Fuse panel Vs. Direct Wire

[Arne]

I went to a campground that had no breaker box at the site. I asked about it, and was told that the breakers were in a big box about 100 feet away. The problem is that if they fed several sites off a 50 amp breaker, I could have a 20 amp short in my trailer that could cause a fire without tripping a big breaker.

I digress, but a Japanese hotel burned down for this very reason. A small circuit got overloaded and started a fire because a big amp breaker down the hall did not have enough draw from the short to kick out.

So, anyway, I came home and installed a 15 amp breaker from h/d (about 8 dollars) in a homemade wood box in my tear... now any short I may have (or overload), it should protect me.

[Dale M.]

Any decent hardware store or home improvementt store should have simple steel enclosure capable of 1 to 4 breakers or fuses for reasonable dollars.

Probably cheaper too than any specialty RV supplier for same item .

Dale

[Endo]

:? Seems to be quit the difference of opinion. GFCI or Breaker.

I think most people agree it is good to have both.

The picture I posted of the Shock Buster is a very easy way to have both (a GFCI and a breaker) and you don't have to wire anything.....it's done for you in one nice yellow box/cord!!

[Arne]

In my case, I already had an electrical enclosure built, so just cut a hole and mounted a bracket to hold the breaker...

[Jst83]

Going to use a breaker for sure . Can't take chances with saftey. Want to check out the Shock buster at Lowe's. Don't remember seeing one. Of corse I wasn't looking. I'm pretty good with electrical so it should be no problem. Thanks for the help.

[Maniac H3]

With a panel you can have more POWER

Maniac

[Jst83]

Got my Breaker Box. My local junk yard has a couple nice campers I've been pilfering parts from real cheap. spent about $20 tatal so far

[KDOG]

GREAT thread. Can anyone show me what kind of exterior plug I would need and how to wire it? Theres' and RV supply store up the street so I can probably pic this stuff up there.

[Chuck Craven]

This is my AC power panel and AC input plug. The plug is from McMaster-Carr male 20 amps and it was about $8 the fuse holders are from ALL Electronics the rest of the parts are from ACE hardware. The GFI outlet is 20 amp rated their will be two 15 amp duplex outlets one at the bulkhead inside the cabin and one in the galley. They are directly off the out put terminals of the GFI outlet. No fuses or breakers. But there is a power line tester on a single outlet of the panel. I will use it to test the campgrounds power pole before plugging in my power cable. The two fuses are for the battery charger and the 12v 20 amp. power supply that runs all the 12v stuff when the tear is on shore power.


Chuck

[britlynz]

You need a breaker. Breakers protect the wire from getting too hot and thus frying the wire and insulation. The smaller the wire, the smaller the breaker you will need. Typically, campgrounds have much larger gauge wire than what you will install in your camper.

GFI will prevent you from getting zapped. They're a must have in wet environments. If the first outlet in your chain is GFI, subsequent outlets will have GFI protection.

[Chuck Craven]

Unless you are using aircraft breakers putting a breaker in the trailer is not good.
Breakers in damp places can corrode the contacts, which mean the breaker, may not open. Aircraft breakers are hermitically sealed, which means they are expensive but not rated for ac power.
I will not plug in to a campground power pole unless it has a breaker in the power pole.
Then I will turn it on and off several times to make sure the contacts are not stuck with my tester in the outlet. If you don’t see a breaker in the power pole than you don’t know what current is really available for your hookup. When I plug in to the power outlet at home I know what it is and a breaker in the camper is redundant. A breaker only protects against a catastrophic short. A high resistance short will not take out the breaker but will start a fire anyway. I think a smoke detector is a better investment than the breaker.


Chuck

[britlynz]

[quote="Chuck Craven"]Unless you are using aircraft breakers putting a breaker in the trailer is not good"

Good points, however the same objections generally hold true for household breaker panels.. still the NEC pretty much requires them. For RV manufacturers, the RVIA code book also mandates their use.

As for high resistance shorts, the most common cause is a workmanship error as in a bad crimp or connection that essentially creates a lower rated fuse down stream from the intended protection.

In any case, you're right about the AC vs DC rating. However with a little care, you can usually get around that too with some calculations as breakers are thermally devices.

[Chuck Craven]

britlynz
"For RV manufacturers, the RVIA code book also mandates their use."

I have seen a new pop-up camper with a 120v inlet receptacle and no breaker panel. It powered 3 lights and a duplex outlet inside the camper. I don’t think that manufacture is following the RVIA codebook! Most of the teardrop builders are not manufacturing them. So it is up to the builder how he does it. I would be more afraid of how people are doing the 12V wiring than the AC wiring. Have seen some things people have done here that makes me shiver!!

Chuck


[/quote]

[britlynz]

"I have seen a new pop-up camper with a 120v inlet receptacle and no breaker panel. It powered 3 lights and a duplex outlet inside the camper. I don’t think that manufacture is following the RVIA codebook!"

Some manufacturers don't. I guess they don't see value in the code or the sticker.

Me? I'm usually conservative in my approaches

As for the 12V issues, I agree completely. Heck, I've watched coaches burn because of workmanship issues.

[Chuck Craven]

Just looked up two standard panel breakers one is rated for 15A: specks are 50/60 hertz, delay 62 milliseconds and trip amp’s is 18.8 amps. The outer is rated for 20A: specks are 50/60 hertz, delay 62 and trip amp’s is 25 amps. The delay is for a short that causes the breaker to trip. So a high resistance short at say 15 amps may not trip the 15 amp breaker, and a 20 amp short on the 20 amp breaker may not trip the 20 amp breaker. The current has to exceed the trip amp’s before the breaker will trip. On my panel I have two fuses one for the charger, which normally draws 3 amps max and one for the 12 power supply which will draw 4 amps max. They are fused because if one would go bad it may not exceed the 20 amp campground power pole breaker. That is my protection for the lighter wiring and current draw of that equipment.

Chuck