the bolt thru. This creates a high-impedance ground-to-frame connection that can easily fail with an open circuit, and which can then allow your trailer to go "hot-skin" with voltage potential on the frame or body. That's very dangerous, especially on an all-metal body trailer. See http://www.noshockzone.org/rv-electrica ... -hot-skin/ for my article on this subject.

To answer your question about what get's bonded there, it's ONLY the safety ground buss of the trailer's breaker box (typically the box itself) AND the green safety ground wire from the incoming shore power cord. You must NEVER connect the white neutral wire of the shore power cord or the neutral buss inside the breaker box to this frame bonding point. All modern circuit breaker boxes include an isolated neutral buss with a green "bonding" screw you can use to tie the neutral and ground buss bars together. But you must NEVER use this G-N bonding screw in a sub-panel CB box, which is exactly what's inside your trailer.

This is according to the NEC and the RVIA electrical specs. In fact, all building sub panels are supposed to be wired like this as well, with the Ground and Neutral buss wires separated. The only place where the Ground and Neutral are to be bonded together is at the main service panel where the earth grounding rod also connects.

[pvangel]

Mike, when I get closer I would like you to review my install, I do understand what you are saying but would love your expertise on my final product.
I have not bought my converter yet but figured there would be a wiring diagram included. This is what I intend to buy or something similar.

[jmsokol]

Mike, when I get closer I would like you to review my install, I do understand what you are saying but would love your expertise on my final product.

I'll be glad to help.

[pvangel]

Thanks Mike!

So.... whats the difference between a 55amp(WFCO 8955 RV Trailer Power Center Converter 55 amp New WF8955PEC) and say a 20 amp model, What is the amp rating for? I think I only need a 20 or so but am not sure? Is it the charger rating?

[jmsokol]

Thanks Mike!

So.... whats the difference between a 55amp(WFCO 8955 RV Trailer Power Center Converter 55 amp New WF8955PEC) and say a 20 amp model, What is the amp rating for? I think I only need a 20 or so but am not sure? Is it the charger rating?

The 55 or 25 amp rating is for how much 12-volt DC current it can supply. Some of it will be used to charge your battery, of course. But most of it will be used to run your 12-volt DC appliances while operating from 120-volt shore power. For instance this 12-volts will power your low-voltage interior lighting, television set, furnace blower, water pump, and anything else DC. Of course, short-term current draw above that 25 amp rating will be provided by the battery for a while. But if you use more than 25 amps of 12-volt DC power continuously, then you'll eventually drain your battery to zero. Of course, if you have a rooftop air conditioner it will be running directly from your incoming 120-volts AC, and certainly not from your 12-volt DC supply.

Remember there's about a 10:1 ratio of 12 volt amperage to 120 volt amperage, so 25 amps of 12-volts DC equals about 300 watts, and that equates to only 2.5 amps draw from the shore power cord with 120-volts AC. Luckily, most of your lighting will now be LED which draws very little current, and even blowers on a furnace or a fantastic roof fan may only draw around 3 to 5 amps of 12-volts DC. I would think that any small trailer would keep its 12-volt draw below 25 amps total unless you're doing something like powering a ham radio transmitter with a few hundred watts output.

Does this help explain it a bit?

[pvangel]

Yes it does, I had figured that all I needed was at the most 25 amps but that was in a feeling not any fact. I will have 4 ceiling lights,4 under cabinet lights(no led's), water pump and fantastic fan so 15 amps at most? and then the charging of the battery.

[pvangel]

Work gets in the way of life way to much.....

Went to the Depot to get my other upper cabinets while they were still on sale, so have 2 30"x18 for above the base cabinet and 2 36"x12" for above the couch.



And got 5 sheets of FRP, 2 were damaged on the ends but I knew that the front panels would only be 6' tall so I would be cutting them off any way and got them for 50% off, that and the $40 off on the cabinets saved me $75.00 today...



Hopefully it is warm enough tomorrow to work on it.

[pvangel]

FRP dust everywhere! Garage stinks of fibreglass as well but an getting it done even though it is FREEZING out today, I put the heater on at 7 am in the trailer and after a couple hrs it was pretty warm in there.



I read the directions and it said to cover the whole wall with a notched trowel, takes a lot of glue! (I did cover it all after this photo)



Looks good!





I will trim the top and diamond plate is going on the front.