AC/DC – For those about to rally, we rewire you….
Ok, kudos to anyone who gets the musical reference above!
Because we didn’t do a full gut of the interior, we can’t do a full electrical update. But because we had pulled out the bathroom and specifically the toilet area, we no longer have a trunk area in the back of the camper. The battery, fuse box (such as it was) and water pump were all stored in the area just underneath the toilet and tub area. It was tight and pretty outdated. And since we no longer have that area, all the electrical needs to be moved. And since it needs to move, it might as well be updated.
The first step is documentation… I always wish i had done more than I did. And since everyone has a high quality phone in their pocket there is no good reason not to document everything. Pictures, hand drawn schematics, saving the old items (just in case) are all handy things to do.
Some of the in the walls wire has been updated- the AC was added or updated sometime in the 1980’s and modern wire was installed for it and for a few other areas as well- I figure about 50% of the in the wall wire is modern. So mostly the plan is to update the 110 breaker box, put in (and move) a modern fuse box/DC distribution center and replace whatever wire I can.
In the bathroom there is a closet/cupboard area and below that is where the water heater is located. The water heater tank is big but there is some extra space there, and the plan is to replace the tank with a smaller footprint tankless system as well, so I’ll have more space once that is installed. The old 110 circuit breaker is located in the pantry and all the 110 wires terminate there, so I see no need to move that, but I do want to change it out- the breakers inside it are no longer available and I want to be able to replace them on the road if needed. I also upgraded the 30 amp exterior service- originally it just had a plug that went through a hole in the floor- open to cold air and critters. So I installed one in the water heater vent area,
Whenever I’ve worked on a house I’ve always like to create mechanical room- a central place where the electrical & plumbing area all start from. I can’t totally do this in the camper, but I opt to do that as much as possible. So in the cupboard area I installed the tank monitoring meter, the battery monitor, and the tankless water heater controller. The shutoff valves for the water system are also in here but that’s a different page.
On the floor level underneath the cupboard is where the inverter, AGM battery and tankless water heater live. The DC fuse area is just too much to fit in this small area and be workable so that ended up underneath the couch- that way it can be accessed from one of the outdoor panels or by moving the couch out into the bed position and removing the cushion so I can work on it from above. At some point there will be solar and lithium batteries, so I think I have incorporated enough room and options for that in the future. I ended up splitting the hot and ground fuse blocks because of the size of the hot wire- it should also give me more room when I add solar.
I’m not going to go into super detail on how I did all of this- everyone’s trailer is going to have a different setup and there are far better electrical resources out there than me- I’m no electrician. But I wanted to show pictures to give people an idea as to different ways of configuring this stuff, and to encourage them to give it a try on their own.
Items Used:
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Tank Monitoring System – works well, no complaints
Battery Monitor/Shunt- works great
30 amp Exterior Service– I like it, but wish I had gone with a stainless one
ANL Fuse Holder – for 12v Hot side. Works well
Fuse Block- for 12v Ground side.
Battery Shutoff Switch– mine is fine, but now I’d get this one