Independent Electrical Outlet

[HermitKrab]

As one who lives fulltime in my TT, I thought it may be useful to have an electrical outlet that is not tied into the onboard 30amp breaker box.
I plan on using this for an electric heater this winter.

Basically I cut an opening for a gangbox, installed the gangbox and used a 50 foot 12awg extension cord to wire in an outlet. The cord is ran through the same opening as my shore power 30 amp cord and is plugged into the 110/20 amp outlet on the power pedestal.

[HermitKrab]

A few more picts....

[Flyguy]

Very nice post, pictures say a thousand words, we need more posts like this one with pictures, good job!

[JJnLilly]

Did something very similar to run an electric heater without tripping the on-board breaker. Ran my cord up through the refrigerator area. When we don't need it it is plugged into the 110 outlet used by the refer. That way it is available for the sweeper, computer etc when not using a heater. When we need to run the heater, drop the cord out through the refer vents and connect an extension cord.

[Terrydactile]

This is a mod that I have done and is very useful, especially in cooler weather running a small heater to save that LP gas. I also connected the microwave to this circuit which freed up some more amps.

[DTJ9610]

I know this topic is a bit old, however I finally had the opportunity to go through my camper and take off all the panels to see what was behind it. I found the power cord and now that I see this I'm thinking of adding one to. The question I have it what type of wire should be used to run from the power source to the outlet? I assume you just attach a male plug to the other end.

I know this seems simple for most, however I'm just starting to get into modifications. Was never much of a handyman, but I'm learning.

[Terrydactile]

I know this topic is a bit old, however I finally had the opportunity to go through my camper and take off all the panels to see what was behind it. I found the power cord and now that I see this I'm thinking of adding one to. The question I have it what type of wire should be used to run from the power source to the outlet? I assume you just attach a male plug to the other end.

I know this seems simple for most, however I'm just starting to get into modifications. Was never much of a handyman, but I'm learning.

For a 20 amp circuit use #12. You can buy an extension cord of this size and cut the female end off. The end the female plug was on gets wired into the box you've mounted inside the trailer. The male end would plug into the 20 amp recepticle on the campground post. Be sure you keep the polarity correct when wiring in your box. White to silver screw, black to brass screw and green to green or ground screw.

[SLIMSHADIE]

As someone mentioned earlier, you would NOT want your kids/grandkids unplugging the cord while it's still plugged into the pedestal-hot. Try to stay away from 2 male ends. Tie in a receptical or something.

There is a fireplace post that Smitty did with an additional cord and breaker which is an excellent idea.

[JRTJH]

You can buy a Marinco 15 Amp Inlet fixture for about $15. Drill a hole the correct size in your RV, mount the inlet, wire it to an internal 15Amp breaker and that to the fixture. Then you can use your 12 guage extension cord to connect the new outlet safely and properly. 20 Amp Inlet fixtures are available for nearly the same price if you want a slightly larger outlet rating, however, the plug on a 20 amp outlet is not the same as a conventional 15 Amp outlet. One of the "prongs" is turned sideways to the other. If you choose 20 Amps, you may have problems connecting "normal" plugs.

PLEASE, like others have said, don't wire a makeshift male:male plug and risk hurting yourself, or someone else who isn't aware of your potentially dangerous "cheaper way to wire" your new outlet.

[geo]

[QUOTE=Terrydactile;12563]

Be sure you keep the polarity correct when wiring in your box. White to silver screw, black to brass screw and green to green or ground screw.[/QUOTE

Terrydactile -

Long time ago, I was taught how to remember this with the saying: "There's gold in the Black Hills." (Brass being gold colored and all.) :D

Ron

[Bob Landry]

Having done marine electrical work for 15 or so years, some of the electrical threads that I read on the forums scare me a little. To clear up a couple of inaccuracies...

The 20A receptacle, while having one of the slots in the shape of a "T" in order to accept a standard 20A plug, will also accept a 15A plug. The opposite is not true because one of the prongs on a 20A plug are turned 90 degrees so it will not fit a standard 15A recepticle. This is so a device that may possibly draw up to 20A can not be plugged into a circuit that is wired with only 14ga wire. 20A requires 12ga conductors.

As far as using a cord with a male connector on both ends, that's a tragedy waiting to happen. All it takes is for a child to unplug it or trip over it and cause it to be unplugged, and you have exposed terminals with 115VAC on them. Add to that the wet ground around the trailer and pedestal and it can get ugly pretty quick.

Running a cord through the mousehole, while working OK electrically, looks pretty unprofessional and would not be my first choice. Marinco makes both a 15A and a 20A receptacle thats made for outdoor use. If I were contracted to do something like this for one of my customers, I would start with a small Blue Sea breaker panel with a 20A double pole breaker and three service breakers. The side of the small cabinet bwtween the chairs would would be an ideal place to mount it along with a wall receptacle. You could then run a couple of other circuits under the trailer and up through the floor in inconspicuous places and you would have a couple of extra outlets to run space heaters or anything else you might need. The point of using a double pole breaker is that you don't have to depend entirely on the breakers in the pedestal which may or may not be reliable protection.

Electricity, especially shore power, is serious stuff and if you feel the need to go cheap or cut corners on something, this isn't the place to do it. Good Luck.

Edit:

As an afterthought... It would beneficial to run one of those circuits under the trailer and up into where the water heater or refrigerator is plugged into AC. Install an additional outlet in the compartment and mark them clearly as to which one is which. This would let you move the device over to the 20A source if you needed more power such as in the summer when you are running the AC 24/7 and ned the microwave. It would be easily accessible through the vent access covers and would only take a second to switch to the other outlet.. Just a thought..

[DTJ9610]

Bob Landry, not sure if your comment about the double male connector cord was based off my question, however to clarify I meant just the one end with the male and the other wired to the receptacle. Again, not sure if this is being to simplistic or not. All I know is once you got going on the breaker panels I was lost, but I assume you are setting it up almost like a house would be (correct)? With receptacles running from the breaker that would be wired to the cord plugged into the site source (or am I completely off).

[Bob Landry]

My concern is having exposed prongs with 115V on them. The only way to do it is to use the appropriate inlet on the trailer and run a standard extension cord from the pedestal to the trailer. I'm not sure what you mean by "wired to the receptacle".
The panel is a way to get the additional 20A power to more than one outlet or device, but if you don't have a basic knowledge of shore power wiring, I don't know how I could explain it in a way that would benefit you.
I would explore the Marinco 20A inlets. They would take a standard extension cord safely.