Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I'm starting to plan my walls and am starting to look at my electrics. My wall thickness will be 1/2" outer, 1" Maple and Oak Spars and 1/8" Oak Plywood inside (1-3/8"). What electrical switches (110V), Outlets (110V), switches (12V) do you use in your builds? Do you also use enclosures for your switches and outlets as you would in a house?

I also ordered my Fantastic Fan 6000 rbta. I went with this model as it was not a lot more, so I got all the features.

I've seen several wire routings through the wall, such as, drilled holes through spars, drilled holes with pvc through the spars.
What is the best technique to route the wires ( 14ga romex for 110V and and 16ga for 12V) through the spars and still maintain the strength and integrity of the spars?

Thanks!

Bandit,

I'm not a fan of drilling holes through such small roof supports.
I run my wires along side them.
If they must be drilled, keep the hole as close to the top as possible, the area of greatest stress, and the weakest area, is at the bottom of a span support.

I prefer standard outlet boxes for 120 Volt, along with conduit, but don't usually enclose 12 Volt unless it is in an area where it might be damaged.

Rob

I haven't seen any outlet boxes that are shallow enough to fit in the 1" space of the wall. I've seen several 110V switches that are pretty shallow, but not 110V receptacles. Any suggestions?

48Rob wrote:Bandit,

I'm not a fan of drilling holes through such small roof supports.
I run my wires along side them.
If they must be drilled, keep the hole as close to the top as possible, the area of greatest stress, and the weakest area, is at the bottom of a span support.

I prefer standard outlet boxes for 120 Volt, along with conduit, but don't usually enclose 12 Volt unless it is in an area where it might be damaged.

Rob

The best place to drill is through the center of the wood. Stay as far away from the top and bottom as possible. The center of the wood is under no stress, while the top is in compression and the bottom is in tension. (for something pressing down on it)

Bandit: I've seen shallow rework outlet boxes. I remember them being around 1" deep. Next time I stop into Menards, I'll check. They might be 1 1/2" deep, but I didn't think so.

Bandit, SUPPOSEDLY there are RV places that have the shallow boxes, but I could never find any. The problem is, my framing meant I needed 3/4" boxes, and forget that.

For my outlets (the cabin has 3), I used metal boxes mounted flush to the wall. Two are hidden in the "cabinet" area, so no big deal there. The one that's near the AC sticks out, but so does the AC.

My switches? The hell with code. I didn't use boxes, just wrapped everything real good, but...

If you definitely want to use metal boxes everywhere that fit in your wall and aren't expensive, they sell circular boxes with punchouts called "Pancake boxes" that will fit in a 3/4" space. (HD has them.) They're normally used to install ceiling fans, but you have to look at their size and configuration, plus available plates, to see if they'll do the trick for you.

Ira wrote:My switches? The hell with code. I didn't use boxes, just wrapped everything real good, but...

There is code for homemade teardrops? Hmmm what an idea... maybe we should come up with a code, and the reasons why...

For example, your 12v line should have a fuse in it... why... cause it could burn your teardrop down... Just look at what happened to Alan...

Mike...

mikeschn wrote:

Ira wrote:My switches? The hell with code. I didn't use boxes, just wrapped everything real good, but...

There is code for homemade teardrops? Hmmm what an idea... maybe we should come up with a code, and the reasons why...

For example, your 12v line should have a fuse in it... why... cause it could burn your teardrop down... Just look at what happened to Alan...

Mike...

Got 'ya:

I don't HAVE 12 volt!

Hey, I went so redundant with my panel and breakers, I'm not that worried.

You should see the way my HOUSE is wired.

Is the 12V wiring more dangerous as to fire then the 110V?
If I can not find shallow outlet boxes, I may build wood spacers to space them away from the inside wall and have the proper depth.

I found shallow electrical boxes at Home Depot and Lowes. They're a pain to work with because there's not much room for the wires after you install the receptacle.
Bruce

Bandit wrote:Is the 12V wiring more dangerous as to fire then the 110V?
If I can not find shallow outlet boxes, I may build wood spacers to space them away from the inside wall and have the proper depth.

Home Depot also carries Wiremold, the boxes are metal ands the track is metal also. If you cant find electrical boxes shallow enough to fit in your walls, these surface mounts don't look bad....

bdosborn wrote:I found shallow electrical boxes at Home Depot and Lowes. They're a pain to work with because there's not much room for the wires after you install the receptacle.
Bruce

I saw shallow boxes at both of those stores, but they were intended for low voltage luse (orange boxes). Are those the ones you got? I see no reason not to use them for 110 outlets. I have 1 1/2" to work with in front and back. I made those walls 1 1/2" specifically for space for boxes. I don't have my 12v outlets yet. I may have to build those out from the wall a little with spacer panels.

No, the ones I used were blue. I'm sure there's a code or UL listing somewhere that says you can't use LV boxes for 120V but I don't know why you couldn't use them if there are mounting holes for receptacles in the right spot. I thought the only differences in boxes was the fire rating and I don't see any reason to have a rated box in such a small trailer. I didn't put any of my 12V switches or plugs in boxes, I just mounted them on plates over the hole in the wall. Here's a picture of one I used, try to ignore that green wire. Somebody installed wiring without a ground in the walls and didn't realize it until months later. The grey thing above the outlet is my shore power plug and the black thing behind it is my main circuit breaker.

Bruce

Bruce,

I'll look for the blue shallow ones if the standard ones won't fit my 1 5/8" depth. I didn't want to use the LV boxes anyway. What type of main breaker did you use and did you get it at HD or Lowes? I need one to put uip front before my converter. The converter will have two of the smaller 15 amp breakers in it plus my 12v fuses. One of the 15 amp circuits is just for my AC. The other for other uses (TV, DVD player, coffee maker, etc.).

Dale,

I had an electrical contractor special order mine , they don't carry them at the big boxes. Its a Square D type QOU breaker, designed for surface mounting. Saves tons of room over the type mounted in a box.
clicky
But, I think I'm the only guy using one like this. Most people go with a 20 or 30 amp in a box from the home stores. They work just fine, just take up more room. P.M. me if you need info on wire sizes.

Bruce

Bruce, I'm not concerned with size or shape of the main breaker. I'm putting it in the tongue box. The box will be divided into two sections with seather stripping, so that the gasses in the battery side won't get into the side with the breaker box. The battery side will also have two small vents to let the gasses out (one near the bottom and one near the top) on the end of the box.

The larger portion of the box will be where my shore power cord will be stored and run out through a small hatch for hook up. The other end of the cord will wired into my breaker box, and then a 12/2 + ground wire will go inside to my converter. The battery hot wire will exit the compartment and be connected to a main fuse, then run on to the converter.