I know there are better ways of doing this. But anyway, my wife and I were camping in our trailer last week. We have a Hideout with a superslide with the dinette and sofa. There are zero outlets on the slide side. It's not a huge deal but I wanted something over there that I could plug in a laptop or cell phone charger if needed. Anyway, I was digging around and opened up the cabinet that the shoreline cable is stored in. Nothing but a big open space. This area is next to the dinette and a perfect place for an outlet. I checked around to see if I could tie into the power anywhere in there and decided I just didn't want to deal with that. So what I did was just go to the nearest Lowes and buy an outlet, gang box and decent extension cord. Was very easy to cut a hole in the paneling to the cord storage area. Installed the box and outlet and wired the extension cord up. I ziptied the extension cord to the shoreline power cable cord and ran it out the mouse hole with the cord. Now if I want to power this outlet I just plug the extension cord in the 110 outlet at the pole. I'm fairly certain most power poles at campgrounds have 110 outlets. If they don't, not a big deal.I'm not even close to an electrician and don't want to get into anything that would make my trailer explode and catch fire and cause me and my wife and two dogs go out in a blaze of glory, but feel fairly safe that I'm not going to bring on the earth's destruction with this set up. Heaviest load on it is my laptop power cord.And sorry for no pictures. Didn't even think about it but just thought I would throw out my idea it anyone was wondering about the same thing. Very simple 10 minute job and 20 bucks worth of materials.

I'm often frustrated that I don't have a power outlet in my slide as well.

Good idea... my only change would be to use a GFI receptacle in the gang box in case the pedestal isn't equipped with one. Thanks for sharing

That's actually a good idea bear. Never really thought of that. I don't forsee a water issue but the plug into the outside pole could possibly get some water to it. The power pole lids close down over everything pretty decently from what I've experienced but you never know. Easy fix and no worries. take a couple of minutes.

dwayneb236 wrote:I ...don't want to get into anything that would make my trailer explode and catch fire and cause me and my wife and two dogs go out in a blaze of glory...That part of your post gave me a laugh. Sounds like a good fix. Photos would be nice - especially of how you wired the extension cord into the gang box / socket.

You never know what the sky is falling crowd on here might say... hehe..Sadly I am at work and the trailer is at storage so pictures are not available for a while. I just cut off the female end and wired it like you would typically wire an outlet. Hope I didn't offend any licensed electricians.

Electric socket in slide | Good Sam Community

20 Replies

BarneyS
Explorer III
Nov 18, 2015
openspaces wrote:
there's no outlet in a slide because the slide moves which would make wiring difficult and the manufacturers don't appear to want to think outside the box. If I had a slide and wanted an outlet in it I would probably try using a flexible cable track to run some super flexible romex through. That way it would lay out the cable when sliding open and roll it back up when sliding closed.

My slide has two light fixtures on the ceiling, one sconce on the outside wall, and one outlet just above the sofa on the outside wall so there has to be wires running into the slide somewhere. As far as I know, almost all slides have light fixtures in the ceilings. Should not be rocket science to run a wire to the bottom of a wall to put in a plug outlet.
Barney
spud1957
Explorer
Nov 18, 2015
opnspaces wrote:
there's no outlet in a slide because the slide moves which would make wiring difficult and the manufacturers don't appear to want to think outside the box. If I had a slide and wanted an outlet in it I would probably try using a flexible cable track to run some super flexible romex through. That way it would lay out the cable when sliding open and roll it back up when sliding closed.
Link

It is done. I have 110V plugs in my slide that has the TV. Manufacturers probably don't do it unless there is an appliance of some sort in the slide.
time2roll
Nomad
Nov 18, 2015
My trailer came OEM with a spring retracted rubber cord to connect power into the slide. Bundled with 12v for lighting.
Works fine.
opnspaces
Navigator II
Nov 18, 2015
there's no outlet in a slide because the slide moves which would make wiring difficult and the manufacturers don't appear to want to think outside the box. If I had a slide and wanted an outlet in it I would probably try using a flexible cable track to run some super flexible romex through. That way it would lay out the cable when sliding open and roll it back up when sliding closed.
Link
BarneyS
Explorer III
Nov 09, 2015
No pics of the inside but all I did was run some wire from the input device over about 6 inches inside the slide wall to an existing blank outlet box. I don't remember now exactly what that box was originally for but I did not have to make an new install and it did not contain any existing wires. It was very easy to do.
Barney
filrupmark
Explorer
Nov 09, 2015
BarneyS wrote:
I put an outlet in the side of my slideout to use for an electric heater or other higher wattage applience without tripping the rigs 30amp breaker. I used a heavy duty extension cord plugged into the 20amp breaker at the post.
Barney

We did that same mod on our Durango Fifth wheel and it worked great for years . Highly recommended to everyone, it's a great mod.
tenbear
Explorer
Nov 09, 2015
In most of the pedestals I have seen the 120v outlet is a GFCI. If that is the case, using a GFCI as the outlet in the RV would not add anything.
RJCorazza
Explorer
Nov 08, 2015
I ran an extension cord from an outlet on the slide side of our trailer located in the front bedroom, to the dinet / sofa slide out, terminating with a 3 way outlet. I routed it avoiding potential pinch points, and also keep an eye on it while operating the slide.
TxTwoSome
Explorer
Nov 07, 2015
BarneyS wrote:
I put an outlet in the side of my slideout to use for an electric heater or other higher wattage applience without tripping the rigs 30amp breaker. I used a heavy duty extension cord plugged into the 20amp breaker at the post.
Barney

Any pics of the inside and some instructions for us less then handy peeps?
myredracer
Explorer II
Nov 07, 2015
Great idea. Just keep in mind that the receptacle in a pedestal is 20 amps. The proper thing to do would be to use a 20 amp rated extension cord and wire up to the new recept. inside, which should be a 15/20 amp T-slot type. Otherwise you run the risk of overloading and ___.

A 20 amp power inlet like what Barney did is a great way to go. I'm planning to do that one day (when DW is not looking, lol).

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Electric socket in slide

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