So i know it has been a long while since i put something out here. I am going to try and do better, but probably wont. Over the last 2+ months we have made quite a bit of progress on both the house and the truck. I will start in this post with the most recent accomplishment. The LIGHTS.
So when i first started the electrical, i started with the circuits which were plugs since the i felt were simpler. The house has a lot of plugs. For someplace so tiny you would not think so, but at the same time i am trying to keep the number of cords to a minimum. The house has a a circuit of plugs set up for each side of the trailer. So the living room in each side and the bed room on each side. The are each on one half of the split phase of the house. Then there are also 2 circuits in the kitchen. From what i had read this was a requirement...but not really sure. There will also be some high-draw appliances in here. There is also a separate dedicated circuit for the refrigerator, and one for the bathroom.
I got all these wired up a while ago, but had never really tested them, but now i have an they all work. So this was about 75% of the electric work done. The only things left was the lights circuit, the outdoor and the two for the ACs. Since the AC is just a straight run, that may not even be tested.
The light circuit is the most complex as there are multiple 3 way switches, plus some other items. It starts with a plug in the bedroom which will be an alternate place to plug in a light/lamp. Then it runs to a junction box which feeds the bathroom fan/light, the ERV, the hall light, and passes down to the hall and kitchen 3 way switches. From those switches there is another power run over to the switch box which has the lights for the living room and the fan in the kitchen/living.
So i first stated with the bedroom plug... and it worked...not really surprised. Moving to the junction box, i found that nothing worked. So we took it apart there and started one branch at a time. First was the bathroom...got it working, Then we moved on to the ERV, that one worked. Then it was on two the two 3-ways...I knew this would be an issue. At first i could not get any of it to work so i again decided to break it apart. First trying to see if i could get the hall switch to work...no dice. Then i took it out and to see if i could get either the kitchen or the power which fed down to the living room and fan working...no luck on the kitchen, but when i did the living room, the light worked....yay.
So then i made sure the fan in the kitchen work off the switch, yep...so we were now down to my three 3-way switches. Since the kitchen i knew was getting power i worked it for a while and finally got the light to come on..only issue was that both switches had to be on...not what i had intended. A call to my phone a friend, my brother, and a bit of troubleshooting, moved some wires around...and bingo...it worked as intend. Now feeling confident, we are off to figure out the hallway one. Rewired just the like the kitchen, turned back on the power and womp womp....no light :(. I spent a good hour checking everything trying multiple things and could not figure out why the same wiring was not working the same way. As part of my troubleshooting, I was going to wire as a single switch and see if i could get that working, when i did I found that one of the neutrals had become unbound, but was still in the wire nut. Connected it back up and tried again and presto....switched worked as intended....party in the hall way.
So as of right now this leaves me just the bedroom 3-way switch and the gfci outdoor plugs before the electrical is finished. Well, i do have to install the solar, but that has also started and will be the next post.
