Grounding Your Camper

[surveytech]

Is this a common thing for campground outlets to be wired incorrectly?

[Chuck Craven]

It happens! Many people use the sites and damage happens! Some mom and pop campgrounds are very old and have not been updated in years. Some are better than state campgrounds. The real problem is use the more it is used (popular) the larger the chance for an oops. It all depends on the maintenance being done. My favorite campground was a mom and pop special. Pop had collage kids doing the maintenance and well you can guess. Each camp site was different. Some right some wrong. I fixed many a miss wired outlets some with power on. But I know what I am doing. The one thing we haven’t talked about is many sites have water and electrical power poll right next to each other. And water seems to pool around the power poll that is probably the most dangerous. And not much other than a long reach and good rubber boots for protection.

Chuck

[cracker39]

Rick you saved me the trouble of saying it first...George and BD have a long and rich history here of arguing technical details about electricity......
madjack

And confusing the hell out of me!

[Chuck Craven]

Hear is the tool you can make to help in troubleshooting AC problems.
Its home made. The higer the secondary current rating of the transformers the more power you can draw off the supply line.
www.mikenchell.com/forums/album_persona ... ser_id=207

Chuck

[cracker39]

George and Bruce,

Please don't take my last post personally. I just get so lost in all the technical discussions you two and other electrical types engage in and all I want to do is get my converter connected right, but don't understand half (or less) of what you two are saying as I am not well versed in electrical matters.

Just plain confused....

[An Ol Timer]

I spent 17 years with a major aerospace firm in maintenance and maintenance supervision, We had 110v, 208v,220v, 240v, 440v and 480v. We used transformers, boost/buck transformers and isolation transformers. I also moonlighted for a number of years by doing the complete wiring of new homes for a local builder. All I can say is that the electrical theory discussions on the forum "Scare the HELL out of me."

[Chuck Craven]

Yes! The big problem is the ones that do this day in, take so much for granted that its hard to explain to the ones that have no clue to what we are talking about. The newbie’s who never worked with it have a hard time getting the terminology or can’t visual what it’s suppose to look like. And they have never seen BIG ARCS and SPARKS to know when to run! Big arcs and sparks is when a 2000 amp power panel gets blown off the wall and buns it’s way back to the sub station. Just one minor oops. All though I did not see it happen but I saw the after the fact of a 18000 volt 5000 amp buss bar melted all three phases after a rat got in the housing. The only way we knew it was a rat we found part of it’s tale!
Chuck

[An Ol Timer]

I didn't go on to talk about single phase and 3 phase or delta and y configurations as well as balancing busses as well as the main panels. In the long run I won't give advice to individuals because as a professional I fear the lawyers.

[BILLYL]

OK - very interesting discussion. The 12volt side of the trailer - easy - no problem grounding. But the 110 side - from what i see the ground side of the outlets (the green) I should run a seperate ground to the chassis? And do not connect the green to the neutral side of the 110?

Also I read that I need to run a grounding wire between my metal covering and the trailer chassis?

Thanks
Bill

[TD4FREEW/CTD]

OK - very interesting discussion. The 12volt side of the trailer - easy - no problem grounding. But the 110 side - from what i see the ground side of the outlets (the green) I should run a seperate ground to the chassis? And do not connect the green to the neutral side of the 110?

Also I read that I need to run a grounding wire between my metal covering and the trailer chassis?

Thanks
Bill

you should have a seperate grounding bus in your breaker box. that is where your ground should go. it should be bonded to the box, and bonded to the chassis. your neutral bus should be "floating" and not bonded to the chassis.

of course, if you plan to ground your trailer chassis, make sure you test the ground at the power source first, before you plug in. a plug in tester is not sufficient. they lie. use a mulitimeter like i explained earlier in the thread.

[BILLYL]

Thank you - much clearer.

One final question - The neutral wires need to "FLOAT" I assume that I should insulate the bus from the box? Is a bus like that available - if not what type of insulating material should I use?

Thanks
Bill

[An Ol Timer]

you should have a seperate grounding bus in your breaker box. that is where your ground should go. it should be bonded to the box, and bonded to the chassis. your neutral bus should be "floating" and not bonded to the chassis.
_______________________________________

After reading this, may I suggest that somone contemplating this, go to their home power panel carefully remove it's cover and study where the neutrals (white) and the grounds (bare copper or green) are connected and their relationship to each other.

[Elumia]

Maybe this will help?

http://www.sea.siemens.com/step/templat ... ?pan:3:4:4

[sunny16]

If anyone has access to the NEC (National Electrical Code) Article 551 Recreational Vehicles and Recreational Vehicle Parks makes for some interesting reading. It basically spells out everything you need to know and do to wire up your trailer or RV. It even talks about "bonding" your chassis-grounding terminal of the battery to the vehicle chassis! This Article covers everything for both low voltage systems (24V and lower) to Combination Electrical Systems, Other Power Sources, Multiple Power Sources and Nominal 120-Volt or 120/240-Volt Systems. And it covers the GFCI protection. So find a copy of the latest NEC Code Book. I have the NEC 2002 on my desk as I am typing this. I may not understand it all but I will review it and have it checked out when I get my trailer wire up. I have a great respect for electricity as I am sure everyone here does. Let's all be safe!

[cracker39]

The breaker box that I bought to be my main breaker where the shore cable comes into the tongue box has slots for two breakers. It also has a bus with two connections on each end. This bus is not bonded to the box. In fact, the box has no connectors anywhere bonded to the box, except for the screw that holds the breaker slots to the box (just to the right of the label Connection B). I just presumed that the bus was to be used for my neutral wires and I would just bond my ground wires to the box and chassis myself by drilling a hole through the side of the box and putting a bold and nut through it to use to hold the ground wires.

The photo below, from left to right shows an empty breaker slot, a 30 amp breaker, and the bus where I labeled as connections C and D.



I sent this pic to Bruce a while back, but I didn't discuss the bus or that it wasn't connected to the box in any way. So, I guess I can use the bus for grounding, or for the neutral wires. I think I'd prefer to run the neutral wires through it and make my own grounding connection.