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Njmurvin's avatar
Njmurvin
Explorer
May 20, 2017

Generator prep?

There are 2 electrical boxes in my electrical compartment toward the back of the trailer where the shore power cord lives. One has the shore power cord wired directly into it and the other is a 30amp receptacle (female). I also have an electrical box next to the side of my front storage compartment (where a built-in generator might live). It has a blue cover with a small red button on the front. It butts right up against the storage compartment and the wires are terminated with wire nuts and appear to be unused.

Is this possibly a prewire setup for a generator? ... i.e. receptacle in the back of the trailer where the cord lives wired to the box next to the front storage compartment where a genny would live? If so, this would be good news for me as I'm setting up an inverter and I could use this.

Is this a typical setup for a generator prep?
  • Njmurvin's avatar
    Njmurvin
    Explorer
    May 22, 2017
    I have done a little testing and I'm still a bit confused. I took the cover off the electrical box that I presume is for a generator output (at front of trailer adjacent to cargo area where a built-in genny would reside).

    I determined that the red button on the cover is a circuit breaker (30a). All 3 wires are terminated in this box with wire nuts.

    I removed the wire nuts carefully separating the wires and plugged into shore power. Interestingly, using my VOM the wires at the front of the trailer (presumed generator box) become hot with shore power.

    I am hoping to use this connection to energize my trailer from a newly installed Xantrex 2000 inverter. The box is located only a few feet from my inverter and it would be very easy to make a cord to go from this box to my inverter output plug. I realize I would have to turn off the converter and other loads that I want to isolate when running the inverter. I don't dry camp that often so this isn't a big deal to me.

    Since the wires in the generator/inverter box get hot when I plug into shore power, I assume the shore power plug will become hot if I energize the circuit from the generator/inverter box. I can make a dummy receptacle to plug the cord into to protect from shorts or shock.

    Now I'm really wondering what the 30a receptacle is near the shore power cord box. I have a call into Northwoods (Arctic Fox) and am waiting for a call back.

    Has anyone used this method of energizing the trailer from an inverter? Is there a better way for me to accomplish this?
  • Njmurvin's avatar
    Njmurvin
    Explorer
    May 23, 2017
    Well, I think I figured it out. I was misreading my VOM at the generator box when the shore power was connected. It was reading 120mv (not volts). It is dark and cramped inside the compartment where the box is ... that's my excuse anyway.

    It appears that the generator electrical box wires run to the 30a receptacle in the shore power cord storage area. As a manual transfer method, I simply plug the shore power cord into that 30a receptacle if a generator is providing power. In my case, I plan to connect my inverter output to those wires instead of a generator.

    I just have to remember to turn off the converter so I don't charge my batteries with the inverter when it becomes the power source.

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