I know there are a ton of other electrical posts, but none for my specific situation, so I'll just ask.. Bear with me, I am very new to all of this and my ideas on what is possible and what just isn't may be a little off. just looking for some education here.
I just bought a 2004 Exiss XT-300. it had these lights ran inside.. cheesy Ikea lights that had a switch and a converter box that needed to be plugged into an outlet for each light *sigh*. it has no batteries. Just two outlets (one is a GFI) on the outside and a plug that you plug an electrical cord like from the house into. that cord powers all of the outlets in the trailer, which in turn, powers the lights. Upon further inspection, the insulation for this trailer was horrible. pieces of material stuffed into gaps, wasn't taped, shims, etc. it was so rigged that we ended up gutting the entire trailer down to the ribs and are starting over. so now i am trying to plan the correct electrical to run. There is no A/C as of yet (we are in Southern California so i do see us putting an A/C unit in it at some point) so right now I just have lights, outlets and a TV that need power. I also have a 3500 Watt Generator that I would like to be able to use as well. It has an invertor on board. So my question is, how do I implement all of this? I assume that having batteries is the way to go and I am a little confused about what should be ran as AC and what should be DC. I had planned on using regular low profile AC disk type lights that all ran off of the same switch, but I have a feeling that maybe I should be installing DC lights? I would like to be able to have the lights come on regardless of if it's hooked up to my truck or not. If that is even possible.
Posted 2019-08-24 5:20 PM (#172651 - in reply to #172650) Subject: RE: Electrical Questions
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 448 Location: Los Angeles, Ca.
Start with something like this:https://www.etrailer.com/RV-Converters/Progressive-Dynamics/PD4060K.html Will allow you to run 12v (add a battery) as well as 120v (add a cord to plug into power supply. Most things are 12v (water pump, lights, fans, etc.) Microwaves,air conditioning, 12v power supply charger require 120v ac. Look at a LQ trailer to get a better idea of how things are wired
Posted 2019-08-25 12:32 PM (#172653 - in reply to #172650) Subject: RE: Electrical Questions
Expert
Posts: 2958 Location: North Carolina
I've found one always wants lights. That is one item that allows you to set everything else up and working. Either plugging into power at campsite or running a generator. So, to be independent from the truck, you need a battery installed in the trailer. That will be a single 12 volt battery like used in the truck, or two 6 volt batteries wired together in series. To keep the battery charged, you'll need to install a charger of some sort. There are combination units called converters that charge battery and provide limited AC power. Such as for a small TV or stereo. … Air conditioner, microwave, toaster, etc. require more power than a converter on battery can produce. You'll need a generator or shore power for that.
Electrical Questions
