shore power contection

[Bob Gil]

I was just trying to get every thing rounded up to be able to plug my bus in so I can use the 110 from the house to power the lights and ref on the bus.

I found a 3 prong female plug in the side of it that I think is either a 30 or 50 amp.

If I remember correctly my travel trailer had basically the same male plug on the end of a 50 foot cord that was wired into the trailer. it had a male plug on the end of it that I plugged up for shore power.

my question is the bus has a female plug the the cord would have to have a male plug on both ends?  Is this normal?  It sounds a little unsafe to have two male plugs am I worrying about nothing or does some thing need to be changed?

I looked thinking this might have been a plug to power another bus but i don't see any other plugs or cords any where in the area I think they should be.

[belfert]

You really need to get a busnut with experience to look at your electrical.  I wouldn't want you to hurt yourself or others.  I would stop by if I was anywhere close to you.

A male receptacle should never be the input to any sort of electrical system.  I would suspect that is not the input.  If there was a female plug on the outside I would expect that to be your shore connection for use with a Marinco type cord.

[luvrbus]

Bob, you need to start from your distribution panel and find where the service came into the bus the one your describing sound like a buddy plug from the generator

[Bob Gil]

OK you guys have help comfirm that was about what I was thinking.

I looked at the inside of the box and it looks like it might be a buddy plug.

But I don't see any wiring for shore power.  It does have a big switch to switch between shore power and the genset.  I am going to have to get some one that knows more about wiring than i do that's for sure.

[Devin & Amy]

Bob,
Can you post us a photo of the plug?
Devin

[Bob Gil]

here arte some picture of the plug on the side of the bus.

I have looked and I think it might be a buddy plug.

You can see where the wires come into the box on the lower left hand side and goes to the breaker with the red throw on it and the other 2 wires go to the buss bar below the breakers.

[Bob Gil]

I am not sure what this is I am assuming it might be a switch to change betewwn the genset and the shore cord.

One of the wires go to the genset and the other goes to the battery compartment by the radiator where it is all burn't up.

[luvrbus]

Bob, that is a change over looks like a Todd 30 amp I can see where the shore power enters  good luck

[Bob Gil]

O that sound a little low considering it is a 14KW genset.

The other end that comes from the switch in the last picture is in the battery compartment.  Would I be OK if I were to put a twist lock power plug in the side of the bus and not have it hard wired in to the bus? 

I have seen them on e-bay for boats that have a weather tight cover on them.

[Devin & Amy]

Bob,
What then would you have the plug wired to? And what is/was that burned wire attached to? It seems you may have an unsafe situation. Please be careful and don't go around anything that may be sketchy with a HOT system. I think you should try to map out your system on paper, it may make a bit more sense on paper.
Devin

[HighTechRedneck]

I concur with Devin on the safety warning.  And I further have grave concerns about the way the distribution panel is wired.  There is absolutely NO adherence to wire color code standards.  This makes for a very dangerous situation when someone such as yourself has to come in and try to make repairs or changes.  Honestly, I'm surprised it wasn't an electrical fire that burned the bus in the first place.  Even if you disconnected all wires that lead to the burned area, I would be very afraid to apply power to the distribution panel as wired.

I see:
- Green wires going to breakers (green should always be ground).
- Black wires spliced to red wires (red and black wires should be the two opposite legs of a 240V supply).
- Green, blue, black and white wires going to the neutral and ground bars.
- Blue wires going everywhere.  Blue isn't even a valid color for single phase wiring in the U.S.  (it belongs to 3 phase AC or else DC power)  Further thinking about it, the presence of blue wires and a brown wire makes me wonder if it was wired in another country since blue and brown are standard colors in some other countries.  But that still doesn't explain or excuse the mixing of colors described above.
- The neutral and ground bars are bonded.  When running on the generator this isn't good.

Then there is the matter of the connector you were originally asking about.  If that is where they were bringing in the power, it appears to connect directly to the distribution panel without use of any switching to isolate it from the generator. I don't know how the change over switch could even come into play if the outlet really is directly connected to the distribution panel.  On the other hand, maybe it was just a 30 amp outlet for some use they had for it.

The bottom line is, there are so many issues there, that while you are rebuilding so much else anyway, I would strongly suggest that you rewire things to ensure the safety of you and and your family.  That way you will know that it is wired correctly and that there aren't any hot grounds or neutrals hiding around inside or fire disasters waiting for the right combination of circumstances to happen.

[Bob Gil]

Looks like I might have more than I can do.

I am not up to rewiring the whole thing.

Guess I need to find some one that wants to buy a bus.

[Dallas]

Looks like I might have more than I can do.

I am not up to rewiring the whole thing.

Guess I need to find some one that wants to buy a bus.

Bob, just sit back and catch your breath for a few days and think about what you have and what you have accomplished.

When you started this safari, you had a burnt out engine compartment with a motor of unknown make or model, that you weren't even certain would run. You have made so much progress, you should be proud of your success.

Rewiring doesn't look like it should be that much of a problem, since it looks to me like there is conduit that would allow you to pull new wires through. That's a lot better than what I had to contend with when I got our PD4103. Our bus had the old cloth covered Romex solid strand wire spliced with everything from wire nuts to electrical tape, duct tape and even scotch tape in a number of places. Slowly I ripped all the old stuff out and replaced it with new THHN, mostly in metal clad conduit.

You can do this, we know you can, and you are in the right place to be.. on this board where we have so many, many people who can walk you through the process.

If you need moral support, you know you can call me anytime!

Dallas

[jackhartjr]

Hi Bob...what Dallas said!
You have come a long way buddy.  Why stop now!
You are fast becoming a lot of our heros!
What I like is you are not afraid to ask questions...and the folks on the board are not afraid to answer...even when it hurts!
Lot's of love here buddy...keep it going!
Jack

[Dreamscape]

Hi Bob,

You sound frustrated and discouraged. You have accomplished much, don't give up now!

It's like "How do you eat an elephant". One bite at a time.

Just take it one step at a time and when you are finished you will be proud of all of the work you have accomplished.

Wiring is not that hard, once you have the basic knowledge. Here is the place to attain that.

Keep asking questions, and you will get answers to them.

Good Luck and Happy Trails,

Paul