This is going to be an ongoing project covering 12 vdc and 110 vac. My list of modifications include (but are not limited to) the battery box (already posted that a few weeks ago), solar panels, usb outlets, 12 volt outlets, a removable shore power cord, a surge protector, 1000 watt psw inverter and a transfer switch.

So far I have the battery box in, the solar up and running, and the usb and 12 volt outlets installed. But since I've already documented the battery box, I wanted to keep that spirit alive by documenting the rest of it. The battery box project was more of a fabrication thing anyway, so I can keep this thread to mostly electrical.

I suppose I could start with the batteries. They are a pair of 6 volt golf cart batteries wired in series.
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Grounded to the frame, and power goes to a battery disconnect switch. I did bypass the disconnect switch for the emergency breakaway switch and the solar charge controller. Just for the inevitable time I forget to turn the switch back on, the emergency brakes need to work all the time.
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That small black wire is the emergency breakaway power wire, not connected to the disconnect switch.

Here is my solar charge controller doing its thing. Showing 3.5 amps charging, the batteries were pretty much fully charged already. I fused the output to 30 amps as that's what it's rated for. You can kind of make out the fuse holder from the orange wire, that's the input from the solar panels, I fused that to 20 amps because that's the max for what the panels are rated. The other fuse holder with the 30 amp fuse is at the battery on the other side.
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These might look familiar. I took them off of my old trailer after we found out the insurance company wrote it off. They weren't going to reimburse me for them, so I got to keep them.
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I mounted them the same way as last year. Put them in place, mark the roof, apply dicor and replace the panel back in position. Screwed them down with stainless #12 x 1" screws. At the bottom of the pic, you can see the combiner tees, so these panels are wired in parallel.

To secure the cables, on the roof I used Pico clamps with dicor and #10 x 3/4" stainless screws. Since I decided to put the charge controller in the battery box, that saved me from drilling a hole through the roof into the bedroom. But that meant the cables would be outside, so I used zip ties and self adhesive bases.
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To help them stick, I cleaned the intended spot with brake cleaner and a dry rag. After that, it was just pull the backing and stick it. Then insert the zip tie.

Here's another view.
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Not exactly hidden, but I haven't quite figured out a better solution yet. Doing it this way saved me hours on installation, but leaves the cables to the elements. The cables are uv rated though.

Now that I have (somewhat) unlimited power, I'll move on to the power outlets.

Starting with a blank canvas, I figured out where I wanted to mount the usb and 12 volt outlets, measured and marked, then used a spade bit to make the hole.
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What we are looking at is just under the bed, the other side of that is the under bed storage. Behind the carpet is the front pass through storage bay.

One side got the usb only, the other side got the usb and a 12 volt outlet
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The usb outlets will be for keeping devices charged. Cell phones. Yes, we camp in areas with cell coverage sometimes. But for the times that we don't, the cameras in the cell phones kick ass, so we keep them charged for the cameras.
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The 12 volt outlet is for running a cpap machine. Most run on 110 vac, but we got a 12 volt power module to swap with the 110 volt power module for when we're camping.

To wire these up, I was able to salvage my old trailer again. Yes, these outlets are also on their second trailer. But I had 2/14 jacketed wire I was able to keep, so I reused it.
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This is the backside of the usb and 12 volt outlets, wired up, then I looped extra cable just in case there is issues later. You can barely make out the hole I drilled just below the loop to run the cable into the forward storage bay. But I looped extra cable on the other side usb too, no picture of that.

The fuse panel and ground strip took multiple mounts and remounts to get everything to fit just right. The black wire connected to the top of the fuse panel is the power in. The other black wire with a staple into the wood is a ground, and so is the white wire. My system isn't so big that I can't keep track, but I'm used to working on hacked up wiring with no colour code.
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You know about 3 power outlets, but there's 4 fuses? Yes, I added another 12 volt outlet in the storage bay. I indent to use it for blowing up inflatables. Maybe a small inverter too, we'll see.
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That black ground wire I mentioned? Comes from that outlet. Again, simple system, hard to get lost on it.

The ground strip. And the mess of wire. I'll get to cleaning that up later, but I needed everything functional first.
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I bought two spools of 4 gauge cable, one red and one black. I fully intended to use it on this project, but I'm still reluctant to make holes from the outside in. I'll end up using the spools for my inverter project later on though.

But I needed to get power to my fuse panel, and I found power in the solar prewire plug.
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So I did some investigating, drilled a hole through the inside wall, and ran some wire. Tapped into the factory wiring. You can see the original marrette, and my butt connector with heat shrink.
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Once I had power and ground butt connected and heat shrunk, I stuffed everything back in the hole. Here's a pic of the backside supply cable.
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It goes from there, up and over the hatch, then around to the fuse panel.

I'm sure the original wire will be able to carry enough current to run what I intend to run for now, but I am still planning on going with 4 gauge later on.

And that brings us to then end for now. The 1000 watt psw inverter is going on sale this weekend, so I'll be picking that up and doing that part of the write-up after I'm done installing it.

 

That's quite a lot of work! All to make yourself self-sufficient and not need any external power source! Great job!

I do have one question, early on you mentioned a power source for the emergency brake-away system. The one I helped install on my Dads farm trailer gets its power source through the trailer plug from the tow vehicle. Is there something different in yours? Or do you just want more power for the brakes should the need arise?

 

John, the emergency breakaway switch only applies the brakes in the event that the trailer becomes uncoupled from the truck as it is rolling down the road.

Well, not uncoupled, as you might have a situation that the trailer power cord is still connected, so you can still stop, but in case of a trailer breakaway, the trailer cord gets ripped out, the fail safe is the breakaway switch. What happens then is a plastic plunger is corded to the back of the truck, and is pulled out of the breakaway switch. An electrical connection is made inside the switch and applies full trailer battery power to the trailer brake circuit, stopping the trailer.

What it is basically, is two brake controls normally in parallel, with all of the control done by the brake controller in the truck, except in the case of a trailer breakaway.

Usually, you would have the cord or tether for the breakaway switch long enough so it doesn't pull out when you're making tight turns, but short enough that if the tongue comes off the ball it pulls out when the safety chains catch it.

Not all jurisdictions require one, but it's good to have.

 

Thanks Joe for the explanation. I guess I should have been a little more clear in the one I installed. It has its own battery. The power source from the truck keeps that battery charged so that if a breakaway occurs, the full juice from that battery pack applies the brakes at full power. What I was wondering is, does yours have a separate power source? Or, did you make your own breakaway system? BTW, I agree that they are a good idea to have!

 

Ah, I see now. Since most travel trailers already come with a battery, (or batteries) there's no need to add another breakaway battery. The only thing to keep in mind is to not let the batteries get too low from parasitic draws, hence my solar setup and battery disconnect switch.

With the little breakaway battery, there's no parasitic draw on it, so it usually stays charged.

Mine is exactly the same as the one you installed, except instead of a little softball sized battery only running the brakes, mine are two golf cart batteries that also run the rest of the trailer 12 volt systems. Mine also gets charged by my truck when it's hooked up and running, but with the solar keeping them charged, my truck doesn't really do much.

 

Joe? The only thing I would do different is to solder the butt joint before covering it with heat shrink. I'm a nut about direct soldering all sorts of connectors, because that way you have no (or very little) corrosion or vibration loosening of things later on.

It looks good, in fact it looks DAMNED good if not masterful!

I should do a video of my preferred wire splicing method - it's a bit different and a lot stronger than usual.


*NOTE on breakaway switches:
Most if not all trailers that I dealt with when I was doing that were directly hooked to the "HOUSE" battery on the trailer tongue, which was charged on the road (hopefully!) by the trailer battery charge link through the seven-way plug.

*Fifth wheel trailers are similar. They have more batteries usually, and the pull-out plug cable is attached to the fifth wheel mount in the bed of the truck.

The breakaway switch can be thought of as two contacts held apart by a plastic pull-out plug connected to the tow vehicle by a metal cable.

The housing for it is securely mounted to the front of the trailer frame, so if the tow vehicle gets too far from the trailer, the plug pulls out - the contacts meet - and power flows from the house battery (on the trailer) to the brakes in the trailer.

Power will continue to flow from the trailer battery to the brakes of the trailer until the plug is reinserted or the trailer battery is completely discharged.

The only reason I can think of for a separate battery for that is as a back-up. But if everything is working like it should, the "HOUSE" batteries should have a lot more balls...

Thought number two is that the extra battery should be isolated from the house set, so that the house batteries cannot drain it if THEY go down. Battery isolaters can be found at most autoparts stores, and what they do is prevent several different batteries from sharing their charges in DISCHARGE - while still accepting a charge from the same source.

It's a diode pack.

A "DIODE" allows current to flow in only one direction. The isolator allows charge current to go into all your batteries, but won't let the flow go back out the same wire(s).

~ Think of them as "ONE WAY VALVES", but for electricity instead of water.

 

Joe?

If you think about it - an isolator to ONE extra battery (or a pair in series, see below) charged by the solar cells BUT isolated from the house batteries by a diode in the TT (in the trailer) is a great idea.

If you ever need a jump start, you can get it from the extra in the trailer.

It would be a stand alone in case of disaster - you'd have an emergency battery so long as the sun shines.

JELL CELL's ideally, 2X 6V truck batts connected in series that can't be used by anything without using jumper cables.
~Consider it insurance





IT'S CANADA, right?

Take no chances....



One day the batteries will get used up, this establishes a reserve to be used in NOTHING BUT an emergency
Does that make sense to you?


I know of NO RV or trailer company that provides that advice, but I have also heard from a lot of people that they wished they had JUST ONE MORE CHANCE to start their tow vehicle....


"Fortune favors the prepared"

 

I like your idea Dutch. I do have one of those booster packs with a light and compressor, it charges through 110 or 12 volt, depending on what's available.

That said, I do have a second pair of 6 volt batteries. But because of my storage situation, and tongue weight restrictions, I'm not able to put them anywhere right now. My only option for them would be to lock them in another toolbox in my truck with heavy gauge jumper cables and quick connectors something like this:
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That'll be a ways off yet though. Where I live in Canada is pretty warm. In fact, Seattle gets more snow than we do, and Seattle is 2 hours south of here. Vancouver may be in Canada, but we don't fit Canada's weather stereotype. I guess we're an anomaly. 1 hour in any direction from here gets drastically different weather during the winter months while we're happily golfing.

I do appreciate your input about soldering my connections too. 99% of the time, I will solder heavy gauge (4 gauge or larger) wire terminals. But for smaller stuff I like to use bare crimp butt connectors and clear heat shrink. It's not as solid as solder, but it is quick and reliable as I work with them every day.

Oh, and I got some more stuff. I found a Go Power 1750 watt inverter for cheap, should be able to run my small fridge and tv. I now need to find a transfer switch. I know I won't need one, but again, with how my wife likes to get things done "speedily", to save my inverter (and other things) a transfer switch is pretty much a requirement.

And my Marinco Park Power quick connect adapter kit showed up the other day. I wanted this since we had it on our last trailer. It's nice having the cord removable, and not get frustrated trying to stuff it back in the mouse hole. And speaking of mouse hole, this conversion takes care of critters climbing the cord and gaining entry through that hole, as it will now be blocked.

To go with that is a Progressive Industries hard wired "electrical management system". A fancy name for a surge protector, but it checks for correct wiring at the pole and incoming voltage. It won't connect, or will disconnect if voltage is too low. Supposedly, low voltages will kill an air conditioner pretty quickly, so one problem basically pays for it by saving my ac. Also won't connect if the park's power outlet is wired wrong.

The surge protector is ordered, but for some reason Amazon won't ship it until the 18th. At least shipping is free.

I guess I should also update you guys on my solar installation. We went camping last weekend, but our spot was pretty shaded. While there wasn't any issues of running out of power, I could hear the water pump labouring a little in the late evening. We did have the furnace running at 70° one night, so I kind of put a stop to that after seeing I was only getting 1 hour of good sun.

But once we got the trailer back to the storage yard with no shade I saw a charge rate of 11.5 amps.

I guess I need to start keeping notes of shady camp sites, hehe.

 

Nice work Joe..

 

I'm going to put together that solder-splicing video as soon as I can, it's #2 on my video list right now, because of the way the plants have been doing. I built (pretty much) a tomato farm and trial pepper plant setup for a pair of good friends and neighbors across the street from me, and in it we explored some planting ideas that I never exploited fully before. Enough on that - I hope you noticed that your thread has been relocated.

In with that, I want to see it listed in the NEW SUBFORUM as one of the best, most detailed, and graphically easy to follow examples of a solar power install on an RV that I personally have seen anywhere. From the beginning, I intended that there should be a thread in the new forum that INDEXED tech info - and YOUR thread right here deserves to be not only the first -but a lasting thread that people will see years from now!

 

Great job Joe with fantastic pictures.
My only concern with a direct wire breakaway switch is disconnecting while power is flowing once camped.
I know I carry a spare in case someone decides they want mine more, unfortunately, I've seen way too many melt after continued current runs through them after disconnecting.
Most mfg's state in their instructions to not leave the plug out while energized for that very reason.
When I store, I pull the plug, only to reconnect Before switching on my master disconnect.
I do however, live in CA where anything not bolted down, doesn't stay for long.

 

It's been a while since my last update.

In the last year, I installed the Go Power inverter and transfer switch. I assumed incorrectly that the circuit I connected to the transfer switch would power the tv and the fridge. Well, I found out the fridge is on the gfci circuit. Oh well.

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That's the best pic I could find.

Also found the main fridge is on the same circuit as the tv, so it kept trying to switch from propane, but I didn't realize it until the second day out.

And that inverter was of the modified sine wave variety, so it wouldn't actually run the fridge, but the 12 volt board didn't know any different so it kept trying.

However, at the end of the season, after putting it in storage and winterizing it, I went back to check on it and found that my locks were broken on all of my storage hatches, and anything that could be carried off easily, was carried off. Including the inverter. And adding insult to injury, the thief cut my extension cord plug off an inch from the floor. But they were nice enough to leave the battery cables on the studs.

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Which brings us up to now.

I waited for a certain 1000 watt pure sine wave inverter to go on sale, and when it did I jumped on it. Got an end for my extension cord. Pulled up some slack in that cord to reach the new inverter. Installed the inverter, tested the tv, everything works as it should. Then I took the inverter back out, so it doesn't get taken again.

But this weekend, for father's day weekend, I'm going with my brother, taking our kids camping, leaving the wives at home. So while we're out, I'm planning to continue my power project.

I have all the pieces for the removable shore power cord, the ems, and a second transfer switch for the outside fridge.

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I should have a few hours between the time I get set up and when my brother gets there, so I should be able to get it done. But where we're going, there's no cell service, so I'll be taking pics but won't be posting until probably Sunday evening, so hang on tight.

Have a good weekend doodz!

 

Unfortunately I think all of us know about thieves. But you're making progress in getting your camper to be 100% self sufficient! That's great. Hope you have a great weekend!

 

Hey guys! Got my new inverter installed, adding the second transfer switch, along with the detachable cord kit and the ems.

Basically connected red to red and black to black. I also redid the chassis ground so it is easier to remove, with spade connectors.

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I looked at the spot where I was supposed to take the gfci last year, and I saw that according to the way the panel is labeled, I was correct. However, the panel wasn't labeled correctly, so I added the second transfer switch anyway because if I changed the wiring around, I'd lose power to the television.

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Apparently my phone is having issues uploading pics right now, so I'll have to post the rest tomorrow.