Trailer Rebuild: Designing An Electrical System
If you are new to this camper trailer rebuild; click HERE to head back to the first post and see what you’ve missed.
So now that the chassis is finished, it’s time to start thinking about the electrical installation. As I have mentioned in a previous post, we are scrapping the 240V installation; and that’s for two reasons. The first and most notable reason is that we just don’t use 240V any more. It’s pretty rare that we’ll sit in a caravan park, preferring to be out in the bush or a national park campground. The second reason is that we can avoid paying a sparky a fortune to come and wire it all up!
So we all got to thinking about what you need in an electrical system, which is surprisingly difficult due to the sheer number of gadgets available these days! Some must have’s were:
- LED lighting, inside and out
- A 240V inverter, just enough to charge batteries really
- USB outlets for charging phones, cigarette sockets for other 12v appliances
- Electric pump for the sink and a tap on the drawbar
- Power for the 50 litre Waeco which will have a home in the trailer
- DC to DC smart battery charger, fed by vehicle and solar input
- Power for the cooktop which has an automatic igniter
And then there were some other things which crossed minds but were quickly dismissed, such as:
- 12V stereo system, we can just use an Ipod dock or something
- Larger inverter for running big appliances, we’d never use it to it’s capacity
- Some sort of hot water system. But we don’t have the space, it’s another expense and we have a kettle
- LED strips in the bed ends, not entirely necessary.
So here’s a plan I came up with. Bringing back memories of high school technical drawing class, I grabbed some grid paper and started doodling. The drawing below shows the interior layout as a birds eye view with the components in their proposed location. I’ve uploaded these in larger detail than normal too, so click the image if you’d like to see it in EXTREME CLOSE UP!
The drawbar is at the lower end of the image, and if you were wondering what “coiled cable to roof” is for, it’s to run power to the interior and exterior lights, and to bring power down from the roof mounted solar panel.
Now there’s the drawing showing mounting positions for lights and solar panels on the inside and outside of the roof:
The kitchen in this trailer has to fold over to allow it to close. The sink and stove are located in the top half, and the bottom half will house the brains of the electrical system on one side, and storage on the other. The diagram below shows a rough placement of the equipment:
And last of all is the bit that took me aaaages! It’s the diagram linking everything up. I’ve got a bit of a clue when it comes to 12v electrical, but I’m no auto sparky. I pulled together something that is hopefully overkill at worst; with the help of Redarc’s Cable Size Calculator.
You might notice I’ve left a regulator for the solar panel out. Whoops, it will go in though. And I know it’s possible to get a Redarc BCDC with solar input and regulator built in, but I’ve already got the older model on hand meaning I’ve gotta figure my own system to make it switch! The tail lights and marker lights have been left out of this diagram, they are easy enough to do and I’ll be running them in a separate loom anyway.
So what do you think? What would you add to this system? Is there anything you’d do differently? That’s the thing about electrical systems, there are a billion and one ways of doing things and it all depends on your tastes and your needs!
See you in the comments I suppose!
Camper Rebuild Part 4 is now up! CLICK HERE to have a look
Alex
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