Older Scamp Rewire

[TheSpencerJM]

Hey All,

I have an 1984 13" Scamp that I'm about to add a Fan-Tastic Fan to. While looking into how to wire it, I noticed that the 3 LED light bulbs and the12V plug are all ran off of each other with the main positive and negative running to the battery. This is all the electric currently done in my Scamp. It's all done pretty shafty, so I would like to rewire the whole interior trailer wiring.

I have a few questions about how to wire.

Planning on running the positive and negative to a fuse box and then running to the lights, fan, and 12v. Curious on much I can run on one fuse.

-Can I run all 3 LED bulbs and a Fantastic fan on one fuse or should I put the fan on it's own?

-For the 12v Plug, any suggestions for fuse size? Planning on using the 12v plug to charge a cellphone and possible a small 12v tv in the future.

Is all this overkill for sunning such little power? Should I just run it all together and splice in a fuse a few inches from the battery instead of adding a fuse box and using multiple fuses?

Thanks for hearing me out!

Spencer
-

[thrifty bill]

Simple fuse blocks are cheap, a lot better to have them all in one central place.

More circuits and fuses beats less circuits. Based on your description, I would have 3 12V circuits. Do you have a propane stove or fridge? If so, you will need a propane alarm as well.

How do you plan to charge your battery? Shore power?

I have about what you have in my Trillium 1300. I went with a PD4135 power center that includes a converter, smart battery charger, multiple 120V circuits and multiple 12V circuits. Once you start adding 120V AC circuits, a power center starts making a lot of sense. A PD4135 is about $150.

Or go simple with something like this one. Like that it has the negative bus as well, six circuits should be plenty, room for two spare fuses.

+10 To John below, fuses protect the wiring. Old wire, bad splices, stuff taped together, can be a real mess on these older trailers.

https://www.amazon.com/Extractme-Upg...89NQQPRW&psc=1

[John in Michigan]

Well hopefully there is no 110 volt ac circuitry.

With a trailer this old its difficult to provide any feedback because:

- wire gauge for the existing circuits is not known and may not be adequate or safe
- there may be taped or otherwise faulty wire splices
- existing terminal connections may not be adequate or safe
- there may not be any existing fuses, or if there are, the fuse holders may be inadequate current rating or faulty
- there may not be a fuse protecting the main battery cables

Inspect the dc circuitry for these potential problems and fix any problems, or if necessary completely rewire.

[John in Michigan]

For the 12 volt plug, these are usually rated at 10 to 20 amps. Always size the fuse to protect the wire. The current rating for the wire is based on its gauge. For a 12 volt plug I would use at least 14 gauge stranded copper wire. 14 gauge copper wire is capable of safely carrying 15 amps. So you could use a 15 amp fuse and thus protect the wire.

The problem is that many 12 volt plugs do not have a labelled rating. So its easy to overload a 12 volt plug, and that's a fire hazard! If the 12 volt plug doesn't have a labelled rating, I would use a 10 amp fuse even with 14 gauge wire in order to avoid overloading the 12 volt plug.

[TheSpencerJM]

Thanks for the help.



I am rewiring the whole trailer since everything is so old and crummy looking. Since we never camp places where we can hookup to shore power, I won't be installing a convertor. My Scamp does 110 power that runs one light and a plug which is ran through a single breaker, but we never use it. I'm planning on charging our battery with a 100W solar kit. I've been using a 20W trickle charger to keep the battery topped off and it's always kept it full. We rarely use the inside of our trailer.



So for the wiring, a circuit for each of the below makes sense?

• LED lights
• Fan
• Propane Alarm
• 12 V plug

I forgot to add that I have an electric water pump for the sink. Can I lump that in with one of the above?



I also had one more question about the fuse box location. I've read that fuse boxes should be 8 inches from the battery. My battery is located on the tongue of my trailer, in front of the propane tanks. So it would be at least 2.5-3 ft distance to the inside front of the trailer where I was planning on adding the fuse box. Is that ok or should I try to install the fuse box in a closed battery box with the battery?

[John in Michigan]

I would put the fuse panel in a convenient location inside the trailer. There should be a separate "main battery fuse" on the positive battery terminal or on the positive battery cable near the positive battery terminal. 10 gauge wire will handle 30 amp load, and should be fused with a 30 amp fuse.

General rules:

- use solid copper stranded wire
- size the fuse to protect the wire between the fuse and the load
- ensure all circuit hardware (fuse holders, connectors, wire, etc) is rated for the max current planned

[jwcolby123]

Originally Posted by John in Michigan

For the 12 volt plug, these are usually rated at 10 to 20 amps. Always size the fuse to protect the wire. The current rating for the wire is based on its gauge. For a 12 volt plug I would use at least 14 gauge stranded copper wire. 14 gauge copper wire is capable of safely carrying 15 amps. So you could use a 15 amp fuse and thus protect the wire.

The problem is that many 12 volt plugs do not have a labelled rating. So its easy to overload a 12 volt plug, and that's a fire hazard! If the 12 volt plug doesn't have a labelled rating, I would use a 10 amp fuse even with 14 gauge wire in order to avoid overloading the 12 volt plug.

Most 12v (cigarette lighter) sockets won't provide high current, then will melt or cause the plug to melt. I know because... I fought with my 18 wheeler to plug in a 6 amp walmart cooler. I melted a half dozen plugs, including very "high current" plugs, and eventually melted the socket.

There are a plethora of problems starting with the spring inside of the plug which keeps the little metal tip extended. A little steel spring... high resistance... hardens as it heats, loses it's springiness. Who thinks steel spring is good in a high electrical current environment?

Anyway, fight with it if you want, I gave up after a year of replacing the plugs... when the socket smoked.

There are other more modern connectors, use them.

[gordon2]

Originally Posted by TheSpencerJM

...
-For the 12v Plug, any suggestions for fuse size? Planning on using the 12v plug to charge a cellphone and possible a small 12v tv in the future.
...

Originally Posted by jwcolby123

Most 12v (cigarette lighter) sockets won't provide high current, then will melt or cause the plug to melt. ....
Anyway, fight with it if you want, I gave up after a year of replacing the plugs... when the socket smoked....
There are other more modern connectors, use them.

For a TV or cell phone charging a good quality cigarette type outlet will work fine (I installed two). However if you later want to use something that requires more current, like my Indel B (Danfoss / Secop compressor) portable fridge, then you won't have as much luck. Also, if you are using the cigarette type outlet while on the road, they tend to fall out. I installed a dual 30 amp Anderson Power Pole outlet. Buy the proper crimper tool, follow YouTube videos, and its easy to make custom cables with the Anderson Power Pole connectors. I also made pigtail Anderson Power Pole to Cigarette lighter type socket adapter so I can have up to three cigarette lighter type outlets.

[jwcolby123]

Originally Posted by gordon2

... I installed a dual 30 amp Anderson Power Pole outlet. Buy the proper crimper tool, follow YouTube videos, and its easy to make custom cables with the Anderson Power Pole connectors. I also made pigtail Anderson Power Pole to Cigarette lighter type socket adapter so I can have up to three cigarette lighter type outlets.

^^^ THAT!

[AC0GV]

Originally Posted by gordon2

I installed a dual 30 amp Anderson Power Pole outlet. Buy the proper crimper tool, follow YouTube videos, and its easy to make custom cables with the Anderson Power Pole connectors

Even some vendors have shipped them wrong. Here it is.
https://powerwerx.com/help/powerpole...y-instructions