Electrical

Design

The electrical system that we designed for our Teardrop is made for two specific types of situations that we expected to encounter while we are using the camper. The first design criteria (and most important to us) was the ability to camp off the grid wherever we wanted. The second design criteria was the ability to use campground power hookups when we are staying in populated places.

Taking these two situations into account we decided to go with a mostly 12VDC power system that could be maintained with roof mounted solar panels so that we could stay off the grid for extended periods of time. If the weather becomes inclement, or for when we have shore power available, we also decided to add a 120VAC hookup and some auxiliary outlets that can be used for some luxury items (heater, laptops, blow dryer) as well as a charge controller to top off the battery.

Now that we have our basic ideas in place we took to the web to find as much information as we could on wiring and electrical systems for Teardrops and RVs. Although I feel that anyone attempting to build their own teardrops should do extensive research for themselves, two sites that I found to be invaluable were Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers and The 12Volt Side of Life. There are many DC, AC, and DC/AC hybrid systems discussed in the forums, and learning about different batteries as well as power conversion will help you get a feeling for what your particular component needs will be.

Before we go any further, I should note that I am in no way a professional electrician, nor should you take what I say as fact or good practice. The following is a documentation of what I did with my personal trailer, and you should only try to follow me if you have a strong understanding of electrical wiring. If you are unsure about anything that you are planning to do using electricity it is wise to consult a licensed electrician. So now that I have that legal mumbo jumbo "dont copy me, start a fire, and sue me" covered, lets get on to the good stuff.

Teardrop Wiring Diagram

Through our research we decided to go with two 6V Golf Cart batteries in series, which would provide our 12VDC. Golf cart batteries are truly deep cycle, meaning they wont be damaged from draining down past 50% charge, and they provide a very respectable 200 - 220 A-Hr of capacity (remember your battery's capacity should be double what you expect to use in between charges). On top of this we added 70Watts of solar panels, as well as a Morningstar SunSaver 10 Amp charge controller. This will efficiently charge the battery when we are driving and at camp.