110 Volt Wiring

[Don N]

Our Trillium has a shore cord, about 25 ft long but it is very stiff and not flexible. I would like to change this over to a cord that will fit back in a little easier. I am presuming this cord just piles onto the floor in front of the right wheelhouse when you push it back thru the outlet? What length cord is advisable? 20 ft ot maybe a 50 ft or just long enough to clear the side of the trailer and then use an extension cord? I am thinking of putting about 10 ft so I can plug in with out an extension cord at the garage. What is the best cord to use for this?

[Bonnie]

Our Trillium has a shore cord, about 25 ft long but it is very stiff and not flexible. I would like to change this over to a cord that will fit back in a little easier. I am presuming this cord just piles onto the floor in front of the right wheelhouse when you push it back thru the outlet? What length cord is advisable? 20 ft ot maybe a 50 ft or just long enough to clear the side of the trailer and then use an extension cord? I am thinking of putting about 10 ft so I can plug in with out an extension cord at the garage. What is the best cord to use for this?

Many of the members here have altered their 110 to allow the chord to be plugged into the trailer like an outside outlet. This would allow you to keep the 25ft cord and have another end put on it. Problem solved. Then you can use an adapter for plugging with the 110 in the garage.

[Darwin Maring]

Convert to the following:
http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/...et-30-amp/28231

Seal the old AC cord hole to keep the critters out.

Purchase the required plug for your cable and store your cable anywhere you want to.

[Doug Mager]

Don, the male end of our cord has become 'dangerous' because of the insulation breaking away from the plugs body right where it enters the body (of the plug). I thought, "no big deal, I'll just cut the old plug off and replace it with another replaceable type plug." Well, before I cut the old plug off, I checked the size of the new (add on) plug and found it wouldn't fit back in the cubby hole provided for the cord!! I checked at a local R/V dealer and found that these cords themselves are replaceable and come different lengths. Bottom line here is, we haven't as yet, changed off the cord but when I do, I will measure the uncoiled length of the cord AFTER I look inside the trailer to see how much room it takes up and if there is enough room, I'll buy an appropriately longer cord. The replacement job is reletively simple, but the benefit (for us) to have a little longer cord is undescribeable! Quite often we need to set up a little further away from the 'power source' and having that power cord a l'il longer will be a bonus. Having a female connection added to the outside of the trailer, and doing away with the built in cord, now means you HAVE to always pack around a power cord that used to fit in its prescribed place. NOW you have to find room somewhere else for this (add on) cord!!

Now dealing with the extension cord issue, I believe one should use an extension cord that is of heavier gauge than the cord you are using (power cord on the trailer), as this could be a potential electrical fire hazzard. To me, its like making water flow in water piping of different sizes. The water (electrical current) will flow easier going from a wider hose (heavier cord) into a narrower hose (thinner cord) than vice versa. What this means is less electrical resistance, leading to a safer electrical connection. ......just my 2 cents (Canadian) worth, LOL!

[Roy in TO]

Here is another inlet. This one made by Hubbell Marine accepts standard 120V extension cords rather than the 30 Amp shown in the post above.



Shop around because you can get a better prices. I've seen a couple on eBay for under $20 but they ding you for shipping.

[Greg A]

I did the mod Darwin is suggesting right away in our rebuild. I didn't like the way the cord took up so much space under the bench in the trailer, it was a pain to pull it out and in, and I read that ants love to come up the power cord and enter the trailer.

I bought a female and male "twist lock" at the Depot and an appropriate gage extension cord. Used JB weld to mount the twist lock female end in the existing entry port totally sealing it to the outside, cut the female end off the extension cord and wired the new twist lock male end on the extension cord. Now it is sealed and we gained a ton of storage space in the trailer. Storing the external power cord is no issue as it goes in my setup bucket with the water hoses, wheel chocks, etc. Attaching the power to me is much simpler now then the original setup and the ants won't be marching in. Hurrah, hurrah...

The cost of the whole thing from start to finish was under $30.

[Parker Buckley]

Never really thought about such a mod, but I see that it makes sense. I've sort of liked the fact that if we're parked close to the electrical box, I only need to pull out enough wire to reach. I'll have to think about that vs having much of the entire length of the cord coiled up under the Scamp in such a situation. More to clean up before packing away, but it would free up storage space. Then it would begin to make more sense to add an access door to the under-seat storage area as others have done to get around pulling up the cushions to get in from the top.

Okay, time to go rake some leaves and mull this over.

Parker

[brendadave]

I would agree with Doug here. In our Trilliums, the cord goes into a space under the sink and behind the furnace that you can not otherwise get to. So even though the cord is sometimes a little stiff getting in and out, I wouldn't want to have to waste storage space somewhere else to put it. I woudn't want to wast that perfectly good space that the cord manages to fill up.

[Don N]

My cord comes in the passenger side just behind the door and coils up on the floor under the closet... must be different for each year I really like the plug that Roy found. With that on the trailer, all I need is a HD extension cord to plug into the trailer and then into the outlet PLUS when the trailer is not in use at home, I will have an excellent extension cord for my drill, saw or whatever other project I am involved in. Just have to make sure the cord is on our list when we are packing up to go away...

[Pete Dumbleton]

Keep in mind that the cable usually supplied with an RV is for 30A[at]120VAC, however, those of us without a/c are not likely to use 30Amps!

What I did was replace the bulky, heavy cable with a pigtail salvaged from a home washer which I plug into a heavy 15A[at]120VAC extension cable. The extension cable, with standard fittings on both ends is useful for other things as well as connecting my egg to shore power.

When running my inverter in places without shore power, I often connect the inverter to the *truck* and then use the extension cable to bring 120VAC back to my computer. The truck battery gets charged when I go to the store or whatever.

[Roy in TO]

FWIW I also bought the matching female outlet so I can put a single 120V outlet on the curbside.

I plan on installing it where the original water fill inlet was located, which I am moving to the streetside with the new water tank install.

[Morgan]

I did the mod Darwin is suggesting right away in our rebuild. I didn't like the way the cord took up so much space under the bench in the trailer, it was a pain to pull it out and in, and I read that ants love to come up the power cord and enter the trailer.

I bought a female and male "twist lock" at the Depot and an appropriate gage extension cord. Used JB weld to mount the twist lock female end in the existing entry port totally sealing it to the outside, cut the female end off the extension cord and wired the new twist lock male end on the extension cord. Now it is sealed and we gained a ton of storage space in the trailer. Storing the external power cord is no issue as it goes in my setup bucket with the water hoses, wheel chocks, etc. Attaching the power to me is much simpler now then the original setup and the ants won't be marching in. Hurrah, hurrah...

The cost of the whole thing from start to finish was under $30.

Greg,

The cord you've described is dangerous. Maybe not for you, but for some future owner of your trailer. If someone disconnects the trailer end first, they'll have 120VAC on the male pins of the connector.

There's a reason the inlet on the trailer should be male.

[Yvon Chayer]

On my past Boler and my actual Scamp 16' i remove the power cord and install a marine power inlet connect directly in the breaker box of the rv

A standard power cord can be use to power the 110 volts 15 amps at the trailer ( i dont have AC

NO risk no trouble and low cost of the modification , around $40 for 15 amps inlet
I put this link for example

Inlet

Yvon chayer

[Pete Dumbleton]

Greg,

The cord you've described is dangerous. Maybe not for you, but for some future owner of your trailer. If someone disconnects the trailer end first, they'll have 120VAC on the male pins of the connector.

There's a reason the inlet on the trailer should be male.

If one uses an inverter and connects it to the Egg's 120VAC wiring by means other than the shore cable, one risks the male end of the Egg being hot. However, that's a lot less risky than a double-male power cable.

[peterh]

I did a mod on my Scamp 5er, replacing the cable slide-through hatch with a marine shore power connector, too. I found, however, that the round hole in my trailer for the old hatch was slightly larger than my new connector, so I got inventive and found a way to epoxy the new shore power connector into the slide-through hatch.



[attachment=20646:07Mar26_...ower__4_.
JPG]



Since my trailer doesn't have an air conditioner I've never needed a 30-amp hookup. So after using my trailer's original 30-amp cable with it's new twist-lock connector a couple times I made a second 110V hook-up cable, All I had to do was cut the end off a 50' heavy-duty construction-grade utility cord and put a 30-amp twist-lock connector on the other end. That gave me a new, longer power cord that is even easier to store, so I leave the 30-amp cable at home and bring a the 110v hookup cable and a 30-amp to 15-amp plug converter for the rare occasion when my hookup post has no 110v plug. (Which hasn't happened yet.)

[Con]

This is How I modified mine. Total cost $2.99

[Darwin Maring]

Con,

If you put that setup together from off the shelf items, you did a great job and should market that thing.

[Yvon Chayer]

Peterh i have make the same modification but i dont put a twist lock
I use 110v. only for the converter-charger and the laptop

No big cable to camping shore power or generator
No risk to broken water pump or hose and no wet or dirty cable because cable was originaly strore in the same aera
Yvon chayer

[peterh]

[quote]This is How I modified mine. Total cost $2.99

Attachment 17003


That is really well-done!

[Don N]

[quote]This is How I modified mine. Total cost $2.99

Attachment 17003


Con, the ring around the plug is just made out of plastice to fit inside the cover? Nice job. Your cost are pretty good out there as in Ontario, I can't buy that plug end from Home Depot for less than $5.00 (but that is till a very inexpensive upgrade)