[VAC] Re: New wiring

["Robert / Susan Harper" <rharper@xxxxxxxxxx>]

My '62 came from the factory with a single battery with inline 12V fuses (outside under front window) and a very rudimentary 120V control box (2 screw-in fuses, immediately rear of curbside entry door at floor).  No 120V appliances.  The wiring is now pushing 40 years old, and has gotten pretty stiff and brittle.

 

My "new" '62 Airstream will have 2 batteries, a solar panel and charge controller, a 55 amp converter/charger with 3-stage charging, and a distibution box with 6 breakers for 120v and about 10 fusable circuits for 12V.

I am installing 120V appliances that were not there before: small microwave, elec./gas fridge, elec./gas water heater.

 

I have not determined the exact position of the distribution panel yet.  Either behind curbside wheel well in closet or under front window above water tank.  I'd like it as close to the batteries and solar panel as possible.  Still waffling on battery location.  Everything depends upon everything else.  What to do? Not to hurry.

 

But where ever it ends up,  the routes will have increased and changed.  Routing the wiring under the floor to these appliances would seem easier than running it down the center of the roof.  I'd much rather run wires under a floor (currently open from below and clean as a whistle) and up a straight wall than to follow curved walls up &/or down.   In all 3 of the cases I mentioned (fridge, micro, water heater), the actual 120V receptacle will be hidden, either behind a counter, inside a cabinet, or in a closet, giving me quite a bit more flexibility re: where the wires come out.  I also hope to make the belly pan more easily removable in the future. It seems like having a good look at things under there every 3 or 4 years might be a pretty good idea. 

 

It was pretty easy for Airstream to run those wires in the roof before the inside skin was in place. Not so easy now. 

 

BH62GT/SC