Building a Small Wheel House..... Wiring Questions

[calli4120]

I have done a ton of 12volt and other low voltage wiring over the years so I am very comfortable pulling the wires and hooking the batteries and LED lights up, but I could use some help/advice on the 110 wiring and generator hookups.

Most if not all of the lights will be LED and run 12volt. The 110 outlets will be used for TV/Radio/DVD.

I spent a ton of time researching back through the forums today and got a bunch of good information. It looks like one of the easiest ways to go about doing this is with an RV AC/DC power distributon system. These have pretty much everything all bundled into one handy piece of equipment. Are there any pros and cons in using something like this? Would I be able to piece together all the components and build my own easy enough?

For the 110 wiring, do I just use to standard wire like you would find in your home? Is there a way to wire and inverter inline with the RV power distribution system to run 110 of of the same lines when the generator is off?

Would it benefit us to run 2 batteries? If yes run them in parrallel or series?

I am sure I will have more questions to come, but I am just in the planning stage at the moment and home to start ordering stuff very soon.

Thanks in advance for the input.

[Ron Vroom]

If you run 2 batteries, I would doubt you would want to hook tem up in series because you would wind up with 24 volts.

[Hawg]

I have to admit I have no idea what it is you're talking about. Most of us just run two separate systems, one is 110 and one is 12 volt. 12 or 14 gauge for the 12 volt and 12/2 for the 110.

[rossco1418]

The power distribution center is the way to go. It has a built in converter for charging your batteries. For the 110 you will need a generator hookup on the exterior of the shack I would recommend the 30 amp inlet and run 10-2 wire to the 30 amp SINGLE pole breaker(not the ones for 220v) in the main of the distribution center. Then from the branch circuits you can run either 20 amp or 15 amp breakers. For 20 amp circuits run 12-2 wire and for 15 amp run 14-2 wire to your outlets. There are multiple 12v circuits off the back of the distribution center all with fuses. The battery will also hook up to the 12v side of the distribution center. I would look at an owners manual for the distribution center and see if you are comfortable enough with electrical before performing.

[rossco1418]

They also make distribution centers with built in inverters. They are expensive and would recommend an inverter that plugs into a 12v outlet for 110v things you want to run off battery power. Just make sure you have a 12v plug by the items you want to run. You wouldn't have to plug in generator as much with more batteries to charge your batteries

[leech~~]

If you wire in parallel you can double your AH's and run two times as long.

[Dogzlife000]

Careful with RV distribution panels, especially if you are planning on powering the house primarily with 12v. Many of the units just do not have good converters and put out very little amperage for charging batteries. Then, if you're using 12v in the house, they may not put any charge back into the batteries.

My house is primarily 12v power. I use a 40 amp Intellipower converter to charge 4 12v batteries (2 banks of 2 gets me a 20amp charge rate which is about right per battery). I run the four batteries in parallel because on a typical day it will draw them down to about 50%. Deep discharges are hard on batteries - unless you use the more expensive 6v golf cart batteries. I have a couple of inverters in the house to supply 110v power (TV and microwave). I charge batteries once daily for about 3 hours with a 1000 KVa genny and them I'm good for another 21 hours of fishing.

What's nice about a decent converter is that I keep the house plugged in all the time when not in use. The converter then float charges the batteries (13.1v) and periodically desulfates them (14.5v).

[rossco1418]

I guess I could have been more specific but yes the intellipower makes very good units. The Inteli-Power 4000 Mighty Mini has a built in coverter and is a distribution panel. It has the smart charge as well which will save on your batteries

[LightningBG]

Seems to me these options are getting pretty complex for a small self built wheelhouse. Is this place small but super fancy? If not, and you're on a budget (presumably), I'd just wire the place for 12V, and maybe 1-2 110v if really needed, then use a simple inverter for those couple outlets or just plug the 110 stuff directly to the inverter. Just charge with a normal onboard charger. Might lose a little juice running the 110 stuff while the generator is running (converting to 12 and back again), but it's a whole lot simpler.

And you could run more 12v appliances, such as a TV/DVD combo (about $220 for a 22", run a car stereo deck for radio, etc.)

Could also wire the house with one or two 110 outlets that are hot only when the generator is running for powering something like a microwave that pulls a lot of juice.