adding second shore power receptacle

I added a second plug on my Coachman and put a small breaker box in the front compartment with 2 30amp breakers in it, wired each plug to it's own breaker and can select which ever plug I need. The front plug it on the pinbox for using genny in the truck bed.

RoyB's comments reminded me of a prior Class C which had a built-in generator. The shore power compartment which held the cord also had a female receptacle which was wired to the generator. The cord was plugged into this receptacle when stowed and you were ready for generator use. If you wanted shore power you simply unplugged and moved the plug to the pedestal. A simple and elegant solution that you might be able to use.

laknox wrote:

I've thought about this with my Komfort and agree that the exposed prongs could be dangerous without a transfer switch. Just had a thought, though (always dangerous). What if you got a female plug, stripped the contacts out of it, and used it to cover the male prongs inside the unused recep, then dropped the cap down over that?

Lyle

can the cover/cap be closed with both items inside it? would be better with some type of lock on the cover. main problem is that some body will come around and defeat your safeguard, then you could be in a heap of $$$ trouble.
might be safer just to use a female receptacle twist to lock on and screw ring to hold it in place. then somebody would have to unscrew the ring, twist off the receptacle, and then grab the contacts?

bumpy

Bumpyroad wrote:

Veebyes wrote:
If the second shorepower inlet is live & covered how is it any more dangerous than a live outlet uncovered anywhere in the trailer?

cause we are talking about male receptacles that have exposed prongs.
bumpy

I've thought about this with my Komfort and agree that the exposed prongs could be dangerous without a transfer switch. Just had a thought, though (always dangerous). What if you got a female plug, stripped the contacts out of it, and used it to cover the male prongs inside the unused recep, then dropped the cap down over that?

Lyle

I'm glad several here has brought up the hazard involved having some HOT male plugs laying around.

I am mounting an outside 20AMP connection on my POPUP setup being fed by the 1500WATT PSW Inverter. This is next to the shore power cable where I can use a standard RV30A-20A adapter to connect my inverter into the electrical system.

You might adapt something like that to your setup to use to get an extension 30A cable back to the generator side... i.e if your shore power cable is an connection type then just use a RV Adapter to plug that into another outside wall connection and run the other end to a connection near the front of the trailer so you can connect up to the generator?? Would not have any hot power sources laying around doing it this way. "poor mans transfer switch"

This sort of gives you the idea here... The bottom center flip lid connection is my main shore power 30A connection on my off-road POPUP trailer and you can see all of available power sources all use it. The flip lid on the bottom right comes from my 1500WATT INVERTER so when I want to power up the trailer from it I just use a short RV30A-15A adapter as shown..


In your case you would install flip lid 30A connectors on your trailer one near the shore power flip lid connector and the other end near the front of the trailer into another flip lid connector. All of this wiring between the two flip lid 30A connectors would be inside your trailer. Then you could run a short 30A cable run from the front of the trailer to the generator when you needed it...

Just a thought
Roy Ken

Veebyes wrote:
If the second shorepower inlet is live & covered how is it any more dangerous than a live outlet uncovered anywhere in the trailer?

cause we are talking about male receptacles that have exposed prongs.
bumpy

If the second shorepower inlet is live & covered how is it any more dangerous than a live outlet uncovered anywhere in the trailer?

It can be done, but it will be expensive. You can install another plug at the front and tie the two together, but both will be hot and a serious electrocution hazard. To avoid this, you will need a transfer switch which energizes only one shore power connection at a time. That will be more expense than it is worth.

TakingThe5th wrote:
Does your Cougar have a cord in back, or is it a plug? If you have a cord (like my previous Cougar) then the second receptacle will energize the male plug back there-not good.

if a "plug" it is probably a male plug and will have the same issue as a cord.
bumpy

Does your Cougar have a cord in back, or is it a plug? If you have a cord (like my previous Cougar) then the second receptacle will energize the male plug back there-not good.