Hi All

Anyone aware of specs/regulations that are available relating to wiring/solar/batter/etc for installations in caravans/off road trailers/etc?

Have seen some shoddy stuff on a newly built offroad caravan which I would like to confirm. 1,5mm wire for mains into 25A AC 220v breaker, and the same 1,5mm wire to 2 other 16A breakers for the plugs. That would make sense as 16A max on plugs, but the 1,5mm on the 25A breaker can't be right? Wire will be long gone before the trip? Also no fuse on batter positive? All earth connections bundled together and taped and one earth wire atteched to body with pop rivet. 

Probably at best 2,5mm wire from 140/160w solar panel on roof of caravan to mppt. This is just a few items I saw and sure there are many more, but surely there must be some regulation guiding these kind of installs? 

Thanks

15 minutes ago, Tsa said:

Hi All

Anyone aware of specs/regulations that are available relating to wiring/solar/batter/etc for installations in caravans/off road trailers/etc?

Have seen some shoddy stuff on a newly built offroad caravan which I would like to confirm. 1,5mm wire for mains into 25A AC 220v breaker, and the same 1,5mm wire to 2 other 16A breakers for the plugs. That would make sense as 16A max on plugs, but the 1,5mm on the 25A breaker can't be right? Wire will be long gone before the trip? Also no fuse on batter positive? All earth connections bundled together and taped and one earth wire atteched to body with pop rivet. 

Probably at best 2,5mm wire from 140/160w solar panel on roof of caravan to mppt. This is just a few items I saw and sure there are many more, but surely there must be some regulation guiding these kind of installs? 

Thanks

I will stick my neck out about some of these wire sizes. Although I don't agree. The 160W panels cannot provide more than 12A so the 2.5 sq mm wire will never get close to the 70 degrees C allowed. 

Also the 2.5sq mm wire from a 25A main CB will easy trip a 40A or more MCB due to the short runs in a caravan without getting so hot that the insulation gives way. 

How about looking inside some inverters and look how thin the wires are and even the copper PCB tracks and they opera rate quite well. 

Also another example is the PCB tracks on gate motors. They normally have a 16A fuse (12V units) and the power goes through a number of PCB tracks. 

Luckily the caravan is fed from 10/16/20A circuit breakers in most resorts.