4 Curious Georges' 2001 Saf-T-Liner

[BlackJohn]

Price was never a concern for me as I was usually only the installer.

Zip ties or bunggee cords help hold at the pedestal for sure. If they do sem to droop when plugged in the prongs will start to deteriorate and arc causing bad connections and fire. You do want that ground to stay in the circuit at all times too.
The only set I have personally is on my boat due to the wave action.

Nothing wrong with them at all David, just pointing out another option.

John

[Robin97396]

I bought the same type of plugs. They have a nice handle that lends itself to securing the plug well. I was aware of the twist lock plugs but it was unclear if they would work with non-twistlock plugs.

I have no idea what type plugs are used in most campgrounds. I bought a 50 amp to 30 amp pigtail, a 30 amp by 50 foot power cord and a 30 amp to two 15 amp lines pigtail. I've been in situations when i could have power, but didn't have the right adapters.

I got the impression that twistlock works well if all your cords are the same. Having to deal with worn out camp ground plugs is a crapshoot from what I understand.

[david.dgeorge07]

Originally Posted by BlackJohn

Price was never a concern for me as I was usually only the installer.

Zip ties or bunggee cords help hold at the pedestal for sure. If they do sem to droop when plugged in the prongs will start to deteriorate and arc causing bad connections and fire. You do want that ground to stay in the circuit at all times too.
The only set I have personally is on my boat due to the wave action.

Nothing wrong with them at all David, just pointing out another option.

John

Thanks! I always struggle with making the right choice with stuff. So many options and pros and cons! I think the electrical has been the most fun part of the build so far though! For some reason it's really satisfying. I think I just like calculating amp loads and figuring out all of the little details.

[david.dgeorge07]

So my 2500 W inverter seems to consistently trip the 200 amp 12 V breaker between my house batteries and the inverter when I’m loading the inverter at about 1200 W on the AC side. By the math a 200 amp breaker should be enough. I used an inductive meter and it showed that it was drawing 138 A. That’s what the load was when the breaker tripped. It’s a thermal 200 amp Tocas breaker. Do I just need a bigger breaker? Is it just within the range of expected behavior that would be tripping at 70% of its rated capacity?

Thanks in advance!


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[BlackJohn]

Wire size might have everything to do with the trip. That is a sizeable load and breakers work instantaneously to protect the wiring.

John

[Twigg]

Originally Posted by BlackJohn

Wire size might have everything to do with the trip. That is a sizeable load and breakers work instantaneously to protect the wiring.

John

Yeah, but the breaker doesn't know what size wire was used.

It shouldn't be tripping. Get an exchange.

[joeblack5]

That is not a very durable and reliable breaker style for your application. It is inexpensive.
Breakers come in many different forms and shapes. Some work on thermal trip ( slow and depending on environmental) and some on magnetic trip ( fast) or both.
Then some like yours probably ( thermal) can handle short peak loads of 200 Amp, like in audio systems, and have a long time load of much less.

You would like to have a magnetic trip since it works fast and will do a better job protecting your inverter.

Some home D house breakers are UL approved upto 48 VDC. Not sure if the main breaker has the same UL listing ( if UL listing would be interesting to you) Dc breakers are in general very different form DC breakers.

Better go to fleabay and look for Airpax or similar.

And as Black John said breakers are there to protect the wiring against overload and a fire.

later J

[BlackJohn]

Originally Posted by Twigg

Yeah, but the breaker doesn't know what size wire was used.

It shouldn't be tripping. Get an exchange.

Many breakers have a thermal sensing ability built in when moving enormous amounts of electrons create heat beyond their design, pop goes thee weasel.

John

[Twigg]

Originally Posted by BlackJohn

Many breakers have a thermal sensing ability built in when moving enormous amounts of electrons create heat beyond their design, pop goes thee weasel.

John

Sure, but they can't detect the heat in the wiring, only in the breaker. That's how thermal breakers work.

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by Twigg

Sure, but they can't detect the heat in the wiring, only in the breaker. That's how thermal breakers work.

Dunno. Once the wires catch fire, the breaker gets warm.

[BlackJohn]

Originally Posted by Twigg

Sure, but they can't detect the heat in the wiring, only in the breaker. That's how thermal breakers work.

Ya, the heat buildup is transferred to the breaker.

John

[Twigg]

Originally Posted by BlackJohn

Ya, the heat buildup is transferred to the breaker.

John

Right. It might trip once the bus is on fire.

[david.dgeorge07]

Nothing felt hot to the touch. These are $30 breakers.


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[david.dgeorge07]

Is there a common method to access the back of these? I am deleting about a dozen circuits related to flashers, interlocks, lights, buzzers, strobes, speakers and safety sign actuators.


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[david.dgeorge07]

Sorry, pic goes with above comment.


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[Twigg]

The entire panel unbolts from inside.

I'm not sure how those boards are mounted on the panel, I haven't got that far but an initial inspection makes it look straightforward. Putting it all back together would be my fear

[o1marc]

Originally Posted by Twigg

The entire panel unbolts from inside.

I'm not sure how those boards are mounted on the panel, I haven't got that far but an initial inspection makes it look straightforward. Putting it all back together would be my fear

4 torx looking screws in each corner. Or is it not that obvious?

[david.dgeorge07]

Originally Posted by Twigg

The entire panel unbolts from inside.



I'm not sure how those boards are mounted on the panel, I haven't got that far but an initial inspection makes it look straightforward. Putting it all back together would be my fear

Are you saying that this whole panel pulls out are you saying that the panel on the interior of the bus comes out to allow access?


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[Twigg]

Originally Posted by david.dgeorge07

Are you saying that this whole panel pulls out are you saying that the panel on the interior of the bus comes out to allow access?


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I'm not sure it allows access because those boards appear to be screwed to the panel.

Take a look and see if the screws go through to the inside.

Looking at the bottom right of your picture it appears that if you remove the top bolts, the inner panel might swing out towards you.

[BlackJohn]

Originally Posted by david.dgeorge07

Is there a common method to access the back of these? I am deleting about a dozen circuits related to flashers, interlocks, lights, buzzers, strobes, speakers and safety sign actuators.


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Just do one board at a time, 4 bolts gets it free for back wire access. Cut out what you need and are sure of but you might want to do the start up for each item removed to be on the safe side. Those relay bases are tricky to come apart and get the wire out. Those wires should go the connectors up top that I see. Even to pull fuseing and relays without cutting should do the trick but I guess you want complete removal.

John