30 amp or 15 amp / 59 Traveler

[bkpine]

What type of electrical service would a 59 traveler have? 30 amp or 15 amp?

[FrankR]

An inventory of existing electrical equiptment can give some hint of AC power requirements. If some electrical upgrades are to be made, a 30 amp power cable and 4 circuit subpanel will be very valuable. All the parts required are easily acquired at Home Depot. The special 30 amp RV power cable end and an adapter to 20 amp will be found an most electrical supply stores. Locating the AC box is more handy outside the trailer in a compartment.

[bkpine]

Thanks alot. Just got off the phone w/'em.

[prairieschooner]

I am doing the samething with our 1958 Traveler. The wire size will dictate the fuse size! If you need more amperage you may be able to add a second circuit if yours has two circuits like mine. But be careful, the circuit protection should be sized no larger than the wire.
I have included a couple of pictures of our (new to us) Traveler.
Steve

[Creampuff]

Better beef up the rockguard- those Fordson's can really throw the terra!

[prairieschooner]

Sorry Cream Puff that is a 1952 Ford 8N. I looked fro a long time to find one of these of this year because I was born in 1952 and only a 1952 would do!
Steve

[Safari Tim]

I need to update my panel. I plan to add an air conditioner.

Anything special I should look for in a panel?

Originally Posted by FrankR

An inventory of existing electrical equiptment can give some hint of AC power requirements. If some electrical upgrades are to be made, a 30 amp power cable and 4 circuit subpanel will be very valuable. All the parts required are easily acquired at Home Depot. The special 30 amp RV power cable end and an adapter to 20 amp will be found an most electrical supply stores. Locating the AC box is more handy outside the trailer in a compartment.

[prairieschooner]

Tim,
I am planning to update the electrical circuit protection on my 1958 Traveler. I will be using ABYC standards when I update what I have.
The Main Circuit protection will be a Circuit Breaker that is Double Pole and there will be a Polarity Indicator. The Trailer already had two seperate circuits, I think that it is basically left and right. The old screw in fuses are cool to see as original equipment but they need to be better protected from gear, etc. if I keep them.
Hope this helps.
Steve

[markdoane]

Steve,

If you are using a double pole main, does that mean you are running the neutral through the other pole. Excellent!

[john hd]

Originally Posted by markdoane

Steve,

If you are using a double pole main, does that mean you are running the neutral through the other pole. Excellent!

please explain, why would you want the neutral interuptable?

john

[prairieschooner]

The standard on yachts (and what are trailers) is to have a double pole breaker. This is so that both the hot and the nuetral are switched. It makes the trailer safer. If you have a polarity light then you would know if there is reversed polarity BEFORE you turn the power on to the trailer. The polarity indicator is simply a light that shows proper or reversed polarity. This would keep us from shorting something out when at a questionable site or someone made a mistake when wiring the power recepticale,
Steve

[markdoane]

Originally Posted by john hd

please explain, why would you want the neutral interuptable?

john

(errata: my post was meant to be a query, but I neglected to add the question mark.)

If you use double pole breakers, wire the hot to one side and neutral to the other side, you don't need to worry about reversed polarity.

(edit: I guess that says the same thing Steve just said)

[prairieschooner]

You do need to worry about reversed polarity. There is a test plug that is available at most hardware stores that checks the polarity. The Hot, Nuetral and Ground wires are assigned to specific terminals on the plugs and recepticales. Since the Nuetral is usually grounded it is important to keep the wires on the proper terminals.
If you are wired correctly and come to a Camp site that has reversed polarity, there could be problems. This is why I believe there should be a double pole and a polarity indicator (light). Look at the Main Breaker for your House, it is a Double Pole Brealer.
Steve

[markdoane]

Originally Posted by piratesteve

. . . . Look at the Main Breaker for your House, it is a Double Pole Brealer.
Steve

That right, but in your house the reason and application is entirely different than a boat or trailer.

In the house you are dealing with two hots, 240V and a common trip. In a marine/trailer situation, the problem is protection against incorrect wiring due to reversed hot and neutral at 120V.

[prairieschooner]

So how would you identify a reversed hot and nuetral before you electrify your trailer? If there is a Double Pole Breaker and an Indicator Light, you would know as soon as you plug in and before the trailer gets electricity.
You do as you wish, for the $35.00 or so, I will use a double pole breaker.
Actually here is a link to West Marine, scroll down the page to #335524. This is a panel for $77.99 with a double pole 30 amp breaker and polarity lights.
http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs...key=SiteSearch