electrical hookup questions

[videorob22]

Doing a new wiring set up from scratch on a 13ft scamp.
Using a marine 12v lead acid battery.
Running lights, brake lights, and turn signals are done, with a new 7 pole hook up to truck.
Going to have 3 120v circuits, one for shore power, two for interior outlets.
4-5 12v circuits for interior lights , switches , ect.
All running into converter.
Converter is a WF-8735-AD
All 120v circuits are straight forward into the converter. Hot to breakers, whites to neutral bar, grounds to ground bar.
See if I have these correct.
Battery negative to be grounded to frame.
10ga red wire from converter to battery positive. Labeled as such.
10g white wire from converter. Labeled negative. To battery negative, or frame ground??
All 12v positive into converter.
All 12v negative to frame ground , or share ground bar in converter??
Also, if I take the 12v from the vehicle 7 pin and run it to the trailer battery, will this charge the battery while driving?
Need to ground the 7 pin junction box negative to battery?
Let me know if I forgot anything.
Thanks, Rob.

[CharlesinGA]

You are calling the entire power panel the converter. This is confusing to others. The converter is only the electronics in the bottom/middle that convert 120v AC to 12v DC. The rest of the power center is the 120v AC circuit breakers and the 12v DC fuse panel.

Its a Power Center. Not trying to be picky, but many people can get confused by your terminology.



WFCO is junk in my opinion but many others will disagree. Trailer manufacturers use their stuff because it is CHEAP.

Here is the manual for that power center, https://www.wfcotech.com/wp-content/...anual_7-24.pdf

12v positive from fuses out to lights, fridge, water heater, fans, etc.....
12v negative (white wire) should all be connected to a ground bar on the back of, or directly behind the power center. Use a ground bar from a home store. I installed ferrules on all ground wires so fine strands will not break off or become flayed.

My ground bar is mounted on the floor behind the power center, to the right in one of the pics. It is under the dinette seat area. Some power centers have a place to mount a bar on the back of the housing. 6 or 8 gauge wire needs to run from the ground bar out to the frame and the 120v AC ground bar also needs to be connected to the frame.

Most trailers use simple auto reset circuit breakers between the battery and the terminal on the DC fuse panel in the power center, and also between the 12v+ from the 7 way and the battery.

Not sure what kind of terminals the 12v fuse panel uses for the leads to attach to. If a single screw the ferrule works good for that unless, in some cases the terminals are designed to take U spade connectors on the ends of the wires. Ferrule kits are available from Amazon but the ferrules are the insulated sleeve kind which I found didn't work well in many places, and I ended up buying ferrules for certain sizes from Ferrules Direct The insulated sleeves work OK if the metal is long enough, I used 15 mm non insulated. Follow the link for some better views. they have a documents section that helps also. The Amazon crimpers are cheap but work well. Much neater work that just shoving a wire in a terminal.

[videorob22]

I re-read the manual and guess I did not read all the way down at first. It does explain the grounding procedure. So that is all clear now.
Just fuzzy on the tow vehicle part now.
I have a 7 pin setup with a junction box which will be mounted inside. All labeled well.
Just need to hook a ground wire to frame from the negative terminal.
Lights ,brakes ,side markers are easy to figure out.
Still not sure if the 12v power from tow vehicle is to go to trailer battery.
Since all other 12v power will be through the power center/converter.

[Bsharp76]

I ran main ground from converter to secondary ground bar then main ground from battery to ground bar, ground bar to frame.....makes troubleshooting easier if needed and in my opinion it was $15 well spent. I fix rv's so I try to dumb it down so it's easier later. With ground bar you can continuity test and know if your frame is getting good connection with simple ohm test

[computerspook]

I hav e always had trouble with the pigtail plug on my 16 foot scamp. I ended up replacing it about one a year and like repairing it most trips. So I did this and have been very happy with the result..


https://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/...ug-102616.html