30 amp conversion: Roughly what I'd need

[Wild-Surfwood]

  So I started taking my galley apart to replace the sink faucet and take out the water holding tank. Tank is actually in good shape and fittings looked updated, but I think I'd enjoy getting a couple gallon container and plug it in with a pump faucet. Dual faucet would be nice for city water too, but the reviews on the Atwood replacement have not looked good.
  Where was I......oh ya, as I starting taking things apart I noticed rust and more rust on the steal that holds the galley together. The wood under the fridge was shot. And I just started pulling and labeling everything. The fridge does not work on electric either. At this point I'm at a point, where do I stop. It's all connected. Interesting how these are built. I hate rivets, and you get a feeling of what it was like to construct one of these back in the day. Now at about , two in the morning I get the bright idea of upgrading electric. I want to run the usual appliances. Coffee pot, electric hot plates, fans, fridge, additional lighting, and a few things here and there. Without shorting. Can I get one of the 30 amp converters and run some wire to upgraded receptacles and that's about it? I want to add more plugs inside, light outside, and plug outside. I have read through quit a few posts on this subject and I'm not really electrically inclined. Do have some buddies in that area though. Saw this converter on ebay, and I know you can get these cheaper, but I have not seen any cheaper at the moment. Can I get something like this, a few fuses, wire, receptacles, and be on my way to cleaner safer electric ? 😀 Thanks.

     http://www.ebay.com/itm/331295225425

[kanega]

I used a small electric pump, 12 VDC for the water tank and a separate facet for the city water.

Now 30 amp service, requires 10 gauge wiring which is what my OEM power cord is, a separate breaker inside the trailer for safety and a disconnect, then smaller breakers for other circuits.

[count me in]

took my sink and holding tank out altogether, added 2 way fridge and 12K BTU Hydro flame, replaced all particle board (garbage, surprised it lasted as long as it did) with marine plywood.  kept the cook top though. and swapped the original 15A converter for a 30A converter out of a much newer slide in truck camper that was wrecked.

[Wild-Surfwood]

Thanks for the help guys. I think I have 10 gauge wire too. The socket next to the back of the fridge is pretty interesting. It looks like it splits the juice and is a power socket. They just pushed the wire in and it spliced it. There is a small plug on the bed end wall with two smaller wires running to it. It had a small back plate and allows me to slide the wires into the camper, are these wires for the lights?
  So I should be ok with a converter like the one on eBay, some wire, and breakers? Also a shut off? Thanks again. Oh, and I was thinking of getting the heater tested somewhere and maybe "tuned up". Can the metal pipe that runs out for the exhaust be replaced? Looks like the only peice on the heater that is rusted.

Scott

[Redwood]

Scott,
  Here is a diagram of how I wired my 30 amp breaker box. The only ten gage wire I used was for grounding my breaker box to the frame of the trailer. The wires to hook up the plugs to the breaker box I used 12 gage Romex wire. As you can see from the diagram I used a 30 amp main breaker and the 20 and 15 amp breakers for my lights and wall plugs. I also installed a outside GFI wall plug on the front of my trailer so we could have power on the outside by the door.
  Along with a breaker box you also need to change the power cord to a 30 amp cord to carry the power to the breaker box. It wouldn't make sinse to have a 30 amp breaker box and still use the old 15 amp cord for power.
  On the second half of my breaker box was 12 volt hook ups if you want to run a battery and have more 12 volt wires and fuses.

 
 







 

 

[Wild-Surfwood]

Thanks for the info and diagram. What is the neutral bar . Is the ground just a thick copper wire like the one I have now? Mine just goes to the frame. No ground bar or neutral bar. What is the difference in wire? Is one better than the other or easier to install. Can I use the existing wires from my heater to a breaker? Should it have its own or can I use the outside plug and outside light on the same one? I also like how you have a plug for the outside to bring power to the trailer. Instead of fishing a 25 foot thick wire out of the service area.  Thanks again.

Scott

[Wild-Surfwood]

Ahhhhh. .... The ground and neutral bars are located in the box, right? And are those considered double breakers? Would the breaker work in the box mentioned from ebay?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/150910557935

Thanks.
Scott

[Redwood]

Scott,
 I probably won't be able to explain this very well.
  Electricity flows in a circular direction through the hot and neutral wires. The only way to break that flow of juice is with a switch or pulling the plug out. On my diagram, picture if you will a Romex wire coming to the box from a couple wall plugs. The Romex has three wires, a hot, neutral and ground. The wires go into the box and the hot wire goes to the breaker, the neutral goes to the neutral bar and the ground goes to the ground bar. Now if you flip the switch on the breaker what are you doing? Causing a break in the electricity. Or stoping the flow of juice.
  If you notice the breaker box is grounded with a 10 amp wire to the frame. The other wires that come from your wall plugs are all grounded on the ground bar. So all wires are grounded and the box too.
  The shore power comes into the twist lock connection on the outside of my trailer,and from there it goes to the 30 amp breaker in the breaker box. Then the smaller breakers get their juice from the 30 amp breaker. Everything has a neutral wire hot wire and ground wire, they are all connected to the breaker box.
   The original shore power cord is only a 15 amp cord, but if you're going to have a 30 amp power box in your trailer then you want the power coming into the trailer with a 30 amp cord.

[Wild-Surfwood]

Thanks Greg. Makes total sense. Science 101. Great job explaining. I think I got someone to help out with the wiring, but the way you explained it I feel more confident about installation.

  Got everything cleared out and even got the two peices off front and back walls. I just kept going and the more i take off the more things I feel I should do now that everything is exposed. My wife thought she was going to get the garage back after the lift system was done:) oops. Now I have peices of camper everywhere with screws taped to them in bags. Took lots of pics to make sure I know where everything goes. I guess I just need to pull the trigger on a 30 amp box and most everything else can be bought at lowes or homedepot.... Trying to keep my local hardware store in the loop too. Although they don't always have what I need. Always willing to order for me though:) if I grab that box on eBay, I may lay some flooring while I wait for it to ship. Another decision. Vinyl plank or laminate flooring. Just concerned about those spacers in the floor and cost. I know you put a dado in yours to clear the spacers and it looks great. My flooring will be under my galley. I may have to worry about height and being able to close up tight I think.
  Does anyone know where to get a good price on a 30 amp or does this one seem like it will work?
 http://www.ebay.com/itm/331295225425
 Thanks again:)

Scott
 

[Redwood]

Scott,
 I should explain that my plan was to eliminate the converter in my Mesa. The only thing that my converter was doing was giving 12 V to the light and fan on my ceiling. Since. I go to campgrounds with hook ups most of the time I never carry a battery. I run a dorm fridge off 110 and I thought that If I could find a way to run the light and fan on the ceiling off 110 too then I wouldn't need a converter at all. I have an old exhaust fan from over a stove that will fit perfect and a LED light also to run off 110. So now I can get rid of my converter all together. Everything runs off 110. Even the wiring that ran the 12 V light and fan is a heavy enough gage to run the 110 light and fan on the ceiling.
  When we go to a campground with no hook ups we use lanterns that run off batteries. We use a cooler with ice to keep our food cold. So Like I have always said I like to keep it simple.
    Goodluck with your project and good camping to you and your family.  Greg

[Wild-Surfwood]

 I think I may have misunderstood. What you have is just a 30 amp breaker box. Like you would in a home . No need for a converter? I've been focusing on a converter and maybe its not what I am looking for..... As long as I get the thicker extension cord to my box I can run the box on the 30 amp and the other breakers off the 30 breaker? That's all I'm looking for. I don't plan on using a battery right now so no need for that from the converter I was looking at. I would just like the basic plug upgrades, run some wire for an outside light and outlet to power my boom box

Scott

[Redwood]

I bought and installed a breaker box, half is for 110 breakers and the other half is for 12V hook ups with fuses. I went that way just in case I ever changed my mind and decided to install a big battery.
  But I could have just as easely just bought a regular breaker box from home depot. As I said before the trailer only had 15 amp system from the factory, and back in the seventies there were no microwaves and items that used so much juice as there is today. So switching over to a 30 amp system makes a lot more sense. We take a coffee maker and microwave, so it's better to have the 30 amp system.

[Wild-Surfwood]

Lightbulb is finally going off😊 dim, but its there. Hahaha. I just need todo more reading and less questions. Everything is open and I feel I should do it now instead of fishing for wires later. I turned the vent fan on the other day while the light was on and got pretty dim. If I was running anything else like a fridge or something else it prob would have gotten less power.  I'll prob do the 30 amp box and skip the battery for now. Thanks again.

Scott

[Redwood]

Scott,
 There are so many options these days for dry camping. I didn't see any reason to carry a big battery or two as some folks do. LED lights give off so much light with hardly using any juice. So having light when dry camping is really no problem. Also some folks use solar light panels to give them some 12 v electric.
 After years of dry camping my wife and I like to get hook ups when camping. I do like to keep it simple, i think you know I carry a two gallon jug of water that we can just throw away when done camping. No cleaning water tanks.  I also don't carry any big propane gas tanks either. When were camping we use maybe two or three small disposable propane gas cans. We only camp from two to four times a year so I just carry the small cans and thats it.
  I like to keep things easy and keep my trailer light.