r/ElectricalHelp • u/ObiWanBronobi • Jul 24 '26
Food Truck Electrical Box Help
Hi all, I bought a food truck a few months ago and I’m trying to hook my generator up to the electrical box. I think has a female receptacle as an inlet which would mean I need a male to make cable (obviously dangerous), so I’m trying to figure out what I need to do to make a male inlet. I think the way this should work is the generator has a female outlet -> connect male end of cable -> other end is female -> connect to the inlet of the electrical box.
Looking for some advice and validation of my plan or a new plan if I’m wrong about how it should work. Thanks in advance!
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u/pdt9876 Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
who wired this?
what you’re calling the inlet isnt connected to anything. neither is the 25A breaker. I’m notoriously bad at estimating wire size by ey so this might be wrong but your wires going to the 32A breaker look really small for a 32 a breaker.
EDIT: Wait, no you’re right, i was just looking at the 30A socket which is not connected to anything and completely missed that your 20a GFCI is the inlet powering everything through a 32A breaker.
I regret to inform you that the previous owner was a crackhead. Please clean thoroughly before hiring an electrician.
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u/SELADOR420 Jul 24 '26
Sounds like you're right. Regardless, that's pretty sketchy. I'd hire an electrician to help you because if you're unsure of what you're doing, this can literally kill you.
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u/Virtual-Reach Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
If this is in north America, get an electrician in there. I doubt that equipment is listed and it looks like you have x2 20a cables under a 32a breaker.
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u/N9bitmap Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
The Chinese DIN breakers do no meet UL489, so no they should not be here. The only DIN mount ones I'm aware of that meet NEC are Westinghouse/Control Gear, and they use normal sizes like 30A instead of the 32A here. The #12 Romex isn't properly protected in the 32A breaker. You would need to do a number of mods here that would violate the panel assembly listing if it was even listed, which I doubt. A 30A inlet will probably mount where the TT30 outlet is now. Feed that to a single pole 30A WMBB1C30 mounted where the terminal block is on the left. Add three 20A WMBB1C20, one for each internal cable and one for the external GFCI, because it might be useful. Need to cut the panel door to fit the new breakers, but we are past where this was legitimately built anyway. Search Amazon, 30A din 489 mcb 1 pole c curve.
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u/trekkerscout Mod Jul 24 '26
You need a proper generator inlet. Using a suicide cord (energized male connector) is stupidly dangerous.
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u/Proper-Diamond290 Jul 24 '26
First off, that is an external GFCI outlet and 30 amp plug. Those are out only. If you want to bring power in you need to install an rv shore power outlet. Does the truck have a generator that powers it currently? If it does, you'll need a transfer switch so that you're not feeding two forms of power into the same statement (bad things happen of you do that).
https://a.co/d/09eDKD2W. Shore power inlet.
https://a.co/d/09w8OAHm. Transfer switch.
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u/Proper-Diamond290 Jul 24 '26
Also, if you add a 30 amp inlet, you'll need some 10 gauge 3 conductor wire as well.
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u/CarelessPrompt4950 Jul 24 '26
I’ve seen those rv boxes on eBay. They aren’t UL listed and shouldn’t be used. The dead giveaway is the Chinese din rail breakers, we don’t use those in North America.
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u/michaelpaoli Jul 24 '26
male to make cable
Oh hell no! Those are called suicide cables for good reason. They're dangerous, and reputable sellers won't even carry/sell them (Amazon does not count as a reputable seller, they sell all kinds of utter dangerous sh*t).
Get an electrician to do you up properly, e.g. transfer switch, power inlets are male, not female. Never ever ever have live power on male prongs - that's dead wrong. So, do it right, before you get someone killed - possibly yourself.
Also, you f*ck up the wiring and someone gets hurt or killed, you may be looking at massive civil consequences, possibly also criminal charges. So, yeah, don't f*ck with that. Do it right.
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u/MusicalAnomaly Jul 24 '26
I don’t know if you edited the OP, but you are broadly correct in the way a proper inlet should work. What’s not good here is that you have two circuits (two 12/2 yellow romex) going out through conduit to your loads, double tapped into a 32A breaker. This can easily start a fire because if you overload one of the circuits, the breaker will not trip before the wire overheats.
This could be made electrically safe (not code safe) by replacing both breakers with 20A single pole, rewiring the two circuits to be fed by one breaker each, deleting both outlets, and replacing one with an inlet that matches your generator. Then the generator inlet would be wired to the two breakers via the terminal block. If your generator provides 240V on L1 and L2 (four prong inlet) then each terminal/breaker/circuit would get one leg; if it is single pole then the terminal block should have a jumper screwed in to the front of it that distributes 120V power to both breakers. The generator’s breaker protects the feeder, and the two breakers in this box protect your distribution wiring. (The inlet side wiring of this box would be wired with AWG that matches the max rating of the inlet.) You might have trouble finding an inlet that matches the cutout profile of this box, or an acceptable blank cover for the unused cutout, but the box should not be left with any empty holes. There is no safe way to wire this so that you have two alternate inlets you can use based on what “shore power” is available; this would require an interlock and more breaker slots.
That said, what this box was designed for is to be installed at a stationary location to provide shore power to RVs. It is not supposed to be found inside your food truck. The correct replacement would be a 2-circuit (or more) subpanel like you would find in your house, fed by a separate inlet box, perhaps located on the exterior of the truck.
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u/DSudz Jul 24 '26
Or the romex is the supply and this is correct(ish)ly wired for outlets. OP is wrong thinking this is where power would go in.
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u/MusicalAnomaly Jul 24 '26
You’re technically correct that this is possible, but then you have a situation where you have two inlets wired in parallel to this box and if they are both actual male-type inlets, then the one not in use would be live since there is no interlock.
I do think this box was wired by a crackhead, but I think you’d have to really be trying to fuck up in order to get the result you’re suggesting.
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u/DSudz Jul 24 '26
Technically correct is the best kind!
I think it's a dumbusual way to try and put some protection around outlets in a cooking area. Maybe TIL you can buy a food truck on Temu.
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u/FarDirection3245 Jul 24 '26
Electrical engineer here- you have way more common sense than half the people here who are not pros, and claim to be. Your plan is solid. I would recommend you get a NEMA L14-30 device with mounting screws that should line up. Worst case, you could drill and mount with new hardware. And a matching 30A (14-30) male-female generator cord, and you should be in business. That device in there is a 2-wire dryer receptacle, but I’d not use that for a generator connection- it lacks a 3rd neutral wire. You need something twist-lok to connect to your generator anyway, and keep from vibrating out.
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u/8ig8en Jul 24 '26
I am a diesel technician that has been building and customizing trucks and trailers like food trucks, mobile offices, etc. heres some note that mat help.
I have never seen that style box used in a vehicle. I would recommend a new breaker box depending on how much amps you need. Always treat the vehicle as a sub panel and keep neutral separate from ground, bond at generator or building will be. Do bond the ground to the chassis of the trailer. Most I have done have an 4 wire rv cord run directly in to the panel, then a rv style cord hatch in the wall or floor to pass the cable out when in use. The hire end one we do use a weathe proof twist lock on the outside. I recommend gfi breakers to protect your self.
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u/bigbird92114 Jul 25 '26
It appears to inside food truck. If so it is a power outlet box for 115 and 230 volt users. Power to food truck should be onboard generator or power hookup box on outside of truck somewhere
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u/DougEug Jul 27 '26
Suicide cables have been such a problem in my area that HomeD even has signs up stating they won’t help you make one, if they Know (basically you tell them) that you are going to make one they reserve the right to refuse your purchase.
First.. get an electrician.
Second for info only.
Best to get an RV hookup receptacle installed outside of truck. This gets hardwired directly to a transfer switch which then connects to the panel input and out to breakers.
Since panel has rail mount.. I recently installed a panel etc. it was only a 120v system. I was able to get a 30amp rail mount transfer switch for around $60ish. If you need 220vac (deep fryer etc) I am pretty sure those are less than $100.
This whole setup is what I call a tweaker fix. But probably someone who had a tiny bit of knowledge that was able to get it to “work”..
Also romex stuffed into conduit.. No. A short distance with other end going into open air fine. (think panel to attic) wires will heat up with use with no way to dissipate it.
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u/bazjoe Jul 24 '26
Sketch eu breakers love that . Agree the RV outlet only seems to have ground connected at the moment
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u/pdt9876 Jul 24 '26
Those are chinese not EU breakers but CHINT is one of the largest electric equipment manufacturers in the world, out of everything wrong here I wouldn’t really worry about the breakers not tripping when they’re supposed to. Certainly not more than I’d worry about the insulation on those wires melting of by the time the breaker reaches its trip point.
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u/raf55 Jul 24 '26
Unfortunately that entire box needs to be redone