Baskets and Electricity

The baskets for the cabin arrived today.  I feel a little odd saying how excited I was to put them into their place.  They fit perfectly and the color is great.

I had really hoped that I could get the electrical system back in order.  I have had trouble with the super simple AC system.  Turns out it was me that was the problem, not the power cord.  I didn't realize that the red light was lit when the system was 'on.'  I was thinking that the red light on the GCFI meant that the circuit was broken.  So, all the time I thought I had some sort of problem with the GCFI, it was really just me being a doofus. 

Well, I was able to wire the Marinco port to the power cord and then into the AC outlet.  I spent several hours monkeying around with daisy chaining outlets so that I could have one inside the cabin.  In the end I decided not to do that; it just isn't worth stringing the wires into the cabin.  I'll still put the two 12 volt outlets in the cabin.  I'll have a plug in inverter in the cabin should I need it.

I installed the battery charger in the electrical compartment too.  You can just barely see the small hole I drilled into the compartment so that I can bring the plug to the battery charger.  Wasn't the way I planned on rigging it up, but it works.

Everything is coming together pretty well here.  I have a bit more 'bundling' of wires to do; I'll do that after I add the two 12 volt outlets in the cabin.

Thankfully, this is the side most people will see when they look into the galley.  I am really happy with how the 'control center' section of the teardrop has come together.

I didn't take any photos of it, but I spent quite a bit of time today working to cut the insulation pieces for the walls.  I'll cover those with headliner material and then glue them into place in the next few days.

One thing I noticed is that I can't work in the teardrop during the main part of the day.  It's just too hot to be out there on the patio in the sun.  So, it's early morning or late afternoon for me to work on the teardrop.

Electrical Success and Beginning Insulation

It was a good weekend of work on the Carpe Diem.  I finished all of the electrical in the galley and even figured out what I had done wrong on the switch for the porch lights!

I cleaned up all the wiring an then, still not sure if this is the best idea or not, I used the hot glue gun to anchor the wires.  I would have used wire clamps, but I couldn't screw them into the aluminum because there was nothing behind it.

Jack helped me cut and fit the pieces of insulation for the ceiling and the storage shelf area.  We just used friction to hold them into place now.  I still want to figure out how I'm going to cover the insulation.

Even the ceiling is coming along.  This is a really cool view of the teardrop; you can see how it is all coming together.

The weatherstripping on the doors is not quite thick enough.  It is a little hard to see in this image, but there is tiny gap near the floor.  I got another package of the thicker stuff and will try it when I have some more time.

These 27 LED lights were on sale at Harbor Freight for $3.00.  They have the adjustable hook and a magnet on the back.  They hang from the hinge on the door and will be great for when you have to go to the restroom or the shower.

The AC power system is still not working.  I am going to try re-stripping the wires and reconnect.

I suppose, even though I was very careful in the process, that I could have switched the two ends.  Someone noticed in one of my pictures that I could have accidentally sliced the wires when I was stripping the insulation.  I'll try re-doing the wires first to see if that might be the problem.  

One thing I thought about after climbing around inside the cabin is what to do with the storage shelf area.  I had planned to build cabinets there.  Now I'm not sure.  I'll have to figure out how to arrange the 12 volt and 120 volt plugs if I don't build the cabinets.  I'll think about it a bit more this week.

How to Read Schematics; For the Non-Electrician and More Electrical Designs

So last night I started placing the fuse panel and outlets in the galley.  I marked everything and then started fiddling with the fuse panel.  I turned it over and saw this:

And this:

And this:

 

And this:

 

I had literally no idea of how to begin connecting my wires to this.  There were only tiny solder points to 'connect' to, or so it seamed to me at first look.  My logical brain said that there is a + and a - side.  The middle must be a ground.  Then I started wondering how in the heck you connect to this when the green circuit board is covering the 'inputs.'  So, I did what I've done in the past, I decided to ask for guidance on the Teardrops and Tiny Travel Trailer Forum.   Within the hour, I had several responses from kind folks who helped me understand the PDF that is on the West Marine website:

 It turns out that the two silver screws are where the 'main' lines to the battery go; slight caveat, I will be adding a buss bar to the negative line as a ground.  The center pole on the fuse panel is actually where the + wire from each circuit's load goes.  After several, very patient, posts, I now understand that this is really pretty simple, but it looked quite complicated to me when I started.  

Once again, I am so grateful to the kindness of others on the Teardrops and Tiny Travel Trailer Forum.  Their combined wisdom helped me through a pickle!

I measured things out last night and it seems that I will be able to put a 'pass through' in the cabin where all the wires will come through.  Thankfully, and by dumb luck, this will all pass below the 'counter top' in the galley.  So, everything will be clean and obstruction free.

You can see from the image above how the main feed from the cabin will enter the cabinet.  I'll run the wires then to the fuse panel, buss bar (ground) and then over to the battery.  I sketched in the 'super simple 120 volt' circuit as well.  This is so that if we have shore power, we can plug in and 'charge up' batteries, or even run appliances directly on the 120 volt current.  I will be putting one 120 volt power outlet in the cabin too.

So far I like the way this is starting to look.  It will be a fairly 'clean' look, while balancing the need to use power when you need it.  The only conflict I can see is that the cooler will not be able to be pulled out when the power ports are being used.  I think that should be fine as generally we will have the cooler out on the ground when in 'camp.'  Having a power port right in that area would allow for a possible 12 volt cooler at some point if we decide that is what we want.  

Here is what the cabinets and electrical receptacles will look like on the inside:

 

I didn't have a good picture of the inside of the cabin.  You can see, I'll have two large cupboards connected by a small shelving section.  The shelf will be wide enough to fit an iPad for those nights when a campfire isn't possible.

I'm going to use the aluminum shelf to create a 'false' bottom for the cabinets.  By doing this, I'll be able to 'hide' the hole to the power center and disguise the electrical connections for the two 12 volt outlets and the one 120 volt outlet.  The advantage of planning ahead like this is that I am going to provide an access panel to the wiring under the cabinet in case I have to make any 'future' additions or changes.  Also, as you can see from the drawing above, there will be one switch in the center to turn on the 'porch' lights.  

After a lot of research, I decided that it is way too complicated for me to try to have the side marker lights turn on with the porch lights.  It would have been cool, but way too advanced an electrical install for me.   Super Bright LED's was just the place to find four small, cheap LED fixtures.  These four fixtures will be placed, one on each corner of the teardrop, just under the frame.  I can envision how it will look when I turn them on; it's going to be way cool!

 You can see from the images above that they are really tiny, yet very bright.  They also have the added benefit of being able to be a 'replacement' bolt.  That will make the install simple.

The 'porch lights,' which I've shared before, will be really neat when added to this system.

Again, you can see that they are quite small, but very bright.  Again, the ones I'll be using will be red to protect night vision.

I researched the "Super Simple 120 volt Power System" on the TTNT forum and found this excellent, and very simple design:

When combined, the system looks like this:

Or like this:

Mine will be essentially like the one above.  Instead of simply 'terminating' at the three plug input, I will 'daisy chain' the three boxes from the surge protected power cord.

For now, I'm pretty happy with the design.  It will allow us to connect to shore power when we have the opportunity and when we are at home this will prevent me from having to take 'out' the battery in order to charge it.