Magnet18's 1983 310

[PeterH-350LE]

Originally Posted by Magnet18

Junction box to from generator, one goes to roof air, one goes to transfer switch, both disappear into into the wall together

Sideways/red wire nuts to the transfer switch, up to the roof AC

I don't think I can snake wires through the wall like airstream did, probably going to run new conduit underneath

All you need right at that location is another transfer switch and a single 20 amp breaker and then run a 12 gauge wire to an outside 20 amp plug. Use a 50 amp plug that splits into 2 30amp using a 30 to 20 amp adapter on one of the plugs and power the factory 30 amp via the other.

[Magnet18]

I measured with a current meter, they could both run, but you'd be right at the limit
My roof unit draws 14 something, maybe the factory ones were lower power

It's piss poor engineering to not give this thing a 50A plug in the first place, when I found out gmc was doing it in the 70s i lost all sympathy

[Magnet18]

Originally Posted by PeterH-Airstreamer

All you need right at that location is another transfer switch and a single 20 amp breaker and then run a 12 gauge wire to an outside 20 amp plug. Use a 50 amp plug that splits into 2 30amp using a 30 to 20 amp adapter on one of the plugs and power the factory 30 amp via the other.

That would work too, and keep the convenience of not plugging/unplugging, but I prefer the simplicity and control of plugs and outlets in the power bay
That way if I ever want to, i can use the generator to run something really big, like a welder, or somebody elses RV, or...
I admit the use cases are few

[Magnet18]

Haven't made much progress since Sunday, yesterday was a surprise get together with distant family in town for one night only, today is 4th of July celebration, hopefully I can actually get some work done on Wednesday

At the end of the day on Sunday, trying to feed the 10gauge wire through a hole in the floor to get it to the power box, i ended up tearing all the insulation up since it was just interior grade wire

Went to home Depot yesterday to get some exterior grade, 10 gauge, 2 conductor... And they don't have any! Not by the foot anyway, and I don't need a 250' spool, I only need 25'
So I'll check lowes this afternoon. If they don't have any, I'll buy another spool of interior grade, and carefully run it in the waterproof conduit.

[Magnet18]

Finally got this all "done" last night
The wiring is all connected except for the 2 new waterproof 30A rv pigtail plugs on the way (cheapies from lowes weren't even close) but the main circuit works and the rear AC works!

Still need to use sealant to seal everything up (holes drilled to run conduit), and start the generator to see if I got the plug outputs right, think it's issue is lack of gas

Took a detour down restoration lane and wire brushed/ repainted the bay with chassis-restore or something like that (POR ish)

3 days of fighting wires inside and out in 90+ heat and humidity, glad it's (almost) behind me!


Anyone want a transfer switch?

[Magnet18]

I still have a leak in my fresh tank fill area. I can't tell it its the big fresh tank fill hose itself, or the pex-to-original joint going to the shower, but something right there

I know for a fact water sprays everywhere in there when I let the fresh fill get too high

Either way I'm thinking behind the bed I'll put in a valve off the city water in, and run it up to one of these mini float valves near/at the top of the tank, possibly mounting to a PVC cap and completely deleting the existing fresh fill (why would I need it if I can use the city fill?)

https://www.amazon.com/Adjustable-Su...00543272&psc=1

The only downsides are
1. I'll always need a threaded input to the city water port to fill the fresh tank (i think this will be less annoying than unhooking from city just to fill the fresh with the same hose, wandering off, and realizing it's over filling and you've made a giant mud puddle and soaked the bedroom carpet again)
2. At 1.5gpm it'll take the better part of an hour to fill the fresh tank. (Not sure how much of an annoyance that'll be, but bigger flow rates mean bigger float valves, which would cause issues both installing and trying to drive down the road with the tank empty)

[PeterH-350LE]

Originally Posted by Magnet18

Finally got this all "done" last night
The wiring is all connected except for the 2 new waterproof 30A rv pigtail plugs on the way (cheapies from lowes weren't even close) but the main circuit works and the rear AC works!
...

How did you end up wiring it?

[bkahler]

Since you've just rewired your entrance panel I thought I'd mention that in your new entrance panel the neutral (white) wire should not be bonded to the ground buss bar. No where in your coach (except at generator) should the white be bonded to the ground buss.

If you were to look at a normal entrance panel in a home you would find the white neutral wire is bonded to the ground buss bar. For a home this is normal. However for an RV the white neutral is never bonded to the ground buss bar in the RV panel.

The exception to that rule is at the generator. The white neutral wire IS bonded to the ground buss bar. I believe earlier in this thread you mentioned that you had looked at some of the sketches I had made of my 84 310 (or was it a different thread?!). If you look at my sketches you'll see what I'm talking about with the neutral and ground wires.

I apologize if you've already done this, I just wanted to make sure you're safe.

Brad

[Magnet18]

Originally Posted by PeterH-Airstreamer

How did you end up wiring it?

Details to come shortly

Originally Posted by bkahler

Since you've just rewired your entrance panel I thought I'd mention that in your new entrance panel the neutral (white) wire should not be bonded to the ground buss bar. No where in your coach (except at generator) should the white be bonded to the ground buss.

If you were to look at a normal entrance panel in a home you would find the white neutral wire is bonded to the ground buss bar. For a home this is normal. However for an RV the white neutral is never bonded to the ground buss bar in the RV panel.

The exception to that rule is at the generator. The white neutral wire IS bonded to the ground buss bar. I believe earlier in this thread you mentioned that you had looked at some of the sketches I had made of my 84 310 (or was it a different thread?!). If you look at my sketches you'll see what I'm talking about with the neutral and ground wires.

I apologize if you've already done this, I just wanted to make sure you're safe.

Brad

Brad, Thanks for the input, but I'm not sure I follow. I know what the ground and neutral bars are, but why are they not connected in an rv? Is it because you assume they are connected at your shore power source?

Not sure what you mean by input panel. I didn't rewire the fusebox, and the panel that had the transfer switch I deleted entirely.

I was looking at your post here, but didn't see what you mean
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f311...ion-41259.html

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by Magnet18

Brad, Thanks for the input, but I'm not sure I follow. I know what the ground and neutral bars are, but why are they not connected in an rv? Is it because you assume they are connected at your shore power source?

Correct. When your RV is plugged into shore power at your house consider the RV to be a room addition added onto your house. The RV becomes part of the house as far as the national electric code is concerned. Same thing when you're plugged in at the camp ground. The campground is the house and you've just plugged into it. The key is you want the ground and neutral bonded at only one place, and that is the point where the house connects to the electrical grid.

If you bond the neutral and the ground inside your RV you run the risk of having the aluminum skin become part of the circuit if your neutral wire ever goes bad. You'd get shocked.....

Not sure what you mean by input panel. I didn't rewire the fusebox, and the panel that had the transfer switch I deleted entirely.

I'd have to see your new wiring diagram to see what you're talking about as far as the transfer switch goes. How does your generator take over the load if you're not on shore power? The fact that you've eliminated a transfer switch has me concerned as far as the neutral/ground bond is concerned.

I was looking at your post here, but didn't see what you mean
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f311...ion-41259.html

Wow, it's been 10 years since I wrote that!

I think if you can post a copy of how you wired everything that might help.

Brad

[Magnet18]

Gotcha brad, thanks for the clarification, makes sense

Attached is the old and new diagrams, but you can see i didn't change a whole lot
Edit, dangit, didn't take a picture, already in bed, notebook is in the other room, I'll upload the after diagram tomorrow
In the meantime, here's a pic of my new electric bay, generator to shore transition is manual

[Magnet18]

Powered from generator configuration

Side note, generator is fine, guess letting it sit a few months lets gas bleed back down into the tank, powered the whole airstream from it for awhile today

[PeterH-350LE]

Originally Posted by Magnet18

Powered from generator configuration
...

Older MH's used the manual 30 amp set-up, until is was determined that the built-in delay (usually 20-30 secs) of the transfer switch was a much needed function to let the Generator power-up before putting a big load on it, like an AC compressor.
I trust you added a breaker to the 30 amp circuit plugged into what you labeled 20A? if you didn't, you have a fire hazard in 20 amp portion of that line.

[Magnet18]

Here's the new configuration, and the corrected old configuration

Peter, the generator has resettable breakers built into it's outputs, 30A for one and 20A for the other, hence my lables
On this year of 310, airstream didn't have any delay for the rear circuit (or any other breakers)

[Magnet18]

Originally Posted by Magnet18

Here's the new configuration, and the corrected old configuration

Peter, the generator has resettable breakers built into it's outputs, 30A for one and 20A for the other, hence my lables
On this year of 310, airstream didn't have any delay for the rear circuit (or any other breakers)

Sorry, I still had that wrong, the front AC breaker is wired in parallel with the main, not after it

[Magnet18]

Here's what I think is the actual original 1983 airstream 310 wiring diagram is, in case anyone else finds this

Edit
Aaaaand it's upside down
Good job airforums

[PeterH-350LE]

Originally Posted by Magnet18

Here's the new configuration, and the corrected old configuration

Peter, the generator has resettable breakers built into it's outputs, 30A for one and 20A for the other, hence my lables
On this year of 310, airstream didn't have any delay for the rear circuit (or any other breakers)

Yes, but where is the Breaker for the 20 amp shore power coming in, with the generator out of the loop?

[Magnet18]

Originally Posted by PeterH-Airstreamer

Yes, but where is the Breaker for the 20 amp shore power coming in, with the generator out of the loop?

Well, i assumed there will always be a 50A at the source

[Magnet18]

Originally Posted by Magnet18

Well, i assumed there will always be a 50A at the source

Probably not the best assumption...

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by Magnet18

Probably not the best assumption...

Correct

You really should have a 20 amp breaker after the 20 amp plug.

You might want to consider installing your now spare transfer switch in the generator circuit. It would appear Airstream made a change from 83 to 84. My 84 310 had two transfer switches. Since you went to the plug/socket route that eliminates the need for the entrance transfer switch but it sure would be a good thing to have a transfer switch on the generator for the reason that Peter mentioned.

Brad