Wire help

[flintsters]

I am a super novice when it comes to electrical work. With that said, I am planning to install one of these for our girls bunk area to charge their devices and to plug in a 12v fan for noise and air movement, and one of these in our bed area to do the same. We will be replacing our 2 12v batteries with 2 6v batteries. All lights in the camper are LED and, other than the water pump and radio, we don't use much in the way of 12v power when we are off shore.

My questions are:

1) Is this the wire I should be using?

2) It is likely that these will be used simultaneously throughout the night so should I plan to split these between 2 different circuits or will they be fine tapping both into the lighting circuit?

If you have any advice/lessons learned please feel free to share.

[RAurand]

Here is how I installed my fans in the bunks:

I wired them directly into the wiring for the lights that are already there.

[wabirch]

Nice install

[Khans Keeper]

Raurand,
Would you please post a link for those fans if you have one.

[RAurand]

Originally Posted by Khans Keeper

Raurand,
Would you please post a link for those fans if you have one.

Here it is. Got them at WallyMart. I cut off the Cigarette Lighter plug and wired it directly into the LED Light wiring. Used a rubber grommet where the wire passes thru the wall. Make sure you get the positive and negative correct. when you tap into the LED Wires.
The clamp does come off and you can screw the base to the wall. make sure you find a stud to run screws into. Holds a lot better that way.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Koolatron...o-Fan/39351534

[jimp]

I would find 2 different circuits to use as you know the charger will be in constant use, and then the fan and lights will be used at the same time as well, all three could be in use which could lead to overloads.

[Dave.H]

Originally Posted by jimp

I would find 2 different circuits to use as you know the charger will be in constant use, and then the fan and lights will be used at the same time as well, all three could be in use which could lead to overloads.

Depends on the loads and the circuit.

The USB ports on that device are 1 amp and 2.1 amp. Between two that's 6.2 amps total. Those 12 volt fans are usually under an amp, so say we are at 8 amps now. Worst case say we are at 10 amps. If the lights are LED there is little current draw.

I wouldn't hesitate to put them on the same circuit. Highly unlikely you're pulling peak current from everything all at once.

Only concern would be if those lights are on a 5amp fuse and 20 AWG wiring.

[flintsters]

I will check to see what kind of fuse is on the light circuit. Is there an easy way to tell the gauge size of the existing wire to the lights?

Also, do you have any recommendations about what gauge wire I should be using to run the power to the outlets from where ever I splice in?

I also like the hardwired fan install. I considered something like that, and may still end up doing something along those lines, but I my wife doesn't particularly love it when her cell dies and there isn't a good way to fully charge it.

I just thought about this....about once a year my mom comes camping with us and we have always make sure it was full hookups so that she could run her CPAP. She is hoping to join us for one of our dry camping trips. Does anyone know what kind of draw a CPAP needs and would it work with this set up?

[RAurand]

Originally Posted by jimp

I would find 2 different circuits to use as you know the charger will be in constant use, and then the fan and lights will be used at the same time as well, all three could be in use which could lead to overloads.

Those fans only draw .9 Amps each, and the LEDs hardly draw any either. So we are safe with the wiring.

[flintsters]

I just checked an old picture of my electrical panel. It looks like all the circuits have a 15 amp fuse.

[Dave.H]

Originally Posted by flintsters

I will check to see what kind of fuse is on the light circuit. Is there an easy way to tell the gauge size of the existing wire to the lights?

Also, do you have any recommendations about what gauge wire I should be using to run the power to the outlets from where ever I splice in?

14 AWG is more than enough. Seems to be what most of the wires in mine already are.

[Homersimpson]

Have you seen this table? And you don't need to be an Electrical Engineer to read it!