Upgrading the circuits in the future. What is the best way for expansion?

[DUX4LIFE]

As many of you know I just purchased a 2019 287 BSH. Since it was bought off of the lot I was unable to add options. One of the things I am adding soon is the electric conversion to the hot water heater. This will just run on a simple extension cord to the 20 amp outlet at the pedestal for the time being. In the future I plan on just running a new sub panel and power line input into my camper. Should I make the power input a 50 amp service (including the new shoreline) from the pedestal to the sub panel? I am not sure what will all be powered in the future with this secondary line bup for sure the water heater and maybe a second AC. I would like to add a few new outlets as the base model outlets were pretty skimpy. I thought about just upgrading the factory 30 amp but have already purchased and installed a new PI 30 amp Surge Protector. I understand anything on the new line will be unprotected without the PI but I am ok with that.
The only reason I thought about going with the 50 amp cord and service for the additional subpanel was that it gave us the ability to run the original 30 amp shoreline to a new 30 amp input I installed on the camper powered by the new 50 amp service. The new service would be plugged into the 50 amp pedestal. This setup gives me the option to run 1-30 amp cord to the pedestal or 1 50 amp cord to the pedestal or both. If their was an issue of having 2 cords plugged into the pedestal I could plug the 30 amp into a dedicated outlet on the camper and feed the 30 amp from the new 50 amp panel. Kind of redundant but I don't mind redundancy if it gives me more options. I also could use a 50 amp dogbone splitter and stay with 2-30 amp supply lines.

Kind of confusing but a simplified explanation is...
1. Add new 30 amp or 50 amp AC subpanel to power water heater upgrade, Second Air Conditioner, additional outlets. 30 amd would cover it but 50 amp would allow me to power the original shoreline from the new circuit also.
2. Either way I would have 2 shorelines from the camper to a pedestal if I chose to run everything that I wanted to power.
3. If I ran the subpanel as 50 amp I would have the option to run the original shoreline back to the camper and draw off of the new 50 amp circuit. allowing just one shoreline.
4. Since I already have everything in 30 amp installed and resale on new barely used stuff is negligble I have a little more interest in running it as 50 amp.

OR...

Just add a 50 amp main panel and wire the original 30 amp into that as a subpanel and leave the PI Protector wired just in front of the original 30 amp Panel and only protect what came from the factory. In this case I would remove the original 30 amp shoreline and use the new 50 amp line. If we camp at a site that only has 30 amp service use a dogbone adapter and don't use the additional AC or electric WH.

Make sense??? I've got to buy new stuff to do this and 50 amp isn't much more to buy than 30 if it gets me more options.

[DUX4LIFE]

No suggestions??? I did some more research and will probably go with the 50 amp sub panel. Since the SLX has no heat ducts into the bedroom and the 25,000 btu furnace is a bit small I may just install some wall mounted electric heaters like thishttps://www.homedepot.com/p/Cadet-Co...02TW/100012248

I could then run them on their own circuits and not have to mess with the original wiring. It seems that one in the bedroom and perhaps one under the bunk beds would suffice. They make many different sizes. I even found several that are thermostatically controlled.

[Lake Huron]

It's funny you mention the wall heater thing. We were at an rv show just yesterday and noticed a lot of units, 5ers and tt's, are installing these little wall heaters in the master room. I cant for the life of me figure out why. On the 5ers, the furnace is basically right below the master AND the master is floor ducted for heat. That's like the hottest room in the trailer, so why in Gods name do you need a wall heater there??

As far as the upgrade goes, I dont know if keeping the 30A panel as a sub panel would overload the upgraded 50A power cord you'll need or not. I would think the 50A panel would be a bit bigger panel to accommodate a few more breakers, but not as many as the 30A as a sub panel will give you.

Someone will chime in on this I'm sure.
This should be interesting...

[Tunce the traveler]

JFYI I use the 30 and the 20 and was told by the park that it’s fine but if I use the 50 and the 30 they’ll be an extra daily charge for the 30 if I had that combo.

[Lake Huron]

FWIW, I've run both A/C's, the electric hot water, the nuke box, and the residential fridge kicked on and all was fine off my 50A cord. However, we were at a park that was less crowded we'll say. We've been weekending at parks w/50A and have blown the breaker because of the load on the park grid couldnt handle everyone.

[DonaandDon]

Constant vigilance is necessary when camping. Whether external 20qmp or 30amp or 50amp. Campground have their issues from expansion to capacity. We have experienced from bad breakers in the power pole, to losing Television signals (low power) to total loss and having to run a extension cord to the vacant neighbor lots power pole.

IMHO the major difference between 30amp or 50amp is the additional AC unit. If at sometime during your ownership you will contemplate adding a AC. Well then the decision is an easy one.

Good Luck.

[TCNashville]

I would love to switch my 30amp camper to 50amp but I would have to rewire the entire rig, including a new converter, as I don't think the current wiring could handle the increased voltage. I think the wiring in my camper is mostly 14 gauge. I did install a dedicated 20 amp plug in that comes into the camper from the rear and is wired to an aux outlet which allows me to run an extra 1500w space heater without going through my converter. I run a 12g extension cord from the pedestal and plug it in to the outlet on the back.

[JimD]

I just finished swapping out my on-demand water heater for a tank model that included 120 volt. I ran a new dedicated 20 amp line to the water heater from my current panel.

My rig is a 30 amp feed and I discovered something while adding a new circuit breaker. My 30 amp circuit breaker panel is actually a 50 amp unit that they are only using 1/2 of. The other leg that would be coming in for 50 amp and feeding 1/2 of the panel is basically unused. Found this out when I added a new breaker in an unused spot and it wouldn't work. Ended up installing a dual breaker in one of the hot locations.

You may want to check the model of panel you have and see if it is already 50 amp capable. Another thing you will need to change is the transfer switch. 30 amp and 50 amp switches are totally different.

Converting to 50 amp service may be a pain. If your ACs are sized properly you can run 2 from 30 amp service. Of course you can't use the microwave or water heater at the same time if both airs are running.

[DUX4LIFE]

All very interesting points and views. I am contemplating the 2nd AC if Needed. I will probably add a new 50 amp box and run the original off of it like a sub panel. At least everything on it will be covered by the original Surge protector. Mostly I am looking to add electric heat. I looked at the heaters at Lowes today( link in earlier post) and it seems like it would do the trick. Going to a 50 amp service definitely gives me more amps to play with when talking about the 240 heaters.
Does anyone see any issues of running the 10GA wire from the new 50 amp box to the original box and putting that on a single 30 amp breaker? That would leave me with a second AC, the water heater, a few outlets, and 2 electric heaters on the rest of the new box. Keep in mind the AC's and the electric heaters won't be on at the same time. If I camp at a location that doesn't have 50 amp service i would just throw the breakers and use a dogbone. Doing it this way I wouldn't have to mess with the converter at all.

[Jay2504]

In our previous unit, I did what TCNashville did by running a extra 20 amp plug from the sidewall to an outlet inside. Worked great for DWs blowdrier, or a electric space heater. I really like the idea of just running a cord to the post for the water heater. It frees up anywhere from 1000 to 1500 watts that won’t be taken from the 30 amp service. My advice is to try it out in the hot summer and a cold night with space heaters before doing any Major changes like converting to 50 amp service. In the cold, get a couple of space heaters, and move them around inside the camper to find out where the best place to put permanent electric heat and how much is needed. The same with the AC. Do you have a 13.5K or a 15K unit. Where would the second unit go? Maybe a smaller unit would work for you. Please ignore what I have suggested if you have tried it out and you know that you need a second ac for example. I would be very interested in what you decide to do. Jay

[DUX4LIFE]

Originally Posted by Jay2504

In our previous unit, I did what TCNashville did by running a extra 20 amp plug from the sidewall to an outlet inside. Worked great for DWs blowdrier, or a electric space heater. I really like the idea of just running a cord to the post for the water heater. It frees up anywhere from 1000 to 1500 watts that won’t be taken from the 30 amp service. My advice is to try it out in the hot summer and a cold night with space heaters before doing any Major changes like converting to 50 amp service. In the cold, get a couple of space heaters, and move them around inside the camper to find out where the best place to put permanent electric heat and how much is needed. The same with the AC. Do you have a 13.5K or a 15K unit. Where would the second unit go? Maybe a smaller unit would work for you. Please ignore what I have suggested if you have tried it out and you know that you need a second ac for example. I would be very interested in what you decide to do. Jay

I currently have the 15k model. Perhaps I may get lucky and it will suffice. We have not been serious campers in the past but I would like to travel a bit if the DW will go along. The 20 amp cord for the WH sounds easy enough to try. It will be at least a year or more until we add a 2nd AC for sure, may never have to but i am one that likes to have a plan for everything. I may get one of the built in space heaters and install it under the bed pedestal if all of the clearances are met. If I get the 120 volt model I can run it onto the current AC circuit as they won't both be on at the same time. I understand I will never need the 50 additional amps but the upgrade TO 50 amps gives me all i could ever need.

[damammel]

Congratulations on the new camper. I have a 2017 287 and thought I'd ask a few questions and share my opinion. I am all for doing upgrades. I bought ours thinking that we should had gotten the water heater with electric. Have you tried the hot water yet? Are you looking just to have a second option or concerned with the propane usage? We have the same 6 gal propane only and have found it to be very good and not use much fuel. That's with 4 of us in the camper doing probably more camping without hookups that with.

As for the A/C, we have not had any issues cooling the camper down with the 15K unit. I went through and did seal the ducts with the foil tape but it was good before that too. We have been on sites with no shade in MD in the middle of summer. Running the AC on generator power the camper was nice and cool inside.


Hope you don't mind the thoughts everyone has their own likes and dislikes. Great choice on the floor plan. I'm surprised its not shown more at the camping shows.

[Jay2504]

The reason that I mentioned getting a couple of space heaters so you can move them around is I was very surprised how our other unit (a Rockwood 2504s) did inside when 2 ceramic heaters were moved to different locations around the inside of the camper. We always run them on the low heat setting,because on high heat,after a couple of seasons the internal circuit breaker begins to fail. In about 3 weeks you will be able to buy them dirt cheap at Walmart. IIRC I only gave like $6 each for the 2 that we have. Jay

[DUX4LIFE]

Originally Posted by damammel

Congratulations on the new camper. I have a 2017 287 and thought I'd ask a few questions and share my opinion. I am all for doing upgrades. I bought ours thinking that we should had gotten the water heater with electric. Have you tried the hot water yet? Are you looking just to have a second option or concerned with the propane usage? We have the same 6 gal propane only and have found it to be very good and not use much fuel. That's with 4 of us in the camper doing probably more camping without hookups that with.

As for the A/C, we have not had any issues cooling the camper down with the 15K unit. I went through and did seal the ducts with the foil tape but it was good before that too. We have been on sites with no shade in MD in the middle of summer. Running the AC on generator power the camper was nice and cool inside.


Hope you don't mind the thoughts everyone has their own likes and dislikes. Great choice on the floor plan. I'm surprised its not shown more at the camping shows.

Thanks for the suggestions. We have not camped with it as of yet. As far as the Water Heater going electric I am indeed in search of more options mostly. I have read of the many horror stories of the board going bad and being without hot water until a new one can be obtained. If I have the option to go either/or, or both I am a bit happier with the situation. This is the first camper that we plan on using the shower. Our other campers always had them but we never used them(small). The AC in our old Eagle performed ok. In southern Il when it gets above 90/95 it is humid. The daytime temp inside would be in the mid 70s. At night it would easily go to mid 60's. I don't remember the size but it was probably 15K. I know this is an entry level unit and purchased it with that in mind. I look at the mods as an opportunity to make it mine. That said if the AC does perform well I would be happy not to have to touch it as there is no ceiling vent in the bedroom.

[damammel]

If there is no ceiling vent for the A/C in the master bedroom that may be an item to address with the dealer. Mine has a bedroom vent and it looked like a 2019 in a dealer video had it too.

[DUX4LIFE]

None of the 5 287's we looked at had the bedroom vent. I just checked the 360 degree view on the first dealers' website and there was no vent in the video. I would probably have them cut the hole and I would frame, wire and install the ac myself. I could run the wire over to the refer compartment, down behind it through the floor and back up wherever I install the 50 amp box. Only part I haven't decided on was how to run the thermstat wire and where to locate the thermostat. Plenty of time as I want to run the unit for a year or 2 to make sure we need to do this.
Next week I will be installing a backup camera.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XKSH8M5/?coliid=I1RREX0MDGX4L3&colid=10TE0J5MFXG89&psc=1&r ef_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it I plan on pulling the wire from the Furrion mount through the ceiling and either down along the sewer vent pipe or behind the fridge. I can then run it down through the floor and under the unit up to the tongue. This camera is wired to a remote transmitter and the transmitter sends the signal to the display in the truck. It is also able to have 3 more cameras wirelessly added in the future.

[damammel]

The missing ac vent may be a factory oversight. It would not be the first time they read the prints wrong when building. In the 360 tour from Jayco for 2019 the vent is in the same spot as 2017. I did notice the bathroom vent had been eliminated. It could be as simple as no one ever drilled the hole in the ceiling for the vent.

https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=3bzJ6uGZaLi

[DUX4LIFE]

Originally Posted by damammel

The missing ac vent may be a factory oversight. It would not be the first time they read the prints wrong when building. In the 360 tour from Jayco for 2019 the vent is in the same spot as 2017. I did notice the bathroom vent had been eliminated. It could be as simple as no one ever drilled the hole in the ceiling for the vent.

https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=3bzJ6uGZaLi

There is no vent in this bedroom either! There is one in the bathroom though. This 360 is exactly how mine is other than the different interior color.

[Hollander Mutthaulers]

Added extra electric power with good quality external covered plug in side of camper, 14-2 romex to a GFI duplex receptacle. Pretty easy to fish wire through and hook up. Simply plug extra extension cord into power post. A very worthwhile mod.