RV BUILD - Installing the RV Electrical System
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 ต.ค. 2024
- Season 1 - The Build - Episode 8
🕒Recorded in March - April of 2019
🕒Released on March 14th, 2020
ℹ️About this video:
It's finally time to install the entire electrical system!
🎵Music:
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'Love of Mine' by The Hunts
'Heaven Knows' by The Hunts
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Season 2 - 2019 Travel: • Season 2 - 2019 Travel
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We share our experiences and what works for us but we always recommend doing your own research before any decisions!
holly cow! I'm sitting here with my cargo trailer conversion,100w of solar, and 70AH battery thinking I'm the big dog! Look at you! so clean!! I just spent a bunch of $ on getting correct wiring and crimps for my electrical. chasing that OEM look...I love how you showed all the amazon items! Subbed..
Thank you 🙏🏼 I like a clean look.
KNOWLEDGEABLE IN A PERFECT WAY 👍
Thanks!
Very nicely done! A well thought out and clean installation. The RV industry should take note.
Thank you 🙏🏼
Props to you! I just started watching your channel, and I wasn't expecting much from another DIY RV build, but you have blown me away. I've been bingeing from the first episode. I'll keep watching to catch up with current time, but now I'm wondering why you sold this beauty. 👍
Thanks!
Room. We wanted more room. Some go smaller, some go bigger… just the way it goes.
Nice tidy work and good info to consider
Thanks!
“Hey how much did the trailer cost you?” Only a few hundred but to wire it, well that’s a long story…..😂 Hats off. Great video!
Thanks! Let’s put it this way. I paid twice as much for our Battle Born Batteries than the trailer itself 😳😆
Real numbers? The solar, batteries and electric system was around $12,000.
Very useful tutorial, thank you very much!
Glad you liked it.
Thank you so much for the in-depth explanation 😅
You are welcome!
WOW! Amazing.
Thanks!
Beautiful wiring management..
Beautiful casing..
Beautiful tv, fireplace setup..
I'm totally impressed.. 👌👌
Thank you!
You've got quite a skillset there friend. I can learn from you all day long!
Yea but I make mistakes too! So don’t copy me verbatim 😆
Excellent build. I wish I could like this more than once.
Ha! Thank you!!!
Thanks for sharing the mapping software. I was thinking it would be good to have something like it and having you share it gave me the trust to try it.
It’s really easy to use and it comes as a phone app too!
Hi Dan,
Now I finished all your videos. This is my favorite one.
Amazing job!
I really enjoined your videos.
Best wishes from Germany 🇩🇪
Domi
Ha! Thanks!!! Yea, the electrical was my favorite too!
What a beautiful setup!
Thank you!
Amazing electrical system! I am guessing this isn't your first rodeo with electrical. I am not sure I could pull something like this by myself. Fantastic job!
Thank you! Take one device at a time.
Just a good practice on battery installation.
Put positive cable and negative cable at opposite ends. The way it is correctly set up the battery on the left side will charge first and will be constantly over charged
We switched to lithium’s but yes, thanks!
@@HomeMeetsRoad I noticed that also. The way your connected in this video you will get uneven charging and the batteries will become unbalanced and will be junk long before there rated lifespan.
Always connect the positive or negative cable leaving the battery bank to the first battery in the bank and the other cable leaving the bank to the last battery in the bank.
Basically batteries connected in parallel become one large battery with the positive at one end of the bank and the negative at the other end of the bank.
@@MLA.. yea, I f’d up on that. We fixed that a while ago.
O.M.G. 😮😮😮 AMAZING
Thank you!
Wow! You have tons of patience and determination! Gutting the trailer and then building out with all new everything is amazing. I especially love the moving wall and Murphy bed. How has that worked out for your son?
The wall worked for about a year before we replaced it with a curtain. This was due to storage. The wall made it impossible to get to storage under his bed. We then used a curtain for 1.5 years before selling it and changing rigs.
@@HomeMeetsRoad You have some creative ideas. If I am ever able to get my bus, maybe you would consider doing some Murphy Bed type design for us. Or maybe a Trundle Bed design.
Just in case someone didn't catch it (yes it makes a difference) the main negative and positive cables should be at the opposite end of the bank, due to equalizing of charging and depleting of the batteries.
Yea, I screwed that one up.
I’m getting ready to map out my electrical for my school bus conversion. Love the idea of the separate sectional distribution bars. Because I have a big steel bus I plan on chassis grounding everything. Do you see any problem with that?
The only problem with that is if you don’t use the ground in a fuse box like mine, the LED light will not turn on if a fuse blew.
For my university, we are working on building our own camper trailer. I really enjoy your videos and they have helped me a lot! I was just wondering what program you used to design the layout of your RV?
Mac user here 🙋🏼♂️ so I used Numbers, Apples version of Excel. Sounds odd I know but it’s really simple and powerful (free helps 😆). Let me know if you have any other questions!
hey sara maybe we can help each other? im starting a company that restores campers and boats
i bought two barn find rvz one a 78 titan and the other is a 78 winnebago plus i got a 73 tag along tow behind camper witch will be used as a mobile garage unit
plus im into computers and electronics i was classified as a genious t the sweet old age of 8
That electrical set up looks very impressive. How much did all that equipment cost? Using the BattleBorns.
The entire electrical when done:
1,240W of solar, 100A solar controller, 3,000W inverter/charger, all the wiring and components, plus 500Ah of BattleBorns came out to $10k.
Love your videos and time talking through things. I know all builds are different, but can you share a clear picture/document of your electrical and plumbing diagrams?
I haven’t uploaded them yet because I wanted to do a recap video of what not to do/lessons learned. I can upload the originals for you once we have stable internet back. We are going on 55 hours with no power, no sun. This winter storm has been nuts!
@@HomeMeetsRoad Not sure how you make money, but if I gave you the components (electrical and plumbing), what would you charge for a schematic (not using SimpleMind, I need the details...I'm not an electrician or plumber!).
Great question and something I have been working on (slowly). Send me an email at homemeetsroad@gmail.com but in the meantime. I suggest to contact solar-electric.com they provide free parts list and diagrams for your custom setup.
HOly Power Batman!
Sometimes I really wonder what I was thinking.
Pretty impressive setup but seems like your tongue weight would be close to 1000 lbs?
It is. We are on the edge of what the truck can do... carry capacity wise. Tow we are well under.
Holy fucking shit on an altar, excuse my fucking language, mom never did find that fucking bar of soap, and now shes dead, rest her soul. That seems very complicated, very impressive.
😆
It looks like a mess but it’s not that complicate if you look at one part at a time.
I would love to have the money and knowledge to do this but I just dont understand this, completely unfamiliar w electrical systems
Not as expensive as one might think and not too difficult once you understand basic electronics. Let me know if I can answer any questions!
Pretty sure you would need to use the other positive or negative terminal for parallel connection to prevent battery bank imbalances.
Yea probably a good idea. We switched to Lithium’s now.
Home meets Road simple fix! Lithium definitely the way to go!
Yea but my wallet was flat for months.
I read that you should ground the RV frame to the shore power green wire. Is that true? You did not show any grounding methods. It kinda does not make sense to do that. I only have a small trailer with two outlets and nothing else. Two fuses. . . one for the outlets and one for the battery charger that charges only one battery
This is a tricky question and it depends. If you only have the two outlets then I would say no but how are the batteries charged? Are they grounded? Do you have any 120V appliances that are grounded or touching the frame?
The biggest problem I have seen is fridges being grounded with a tiny wire and because the shore power green wire is not grounded to the frame, that small wire becomes the main ground.
@@HomeMeetsRoad Yeah, It's a tricky question. I have no appliances. I will have a PORTABLE AC/DC fridge eventually. Just a few minutes ago I found an article that say AC and DC can share the same ground attachment. The issue is that Trailers use the frame as NEUTRAL and it is said that you should not share AC ground with DC neutral. For now I will NOT tie the AC ground to the steel frame. The AC shore power plug and the beaker boxes are plastic so no need to ground those either. I will use the blue plastic outlet boxes as well. Trying to make it all fit onto a 3 'x 2.5' piece of plywood. I laid it all out in a scaled drawing in AutoCad.
Edit: Even the "experts" on Quora have conflicting opinions.
It’s a rabbit hole trying to chase down a good answer for the ground. Ours is grounded on a bypass primarily because the solar system needs a ‘neutral’. I can share the schematic if you are really interested but I’m always hesitant to do so as it pertains to this trailer only.
Hi, how did you design your electrical system? I am completely rebuilding my travel trailer and need to design one of my own but don't know the first thing about it. Do you mind sharing a parts list or any tips?
I have a history in electrical so that gave me a head start but after that I just built what I wanted. Went a bit overboard. Easiest way is to look at an RV cirri the box and go from there.
@@HomeMeetsRoad are you open to offering consulting services or no? I have designed a system but just want a green light from someone who knows more about electrical than I do. thanks in advance either way
@@frankiefiguresitout Honestly I don't know if I am qualified to do so.
Are the new batteries Lithium ion phosphate or something else? The Renegy products don’t seem to have such a good reputation.
We ended up with Battle Born LifePO4 batteries.
@@HomeMeetsRoad I heard those are a good reliable product.
Great video! Thanks!! I have a question, though: does the "Simple Mind" program help you to balance your load distribution, too, in the design portion of your build?
I’m sure you could make something work in Simple Mind but I’d run a spreadsheet for that.
@@HomeMeetsRoad I am a retired power plant operator, and prior to that I did high voltage power distribution maintenance and construction for 20+ years...so, anyway, I was just wondering about balancing the loads in "Simple Mind's" program, as that is critical for safe operation. Your RV system is amazing! It's the most complex, and awesome, RV electrical system I've EVER seen!! I am very impressed with it! Thank you for sharing, as I say, brother! God bless you and yours!!
Thank you, I appreciate that! I’m a little OCD when it comes to electrical. Stay Safe!
My husband and I lost our home. We are remodeling an RV and we have got just a few days to get on the road and my husband ripped out the electric and removed the wall and now he doesn’t remember how to put it back together. The parts that go to the battery the 12 V. I don’t know the specifics but can you please help him over the phone? Nobody will help us?
Oh no! Are you at an RV park? Ask the office as there is always a RV repair man on site or close by. There are too many differences between RV’s to even attempt this over the phone. This has to be done in person. RV’ers are really helpful. If your in in a park, can you join a Facebook group that is specific to your RV? So you can get help from someone that knows that rig?
@@HomeMeetsRoad We are still here at the house that we have lived at for years someone bought the house they raised the rent and tripled it so we cannot afford it any longer we lost our business blah blah blah crap just sucks and here we are
My husband builds houses for a living and he does electrical he just doesn’t want to mess with the box and the battery Part. He has the rest of it hooked up just fine and there’s a man gonna come over tomorrow to help him. He took it all apart and he is messed up about putting it back together. Like I said he has the other part all back together just fine but he’s used to working on houses and not RVs and batteries. Guess I forgot to tell you that he was a contractor. He knows a lot about electricity.Thanks anyway. We got it it out thinking we had time to remodel it as a hobby and wasn’t planning on living in it. Thank God that we have it though and it’s an 86 allegro. We got a great deal on it And the only reason we got it it was because of the old tacky pink and green LOL now we have hardwood floors and lots of upgrades. Thank you for responding. It only has 30,000 original miles on it too which is great.
He’s 6 foot seven and we removed the bathroom wall because he couldn’t fit on the toilet very well LMAO So we accommodated and moved the entire electric box over. Besides the toilet being beside my bed now. I’ll be fine. 😂🤣They didn’t make RVs for the big guys. Haha
I'm sorry for your hard times. I hope things will turn around for you soon! I built my RV from scratch because I understand electrical and have an electrical background but yea, I don't understand 'factory' RV stuff. Its all done in, well, not the usual way and they are all different. I'm glad to hear you have someone coming to help! Yes, at 6 foot seven you'd have issues in every RV. You gonna need some modification 😆
I found this to be a very interesting video, but I'm both a techy geek and I'm starting to collect parts for our upcoming post-retirement trailer mods. One thing that caused me some heart palpitations recently was figuring out that with a 2000W inverter I could potentially be pulling 167A out of the battery bank! According to a chart I found on the internet this could require 2 gauge wire. You seem like the kind of person who would have researched all such considerations before starting your build yet the wire from your batteries to the inverter doesn't look "really huge". Did I find a bad chart or am I missing something out of simple ignorance? Thanks
Hello Bob, the wire from the battery to our inverter/charger is 4/0 gauge Pure Copper Wire which allows for 440A. You might be looking at the wire that’s going to the Solar Controller, which is 4 gauge. My recommendation is to go with the biggest wire your inverter can handle.
I just recently got a 1993 Fleetwood Bounder Double Axle, and everything was working fine, three days ago the batteries went dead so I took a closer look at the hood, and noticed the battery connections, the hood has 3 batteries, two deep cycle and one start battery(note theres two solar cells on the roof wired to one of the cabin batteries) but im not sure how its all wired. I know the motor only needs one 12v start battery and the cabin needs 2 or more deep cycle batteries and im aware that the solar cells need a storage battery. If someone that can help would be great!
Not sure I can help. I can only assume that the two deep cycle batteries (could be two 12V in parallel or two 6V in series) which are your 'house' batteries and most likely not connected to your 'start' battery in any way as to avoid accidental draining. The 12V start battery most likely only gets charged when your alternator charging it (so engine running) and if it sat for a long time the batteries are probably shot.
Song is: Love of Mine by The Hunts
Yes! I always include all the music in the description.
Very nice, but I can see a few places you could have saved money and instead used that money for Lithium Batteries. But overall, its a nice setup.
Thanks! Yes, there is always room for improvement. We have 500 amp hours of lithium now.
@@HomeMeetsRoad Nice!
lol, I did not see the last part of the vid, I would have seen the Lithium batteries. :)
Yea, we put in four that day. We added one more since and it’s working great! I’m a full believer in lithium’s. The difference is nuts!
Dangerous. You have that massive 4/0 hit wire coming off the batteries with no fuse until AFTER the shut off switch. If that cable gets severed before the fuse a massive amount of current is going to be discharged.
Good point.
This totally confused me. This is a nightmare to understand. I am going to have to view this a few times.
I need to make a video of our electrical and how it’s working. Let me know what questions you have!
Those battle born batteries are expensive as fuck.
If you shop around you can get them at a pretty good discount. Lithium is the way to go! I learned my lesson hard.
@@HomeMeetsRoad Make enough mistakes, you learn what NOT to do. An honest life lesson.
@@LongWalkerActual I have made plenty and still continue to make them. I have learned that no matter how much thought I put into something, Hinesite is still 20/20 and it will get me every time.
Ummm..... Not sure what to say. Overkill? Never get back your investment? Yikes.
Probably right.