Hello all. I'm in the middle of converting my 1984 eagle model 10 into a full time home. My wife and I will be staying in specific locations for roughly 1 year at a time so I'm not too worried about which campground will have the service I need and what not. I'm new to the site but have been a long time reader and spend a lot of time using the search feature :).
I haven't found any info on my specific questions and would greatly appreciate any feedback you all could give. My main questions are about the electrical setup, I'm familiar with 110v wiring (mainly 12V systems on automobiles but I'm not using 12v on the bus), I've ran 240v a few different times in my shop, garage and other places for things like a washer/dryer, welder, etc but never built an entire electrical system from scratch.
I plan to have 50 amp service using two mini split a/c units (both 240v), a tankless water heater (uses barely any electricity since its propane), gas cooktop so again barely any electricity, a small 110v apartment fridge and various outlets here and there for computers, all the lighting will be LED.
1. I have a square D main lug breaker box (would I be smarter to order a main breaker box), should I have a shutoff coming into the panel or should I just rely on the shore power/generator cable to be able to unplug, could you recommend a shutoff for 50 amp service?
2. I know there is debate about grounding to the chassis but should I ground the breaker box to the bus chassis or mount it directly to a wood cabinet?
3. Anyone have any pics of how you wired your 50 amp breaker box?
These probably seem like silly questions to most experienced people but I like to do a lot of research on things especially where safety is concerned.
thanks
Randy
Hi Randy, welcome to this side of the board, why dont you tell us where your located and a little about the state of your bus, many knowlgedable guys here, a true network of friends giving good advice, lvmci...
The basic like you are doing is pretty much a slam dunk the inverters, converters ,generators a separate dc systems where it gets starts to a little tough yours should straight forward with romex wire
Would suggest staying away from any 240v appliances. While you can run them on the generator, inverter or 50amp plug, if you're in a campsite with only 30amp service, then the only way you can run the A/C's is with the generator. They make 120v mini split A/C's. Stay with SquareD boxes-easy to get circuit breakers from the big box stores. Custom breaker panels like Blue Seas-you have to use their circuit breakers. Good Luck, TomC
I would suggest you check out some of the back issues of BCM on different electrical installs. It can get very complex and dangerous if not done properly. In my conversion I have 120/240, 12v and 24v to deal with. I am feeding a 50 amp square D panel with a Krause Naimer 100 amp switch that will switch between 50 amp shore, 9000 watt generator and 4000 watt inverter. Battery bank is 8 100 amp hr AGM batteries. For 12 and 24v I decide to just use small fuse blocks from Blue Sea Systems. Like Tom stated 240 v mini splits are not the way to go if you cannot get the amount of power you need to run them.
If you are trying to keep it as simple and foolproof as possible, here are a few suggestions.
You can use a main lug panel but you will be limited by code to six breakers, that may not be enough.
The simplest transfer system is simply to plug the shore power cable into a generator outlet. Failsafe and foolproof, though not as convenient as a transfer switch.
There is no big mystery or debate about grounding. The neutral (white) wire needs to be connected in the panel to an ISOLATED (not grounded) bar and the ground (green or bare) needs to connect to a BONDED bar in the panel. The neutral should never connect to ground except at the pole or the generator, and every exposed metallic part of the system, including the panel and all other switch gear, generator, inverter etc. should be securely bonded to the bus frame.
Using 240 volt air conditioners is your call. If you know that 240 will always be available to you, go for it. Keep in mind it could affect resale value as the next owner might have other ideas.
My preference is to always have the main entrance feed into the distribution panel go through a breaker at the rating of the service. In your case a 50 amp two gang breaker in the main disconnect location. Then breakers off to the loads from the distribution section of the panel. I agree with the caution about 230 VAC Mini-splits, since access to split phase power is not always available. Always float the neutral in your wiring and panel, and ensure that the source is bonded neutral to ground, be that a plug in, a generator or an inverter. I personally use automatic transfer switches. I presume, since you are going 100% AC, that you will have inverters and/or a generator for power while moving on the road. If you take out the OTR air conditioning and are going to rely on the mini-splits (as many do) you will need 230 VAC split phase capable inverters. They can be pretty pricy, and watch that there are several 230 VAC inverters on the market that are intended for UK use and aren't split phase.
Brian
Excellent info so far everyone, you folks are great! I live in north Texas so it gets pretty hot, I'm hoping the 3" of close cell foam I had sprayed in will help with that ;D
I finally found a local home depot that stocks main breaker boxes so I just picked up a GE main breaker box and will run with that, it has up to 12breakers and 24 circuits which will be more than enough for me. I am not worried about trying to find 240v power since we will be living in the bus full time and pretty much know where we will be staying 95% of the time; when we do travel around it won't be too hard to call ahead of time and find good places to park.
My plan is to keep it simple and just have to either plug in the generator or plug into shore power depending on our needs.
Oddly I'm much more comfortable wiring up inverters, converters and just dealing with 12 and 24v systems in general, I just don't have much experience with 120/240v wiring so I want to be sure I'm going about things properly.
Brian, I will be using shore power when sitting (which will be 95% of our use) and our 10K watt generator when going down the road to keep the a/c units on as well as everything else. I will not be running any inverters since there will be no 12v power used on the bus.
I'm finishing up the mini split install today so the wiring is important ;D