Hoping someone can help me out with this, I have standard power outlets on either side of the bed in our hauler and I want to convert them to 12V as we usually dry camp. Can I just find where these wires go in the breaker panel and move the wires to 12V fuse slot and then replace the outlet with a 12v receptacle? If not, is there another easy-ish way to do this? Sorry if I used some of the wrong terminology, but I think you can pick up what I am putting down. Thanks in advance!

Generally it is not that easy.Typically there will be a bunch of 120V outlets on the same 120V breaker, not all outlets in the same breaker will be in the same "area". Good chance the breaker servicing that outlet will be feeding other outlets all through your RV.In a nutshell, you most likely will lose at least half of your 120V outlets.Additionally since RVs have extremely thin walls, they can not use typical home outlets.Instead a low profile all in one outlet/box combo is used which the 120V wire runs through uncut and the back is pressed against the wire. The back pushes the wire into sharp pins and the pins pierce the insulation of the wire. You would have to cut the wire or cut back the insulation and solder flexible wires that would go to the 12V outlet. Once wire has been cut it will be real hard to undo down the road if your needs change.The net effect is a lot of work on your part to make this change and you will lose the use of a lot of outlets.I would recommend simply running new 12V wires as close to your desired location as possible. You can use cabinets, cupboards and so on to run the wire, just have to be a bit creative but it can be done.BE SURE TO FUSE YOUR HANDY WORK TO THE WIRE SIZE..

Gdetrailer, thank you for the detailed response. I will look into fishing new wire like you suggested, didn't want to have to but I also don't want to lose power to all the other 120 outlets. Thanks!

What do you want to power with your 12v sockets?120v systems in RVs are typically wired with #14 wire, good for 15A but may have to much voltage drop to use with 12v systems. A 3v drop is not much when you have 120v but too much when you only have 12v.

What are you trying to run of 12V?If it's just an extra led light or something low draw, you might be able to tap into one of the lines feeding the lights so save some effort fishing new lines.

All I want to power is one cell phone on each side of the bed. They are iPhones, which I understand draw more power to charge than other phone. (Read that in a search on this forum).

Convert standard outlet to 12v | Good Sam Community

4x4van
Explorer III
Nov 15, 2014
Kiwi_too wrote:
Click on it. It replaces a standard outlet and has the stepdown to the USB built in. I know it is not what was orriginally asked for but sometimes options are available
Nice and clean. Only downside is that you would always need the 110VAC (inverter, hookups, or genset) to use.

I just installed this in my MH.

Nice & easy; just tap into a 12v source (you do have lights in the bedroom, right?), 12VDC is always on/available. I recommend putting it inside a cabinet, since the blue power LED is fairly bright (or you could run an inline rocker switch to turn it on/off).
time2roll
Nomad
Nov 08, 2014
Kiwi_too wrote:
Click on it. It replaces a standard outlet and has the stepdown to the USB built in. I know it is not what was orriginally asked for but sometimes options are available
Would work perfect with the inverter.
tenbear
Explorer
Nov 07, 2014
My RV has a bedroom layout similar to yours. One of my early mods was to install a switch on one of the wards for a light on the bottom of the overhead cabinet. That was easy to do. The floor of the overhead cabinet was easy to take out exposing the wiring for the light and making it easy to run a wire down to the new switch.

Hope yours is as easy.
Mrs__O_Mordha
Explorer
Nov 07, 2014
SPUD, those look perfect for what I am looking for! That with tapping in to the light, sounds like an easy solution.

Here is the layout of my trailer. The breaker box is where I put a red "X" under the fridge. The outlets I want to install would by in the wards on either side of the queen bed. I'm guessing that running wire to those locations from the breaker box would be difficult for a novice like me.
hedge
Explorer
Nov 07, 2014
I have the above blue sea plugs in my truck camper. They work great but I did have to run wire back to my converter. In my case it wasn't really that hard. It usually isn't that hard to run wiring.

As someone said a few posts above, at such a low amperage you can probably just tap into a 12v light or something close by so that you don't have to run any wiring.

I pretty much never have power so it was worth it to me to install a few of these throughout the camper. I also converted my tv to 12v. I really didn't want an inverter, it seems inefficient to convert from 12 to 120 and then back to 12v (actually 5v for usb). I'd also want a quality sine wave inverter and those aren't cheap.
spud1957
Explorer
Nov 07, 2014
Would this work? It's designed to be wired directly to 12V.

http://www.go2marine.com/product/247423F/blue-sea-systems-dual-usb-charger-socket-12-volt.html#list-of-products
Mrs__O_Mordha
Explorer
Nov 07, 2014
**didn't realize the photo had a link on it**

Oh, yeah I have those in my house already. I want something to run off 12v though so that wont work.
AllegroD
Nomad
Nov 07, 2014
Click on it. It replaces a standard outlet and has the stepdown to the USB built in. I know it is not what was orriginally asked for but sometimes options are available.

If you want standard 12v, this will not do it. Like others have said,, you will need a full converter in the middle and not just a socket.
Mrs__O_Mordha
Explorer
Nov 07, 2014
Kiwi, what is that? Would be cool if it was an outlet with a 120 to 12v converter built in! Where I would be installing a new outlet, it's in a cabinet/wardrobe so bulky receptacles would not be an issue.
AllegroD
Nomad
Nov 07, 2014