Need Electrical Advice!

[JRod97]

Hello fellow skoolie people, been scrolling posts for some time but this is my first post. I'll just get right to it.

Bought a bus from someone that had started the conversion. Got as far as the electrical and had to sell. I am great at framing, fab, plumbing, painting, mechanical, etc. But one thing like some people I have met, electrical is my weak point as far as the understanding it goes. I can wire receptacles and switches and lights. But the panel makes me nervous and correctly gounding everything to the chassis and how to make it run solar, or genny which is what I would like to do.

Im going to attach a picture of how the previous owner started to wire the panel. I know it needs protection from the edges of the box and if it can be used, I will clean up the routing of wires, but I just want to make sure that this way is correct and this box can be used.

If any other info is needed just ask, again, first post! Thanks for any help, and good luck with your projects and travels.

[bigskypc50]

Looks ok I would pull your bare copper grounds out the neutral bar white wire bar and tie them all together in the connner of your box and wire those to your ground connection from your 30/50 amp plug and wire. You will end up with a 4 wire cable from your plug. Red and black don’t matter on what lugs in your box the white goes to the white bus bus bar and green or bare for all your grounds..

do not ground your chassis to 120v anything. The chassis is 12v dc only

[Native]

The load panel box is fine. Square-D makes great load panels.


Where does the power come into the load panel?


I noticed that one breaker is 30A, but the wire is the same for both the 20A and 30A circuits. Do you know what guage is being used?

[JRod97]

Originally Posted by bigskypc50

Looks ok I would pull your bare copper grounds out the neutral bar white wire bar and tie them all together in the connner of your box and wire those to your ground connection from your 30/50 amp plug and wire. You will end up with a 4 wire cable from your plug. Red and black don’t matter on what lugs in your box the white goes to the white bus bus bar and green or bare for all your grounds..

do not ground your chassis to 120v anything. The chassis is 12v dc only

Thank you for the reply. So I should isolate neutrals and grounds? I am wanting to use solar and genny. I will probably never plug in to shore power. I have had some confusion on isolating them or not for having different power supplies..also, do I or do I not bond the panel with the bar?

[JRod97]

Originally Posted by Native

The load panel box is fine. Square-D makes great load panels.


Where does the power come into the load panel?


I noticed that one breaker is 30A, but the wire is the same for both the 20A and 30A circuits. Do you know what guage is being used?

Okay that's good to hear. And he did not have any power supply set up yet. He was aiming for what I am to use a genny and solar bank, etc. However that is where my curiosity comes in too. How to I get solar power as well as generator power to this box? And I believe it is 12ga. I would think at least 10 is necessary for the 30amp. Maybe even 8?

[BlackJohn]

" I am wanting to use solar and genny. I will probably never plug in to shore power."


I doubt this will ever be a selling feature in the future. For the extra cost do it right, just sayinn, as you may have to unload this down the road.


John

[kazetsukai]

What size do you think your solar will be? How much do you plan to run off AC?



Looks like that box has two legs for split phase. If you want to keep that box for solar/shore, I'd recommend getting a split phase inverter. Campground 30A/50A is wired for split phase (110V and 220V) AC so if you do it this way it should be pretty seamless with a transfer switch.

[JackE]

You will need a transfer switch if you want more than one power source. Your shore/Solar/Genny will run into the transfer switch and if you get an automatic switch, it will determine which one is providing the power. Then you come out of that switch into the box you have pictured.