I'd recommend going over to home depot on a week night when they aint real busy and ask their electrical guy to show you the basics from ac breaker box to electrical outlet and to hard wired unit (like air conditioner). They will show you the basic how-to. There is not a whole lot of sophisticated AC wiring in an airstream-Until you get into 240VAC-50 amp service with solar photo voltaic cells, and generator transfer switches, inverters etc. The basics will get you outlets and 120VAC hard wired appliances. Individual research into what fancy stuff you are going to add should be a pleasure for you to do.
The AC side has but one source-the 30 amp shore line-either plugged into a RV campsite, or your house/shop or a generator.
The 12VDC side has two sources: 1) a converter/charger and 2) batteries. The converter/charger does just that: Converts 120VAC into 12VDC, and charges the batteries. The converter/charger should just plug into a 120VAC outlet for input. The two sources should tie together at a common point upstream (output) from the 12v distribution (either fuses like most cars or circuit breakers-both bi-metallic type and switching type-which are generally referred to as "molded case circuit breakers rated for DC"). from the distribution, wires flow to the various things that use 12VDC in your unit. You will decide what "Thing" will work on 120VAC or 12VDC. So, YOU should decide where you are going to mount the various "things" and draw yourself a simple, two dimensional map of all the "things" you are putting in (lights, refer, tv, radio, tape deck, water heater, furnace-on and on). You should make two maps one for 120VAC and one for 12VDC-draw one on clear plastic to overlay the other-make the same scale so you can compare. Then, draw your lines that will represent your wiring. Remember to use correctly rated wiring. Obviously, use two color minimum wiring for your hook up. The AS's I have seen use "Romex" for the AC wiring, and simple 2 color wiring for the 12VDC. I would route dedicated wiring for each "thing" More circuits are easy to add, and the cost is not prohibitive. Then future trouble shooting and/or changes are simplified.
Think ahead. Are you going to add solar power in the future? I bet you do...it is one of the waves of the future. So, run some wiring for it now. It is cheap and easy. Also, sizing the wire up (bigger) one gauge costs little and adds peace of mind. run a 3w with ground up to the air conditioner-you may go to a 50 amp 240VAC service someday-it is cheap to do now.-wire in a washer/dryer/dishwasher now and save yourself headaches later on.
I am sure someone will have a complete schematic for their rig, but it probably wont match what you are doing...be creative.
One last thing: wire the DC side as carefully as you would the AC side. Use separate wires for the battery (+) and the battery return (-) and please notice I did not call the battery return a "ground". This is just words to most folks but very important as we go into a newer world. The battery return on an AS is not a grounding conductor. The 12VDC system will connect to Earth ground when you connect to a correctly grounded RV park system or your house, etc. Your AS will not have a ground when using batteries or a portable generator, unless you drive a grounding rod into the earth and connect it (bond it) to the point on your AS where the AC equipment ground and 12VDC battery return connect common (usually the trailer chassis). Don't depend on the chassis or aluminum skin for a battery return lead. Everything we add today is microprocessor controlled and needs a very clean DC voltage signal to operate correctly so don't mess up by using the metallic structure as a battery return conductor-run separate wires.
Keep a record of what you do-look at your original AS service manual and see what they did and do at least that much-if you are anything like most others on this forum, you'll do a much better job than AS did-they wanted to make $-you want to ensure you get your $ worth-today and tomorrow.
good luck, use the k.i.s.s. pricipal and be aware of Murphy's Law.
ol' Bill the newbie
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. It is kind of frustrating right now but I think I can figure it all out with the help of this forum and the internet. At least the consequences are not very high with the electrical system, Im worried about the LP lines, dont want to blow me and my wife up
. Well, I hope this helped you, I know it was a little ambiguous but if you have any more questions please feel free to ask me (not that I know that much but it seems like were in the same place). Good luck and Ill see you around the forum
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