RV outlets reliable?

myredracer wrote:
Absolutely nothing wrong with them.

The problem sometimes is bad workmanship at the RV factories and there are no inspections of electrical, or actually nothing else either. Below is a photo of a receptacle I found in a previous TT. Black wire only punched onto one of the two stabs and only able to carry 1/2 the current and the stab is bent over. There is a special tool that is supposed to be used for punching down the wires which will prevent this. The 2nd photo is also from a previous TT and has only one wire terminated onto a stab instead of two.

RV "self-contained" receptacles or "SCD" as they're called, are used in mobile homes by the millions without issue. SCDs have to go through extremely rigorous testing to UL approval and if you were to read UL standard 498, you'd have a better opinion of them.

Third photo, from another forum, again shows more bad workmanship. This in NOT how to terminate 3 romex cables in an SCD and is contrary to the manufacturer's instructions. Only two wires are permitted to be on each stab, not three. This is what can happen as a result (overheating).

What is bad is the "back-wired" residential receptacles as shown below. Only one point of contact. If anything should be banned, it's these but they're also out there by the millions. A side-wired receptacle (screw terminal on the side) is definitely no guarantee the monkeys at RV factories would do a better job, and would probably end up being way worse IMO.

I pulled out all our receptacles for inspection and found two with reversed polarity. Again, bad workmanship. I have found quite a few electrical issues, both 12 and 120 volts in our TT and it's not just the SCDs that can be a problem.

If you want piece of mind, pull out all your SCDs and inspect them. Easy to do. You never know what you may find. Installation instructions from Slater can be found here. The factory monkeys apparently don't read the SCD instructions.

End of lecture... :R

I think the old vampire back wired stab residential outlets were either banned or mfg have pretty much quite selling them, at least in the U.S. All the "backwire" residential outlets I've seen in the last few years have gone to a plate that captures the wire and is then tightened down by the screw that otherwise would go around a sidewire connection. I've found them to be very reliable and easier to use than the old side terminal wrap around.

But then wire nuts have lost favor and are now replaced in many cases by something more like the old vampire connection. I don't use those either.