dumb electric questions

[bevans6]

I've been trying to  find this stuff out on my own, but Google isn't workin' for me today...

I traced out my 12 volt chassis system in my MCI-5C today. 60 amp Vanner, 30 amp fuse in the battery bay, 10 gauge wiring to the front wiring panel.  All the fixing it needed was a replaced fuse, and I have 12 volt chassis power up front.  while I could draw more than 30 amps from the VAnner, i would have to wire in more that 10 Ga, I would expect.

I plan to run the dash radio, the electric seat motors, a pair of little dash-top fans, and a brake controller.  I'm just having no luck finding out what the current draw of these things are.  In particular I'm thinking the brake controller may draw more than 30 amps by itself.  Does anyone have some typical numbers handy?

Brian

[poppi]

 Brian,

    The brake controller by itself isn't the big amp draw it is the amp draw on what you are towing.
trailer brakes 2 axle versus 1 axle or toad brake unit they all have different power requirements.

  So that is probably where you need to look first. Then wire accordingly.

   HTH

   Skip

[Melbo]

My electric seats use the most electric of all the 12 volt stuff I have including the headlights.

HTH

Melbo

[Hartley]

The brake controller needs to be able to pull up to 30 amps max under the worst conditions.
( Many are wired with #10 or #12 wire into the connectors). But the long run back to the trailer plug should be #10 minimum. ( You can get 7-wire trailer cable for all of that. )

If your system is 24 volts and the vanner is tapped at the 12 volt point, You probably will want to run another #10 wire to where the brake controller is located just in case.
That will insure a clean (known) 12 volt supply for the brakes.

[belfert]

You can draw amperage at 12 volt than the Vanner is rated at on an intermittent basis.  You'll just draw down the batteries.  The Vanner will equalize the batteries after the high amp load goes away.

Your trailer brakes are unlikely to pull anything close to 30 amps on a sustained basis.

[bevans6]

I managed to find a Prodigy installation manual that calls for a 20 amp auto-reset breaker.  So I will install such a breaker in my 12 vdc line from the Vanner and should be good to go.  I will probably do that in a dedicated 10 ga. line from the Vanner, and use the existing 30 amp line for the accessories.

Thanks to everybody who replied!

Brian

[Len Silva]

The only dumb electric questions are the ones not asked.

[buswarrior]

My Voyager model, for up to 4 axles, calls for 30 amp protection.

Yes, electric seats pull some power, fairly big wire feeds the seat in my GM SUV.

As to the exact amperage you need to design for, it all depends on the stuff you want to put in.

I ran positive and negative leads for the trailer brake system right from the battery all the way to the trailer in my SUV, and both wires all the way to the brakes on the trailer. There are some frame ties to the ground.

After all these years of goofing and re-goofing with trailers and their wiring.... not going to rely only on frame grounding for the brakes!

happy coaching!
buswarrior