Stage 8 -- Electrical

I have an electrician friend who I called on for this part because it's another area I didn't want to tackle myself--especially being inside a metal shell. It won't be a terribly complicated setup. We're going with 30 amp service with an RV hookup port. There will be three outlets inside, a breaker box with two 20 amp breakers, and some interior lighting with a switch. This process overlapped some with the insulation and interior walls since we needed to plan the interior in conjunction with the electrical. There will be two outlets under the rear bed. One will connect to the battery and one to the 20 amp circuit. So, at a campground, I can plug the refrigerator and one other item into the campgrounds electrical hookup.

What began as a "simple" project grew more complicated when my friend suggested using a solar power/battery system to power everything but the A/C and one outlet for a heater. That meant more research for me because I was uncertain about what capacity system I'd need to power everything in the camper. And, I don't know how long the batteries would be able to continue powering everything. But, one add-on I did get through talking with him about solar was a neat trailer tongue storage container. His thought was using it for the batteries, but if I don't go the solar route, it could store the cable for hooking to campground power, etc... It's actually too large for the current tongue setup due to where my jack is located. But, I am going to talk to a welder about moving the jack. Here's a link to the storage box.


Here's a picture of the solar panels and storage box. The panels are hinged and have 50lb hydraulic lifters (from a VW New Beetle) that raise them up. To put them at anything other than a 0 degree or 90 degree tilt, I'll have to use a bungie cord or something to stop them at a desired angle. They have since been connected to the battery and I put in a small battery monitor that shows the amount of charge remaining, the voltage, and the temperature (I assume of the battery but it could be the outside air.) We also installed the Campground 30amp hookup in the right side of the box along with an outlet that I can plug the into that will allow everything in the trailer to run off campground power.

We went with two 3" "pancake" lights, both mounted in the angled corner between the wall and the ceiling. One is above the door and one above the sink area. They allow you to adjust the color temperature to five different settings. I think we're sticking with 5,000K. The outside light was the most aerodynamic one I could find in a 120V configuration. It's shown in the photo on the left.




My electrician friend came back for the final installs and wiring. We spent a lot of time on this project, probably more in the thinking and planning than in the actual work, but it came together nicely. There is an outlet in the back that runs on campground power and one that runs on battery. There is one above the back bed that will be for the television. There is also an outlet below the electrical panel as seen in the picture on the right.

In the end, I paid $300 for electrical help, which was worth it for his experience and ideas. I know that in terms of the time he spent on the job, I definitely got a good deal. It may have gone quicker had I had a good idea of how everything would be laid out before we started.