Small teardrop DC/AC plans (wiring diagram review)

[pchast]

A couple points..... IMHO I'd use a 12 gauge extension wire with uncertain power.
If you are concerned, a breaker on the initial inlet power would protect everything following and total cost is less than $100...

Right now I don't remember which is the best action for protection in this situation, ground fault or arc fault. Electricians chime in please...........


https://www.lowes.com/pd/Square-D-70-Am ... er/3135851
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Square-D-Homel ... r/50311123
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Square-D-Homel ... er/3364904

[saltydawg]

A couple points..... IMHO I'd use a 12 gauge extension wire with uncertain power.
If you are concerned, a breaker on the initial inlet power would protect everything following and total cost is less than $100...

Right now I don't remember which is the best action for protection in this situation, ground fault or arc fault. Electricians chime in please...........


https://www.lowes.com/pd/Square-D-70-Am ... er/3135851
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Square-D-Homel ... r/50311123
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Square-D-Homel ... er/3364904

Ground fault is a person saver, arc fault is a house saver, they do have combo breakers that do both. But I think he is trying to avoid having one of those boxes, which is why I linked the extra small push button breaker. ( almost every electrician hates ark fault )

My reason for not having a breaker on the incoming is I will either be plugged in to my 2k inverter gen or my house. The odds of me being in a camp ground with power is slim.

[ryccoCA]

I am not familiar with those push button breakers, but for the smallest breaker panel i could find
This one seems like it.
https://www.amazon.ca/Square-Schneider- ... B00002N7MM

If anyone has some other alternatives on how to house breakers I am open to any ideas (I only need one breaker on each spot)

Do you recommend afci/gfci dual breaker or afci + gfci outlets? Or just pure gfci ?

Do you guys this one would be sufficient on the entry side from the shore power?
https://www.amazon.ca/Ampper-Thermal-Ci ... B086MHQ2S4
Also, is thermal breaker good for use in different temperatures? The breaker box will be in tongue box, meaning basically outside temperature.


Also I am planning to ground it to frame in the inlet from shore power, if the trailer system is to be plugged in inverter, that one will be grounded to frame as well (usually inverters come with a frame ground wire)

[saltydawg]

Ok there is two types of breakers, thermal and thermal magnetic.

Thermal is designed for when there is an overload they heat up until a small bi metallic strip causes it to trip. The nice thing is they can be very accurate, ie with proper design and build a 20 amp can be made to trip at 22 amps. It takes a few mins to heat up to that point before it trips thou. Yes ambient temps can mess with it a little, ie take longer to heat, or maybe allow then to draw 24 amps if they where in a very cold draft. The problem is a short has to heat it up before it can trip, so a short of say 80 amps might take 10 seconds to heat it up to trip, or 30 amps might take 5 mins. 30 amps really is not a short, shorts can carry 200 amps for a very short period.

Thermal magnetic have the above plus a electromagnet in them that can sense and trip a high current short instantly. So say over 40 amps the 20 amp would be instant, not take 2 or 3 mins.

So its a compromise to just go thermal, but in something with very limited electrical ie a teardrop, backed up with a gfi for ground short protections is about as safe as it can be. If you get a short to ground the gfi will trip, if you get a small over load the thermal will trip in a few mins, ideally before any damage is done. And most small overloads wont hurt a thing, unless its for hours or days or maybe not at all.

Some people will remember federal pacific breakers, when they came out with their skinny breakers they where only a thermal breaker and poorly designed at that. So they allowed circuits in house to draw 40 for mins before they would trip, or maybe 30 and never trip when the breaker was rated at 15 amps. This damaged the old wiring in houses that was in rough shape already and did cause houses to burn down.

Dont bother with arc fault, its not needed. In a house its fine, where it can detect a loose connection before it starts a fire, but in a teardrop its just wasted money.

[pchast]

Thanks for the good explanations Scott.