Expanding AC distribution panel

BFL13 wrote:
The RV 120v "ground" to the frame is the same as the 12v DC "ground" to the frame. They share the frame as "ground".

However the 120v also has white neutral, but the DC has white as "negative" (if black is "positive")

In an RV you can find one or more DC 12v clusters of white wire that then go to the frame.

The 30a 120v shore cord goes to the Main breaker for Black, to the Neutral Buss for White and the bare wire goes to the RV frame via the metal chassis for the 6300 power center.

The lower portion 6300 converter only has two 120v wires, black and white to breaker and neutral buss. It is grounded by its metal chassis touching the main metal chassis, which is grounded via that bare 120v wire to the frame.

The DC fuse panel is "grounded" to the frame several ways as mounted, (including the screws holding it in place AFAIK)

Just to claify I removed the lower converter portion of the 6300.

I'm wondering why some of the wires that were connected to fuses have conntinuity to ground?

e.g. there are two green wires one is connected to the Norcold's frig PCB 12+ input the other green wire has continuity to ground.

That doesn't make sense I currently have the one green wire that goes to the frigs 12 vdc connected to the Xantrex charger pos+ and the frig runs as it should.

There are two or three more wires that also have continuity to ground that were removed from the fuse connection on the Parallax 6300 DC fuse/dist panel.

I don't remember every removing any ground wires from the 6300 dc panel except for the top middle labled battery Neg.

The 6300 dc panel besides the fuse connection has a Conv. Pos+, Battery Pos+ and Battery Neg- that connect to the larger gauge wires that supply power from the converter and the battery to the DC fuses.

I'm stumped why ~three of the wires originally connected to fuses have neg ground?

The RV 120v "ground" to the frame is the same as the 12v DC "ground" to the frame. They share the frame as "ground".

However the 120v also has white neutral, but the DC has white as "negative" (if black is "positive")

In an RV you can find one or more DC 12v clusters of white wire that then go to the frame.

The 30a 120v shore cord goes to the Main breaker for Black, to the Neutral Buss for White and the bare wire goes to the RV frame via the metal chassis for the 6300 power centre.

The lower portion 6300 converter only has two 120v wires, black and white to breaker and neutral buss. It is grounded by its metal chassis touching the main metal chassis, which is grounded via that bare 120v wire to the frame.

The DC fuse panel is "grounded" to the frame several ways as mounted, (including the screws holding it in place AFAIK)

I found the frig pos+ by running an extension cord from the frig's pcb 12 volt pos+ and checking continuity for each wire. It's one of the green wires. However the other green wire that last time I checked had continuity via a DMM's continuity beep to the large white ground that has ground continuity to all neg- side of the lighting.

Iirc the same colored wires where connected together on each fuse when I pulled the Parallax 6300 DC dist panel.

The lower converter was removed a long time ago so the only wires I recently pulled from the 6300 are the AC bare, white and black wires and their breakers and separately pulled all the fused DC wires plus the main wires for battery pos+, converter pos+ and ground neg-.

using DMM continuity beep setting I'm finding continuity between the ground a converter connects to and black, yellow, green and a large red. black, yellow and green smaller ga. I recall them connected to a fuse out I thought iirc doubled up with the same color wire.

Before disconnecting the AC and DC the Parallax 6300 DC panel was connected to an Xantrex 10 amp truecharge, which I've reconnected to test the frig which is now getting 12 volts with one of the green wires connected to 12 volt pos+.

I probably should have just removed their fuses and then observed what lost power and then labeled them but didn't do that so I'll need to hunt and find the rest of them.

However I'm a little confused why some of the wires iirc originally connected to the dc fuse panel's 12 volt Pos+ have ground continuity? these wires are all bunched up with the wires that go to the 12 volt on the dc fuse panel.

Also the AC fuse panel bare / green wires (ground) has continuity to the DC 12 volt neg- ground and the AC white (neutral) has an intermittent continuity (beeps on and off really fast).

So do you think I should connect any wires that have continuity to converter/battery neg- ground should be connected to a grounding block on the other side of the panel that's labeled GND and connect this DC GND block to the battery/converter neg- ground?

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So basically I have approx. a dozen wires most of which are 12vdc pos+ hot and several others have continuuity to ground all bunched up together part of the same harness. All were all originally connected to the dc fuses (pos+) on the parallax dc fuse panel.

There are two ways to measure ground continuity.. I am assuming you used a common multimeter.. This will show count unity or near continuity to ground on any lead that has a load. Like the water heater. Fridge, Air conditioner (If hot enough) Furnace (If cold enough) any light that is turned on and much more.

A better tool is a TEST LIGHT.. this is an Ice pick looking thing with a light bulb in the handle. in this case you clip the clip on the HOT wire (RED) and then touch each formerly fused wire.. IF the light is very bright and nothing else indicates it has power you likely have a ground.. (But read on)

IF it lights dim you should find someting somewhere that either thinks it hs power or complains "Low voltage" Like the LP alarm Fridge or such.


Lights (if incandascent) will light itfairly bright LED's dim but the light may be bright.

Now Grounds.. There may be no grounds connected to that board.. Rare in an RV but possible..

OH. when you IDENTIFY a wire.. LABEL IT .. Adheasive tape and a marks a lot work or bread ties. or a P-Touch with wire label tape.

The 30a "reverse polarity" fuses on the Parallax board are for the hard wired converter "lower portion"

PD converters are like deck mounts with the reverse polarity fuses on the converter itself.

Can't help with the DC wiring. You just have to hunt around and see what works with one connected, doing one at a time. Huge PITA.

Just put the pos and neg output from your DC power supply (converter or whatever) to the battery lugs on the board front or back ones doesn't matter. --- But it does matter if you use the 6300 split board. Then you have to jumper the two pos lugs where before one was red and one was blue wire from the 6300 converter, so it now all works as one pos for all DC fuses.

This 1991 MH had a 6300 and somebody got in there in the past. I have DC lights and fans that work even when all the DC fuses are pulled, and not all the fuse slots are filled. No loose wires! It is hopeless, so I am ignoring it.

Received the Progressive Dymanics AC/DC Distribution panel and was able to f install the AC breakers after some struggle with the romex.

However the DC Distribution panel is proving to be more difficult to install as I'm left with a bunch of unidentified DC wiring some of which has continuity to the main ground wire.

I have approx. a dozen wires some of which are the same color, green, blue, yellow, black, orange and red.

A large ga. red which is POS+ for the battery and a large ga. white which is NEG- ground.

Some of the dozen smaller ga wires the same color, one of the wires has continuity to ground. However all of the smaller gauge wires were originally connected to the fuses. Which doesn't make sense as fused wires shouldn't have ground continuity.

Parallax 6300/6700 DC distrubtion: all of the smaller ga wires (some doubled up) connected to the fuse terminals shown in the pic below.



The Progressive Dymanics DC dist. is a little different as it doesn't have the two 30 amp fuses and the fuses connections are on the back of the panel




I do have some electrical schematics however I'm uncertain of fuses sizes and which wires connect to what.

I'm still testing trying to find the `12 volt wire for the frig.

I'm still trying to figure out why some of the same colored wires connected to the fuses (12volt hot) have continuity to the main ground (white) wire?

Schematics (uncertain if accurate)

15 amps 14 ga lights yellow
15 amps 14 ga lights green
15 amps 14 ga lights / range hood black
15 amps 14 ga furnance blue
15 amps 12 ga red

Let common sense be your guide. I imagine sticking an inductive pickup in there would be a real chore. I've never seen one but an 'extendo" attachment for an AC inductive pickup would be a real blessing sometimes.

And keeping "inrush" for inductive loading in mind may help to avoid parallel connections and future problems.

ktmrfs wrote:

BFL13 wrote:
The 2003 Komfort 5er came with their year 2000 manual (dealer supplied) It has wiring diagrams for the trailers they made in Oregon.

They had the 6300 for Canadian and the 6300 for USA set-ups. (ours has a 7300) The USA one had five branches all 20 amp as marked--no idea if built that way with 12 wire for all) and the MW and WH on own breakers.

The Canadian version had four branches, all 15 amp except the AC 20, and the WH and MW shared a breaker. The trailer has a big switch on the kitchen wall for WH,Off,MW, so you have to pick one or the other.

It has a few 120v lights too, which are on the receptacle circuit, which the fridge is on outside, and the converter shares that breaker.

Apparently, they felt it was necessary to have a different one from the USA NEC one, but I am not familiar with the codes for each country. I believe they are very similar though.

looks like you have a "manual" load shed device. Intent is the same, allowing connection of two high current devices on one circuit, while only allowing ONE to be on at a time.

It could be Canadian codes are different than U.S. or that the manual switch is less expensive than a automatic load shed device.

Somebody from the States said he had the same MW /WH switch in his rig.

My 1991 MH, RV part built in Canada, has a 6300 too. It has a 30a Main and five branches, all 15s except the AC 20a. The WH is propane only so no sharing 15a breaker with the MW. So it is all circumstantial besides whatever codes there are in effect at the time of build. (Codes do change over the years)

One thing to note is that RVs are plug-in items and not hardwired as part of a building or system on a property. Inspectors generally don't look at things that plug in (which are usually UL or CSA listed but not always). If you hardwired it to a metered service, that'd be different.

RVs are unique in that they are made in a particular state and can be shipped/sold and towed/driven all over the US & Canada. Electrical authority/inspections are governed by state or province and sometimes down to a local municipality/city jurisdiction. There is no federal electrical AHJ that covers electrical inspections in RVs. RV dealers, repair shops & owners don't have to have to obtain a permit, or have a licensed electrician or get work inspected. RV manufacturers aren't required to get electrical work inspected by an AHJ or have a licensed electrician on staff. The RVIA doesn't have authority to enforce the NEC.

You're free to make all the electrical changes you want. If it burns down or someone gets electrocuted, you *might* be in trouble... :(

It's a major flaw on the electrical side of things in RVs IMO. I've found plenty of bad electrical workmanship in 3 US-made TTs and there's nobody to file a complaint with. Some work I've seen looks like it was done by an elementary school kid...

We happened to be in a CG once with a Canadian electrical inspector next to us from a city close to us. Got talking shop and then showed him some of the electrical mods I've done in our TT (some extensive). No comments except for compliments on the work. But we were in the US and it was kinda outside his jurisdiction at that time. :)

Andonso wrote:


I'm wondering who is going to actually inspect an upgraded dist. panel to determine if it follows NEC code?

In our state no electrical permit is required for travel trailer.

Here's a Progressive Dymanics dist. panel with converter.

PROGRESSIVE DYNAMICS 35 AMP AC/DC DISTRIBUTION PANEL & POWER CONVERTER PD4135

I ended up getting the 30 amp dist panel from the seller's auction on eBay.

My current dist. panel the cover's missing. so this one will provide more AC breakers and a cover, which I think is necessary to protect the dist panel and converter, especially ones installed on the floor.

ebay 30 amp dist panel ac/dc