How to run wiring?

[Shawn S]

How are you all running wiring in your camper? Are you able to drop interior panels down to get wiring behind them? I have a 2000 10' CO. I am about to dive into a battery/solar/refrigerator/AC upgrade.

 

[Bos_Trok]

I used the stuff it came with for the upper half. I never have shore power where I camp so that all became 12V wiring for me. Accessible through the breaker panel on the ceiling, wall outlets, and lamps.

It's easy to add circuits around the bottom of the camper, tucking things away in the inside corners of the cabinets. I made a conduit under the false floor to go from one side to the other.

 

[Buckshott]

I was able to get (limited) access into the ceiling by removing the trim ring around one of the ceiling vents and numerous ceiling panel screws, this allowed me to get a recessed light over the counter above the fridge.

I had some 7 conductor RV trailer cable laying around, so used that to run my DC power between the top & bottom sections. The enclosure over the AC breaker box made a good place to bring the 7c cable in.
This also gave me 3 extra 10 gauge wires suitable for future solar.

My 47 year old CO didn't have a battery, so I went with a liFePo4 Battery pack or "power station". Battery pack fits nicely under fridge area and can easily be removed from camper for other uses. I chose a Pecron 1500 as it has a 30 amp DC out port.
The cavity behind the fridge worked out to be a good place to locate fuse block, terminal strip, etc...

 

[pawpaw]

Nicely done.....I really like the lay out of your fuse panel.

I too will be updating my 72 CO but I will be working from the outside since I have the aluminum skin removed. Leaning toward a portable solar setup with the solar generator weighing in at only 32 lbs and 2 X 100 portable solar panels. The Jackery Solar generator 1000 plus roam kit has an output of 1.26 kwh. Of course on sale today.

 

[Buckshott]

Nicely done.....I really like the lay out of your fuse panel.

I too will be updating my 72 CO but I will be working from the outside since I have the aluminum skin removed. Leaning toward a portable solar setup with the solar generator weighing in at only 32 lbs and 2 X 100 portable solar panels. The Jackery Solar generator 1000 plus roam kit has an output of 1.26 kwh. Of course on sale today.

Thank you for the compliment, it's worked out pretty well so far.

The solar generators are getting better and having a built in solar charge controller, inverter and DC output make them an attractive option...and then having the ability to easily take them out for storage and other uses is pretty cool.
Are you you re-using your aluminum skin? I must admit I'm a little intimidated with the prospect of getting the new skin correctly installed.

 

[Kansafornia]

Wish I could help here, however... one lives an learns. In my situation I rebuilt the entire upper from scratch and used the skin and parts that could be salvaged from my dry-rot desert. In retrospect... one of the things I'd do differently if I had a chance to rewrite some of that novel would be to install cableways within the infrastructure that would be accessible as needed.

For example, after getting the old girl 'completed' and loaded onto my '63 Ford I came to the conclusion that I couldn't use either the rearview or side mirrors - which were less than optimal given the Alaskan's overhang. Needless to say, I had to run a rear camera system and extended 'camper' side mirrors. Boy howdy it'd been nice to have that fore-aft cableway in place to string those lines from the wall of my truck's cab to the rear of the camper. Should I ever undertake another build, that's been added to my "YA GOTTA DO IT" file...

 

[Buckshott]

That's an awesome idea with the cableways!

I'm thinking I'll use rigid foam board insulation instead of the fiberglass.

I see plastic being used as a vapor barrier under the aluminum and I wonder if house wrap (Tyvek) would be better because of its ability to "breath"?

 

[pawpaw]

I agree the cableways are an excellent way to upgrade in the future.

I too am leaning toward some type of solid foam insulation. Many of the current manufacturers use a plain EPS or expanded polystyrene panel. When I removed the skin of my 72 CO the bat insulation was still in decent shape and it had like a 5 mil plastic vapor barrier next to the wood. I also thought about tyvek it can't hurt.

 

[Vic Harder]

I think Tyvek is breathable because it is being wrapped around/outside an existing building with insulation already installed. If it didn't breathe, the existing insulation would get wet and rot/mold will result. You do want a solid vapor barrier on the inside of any insulation.

 

[pawpaw]

I would use the Tyvek as designed....wrap on the outside. The facts are there is only so much insulation we can add. An important factor, I think overlooked sometimes is the absorption of moisture (condensation).