RV outlets reliable?

The bottom line is that they are CHEAPER and use less depth in the thin RV walls and being enclosed don't require a junction box. In my experience they are also more prone to fail but they are good enough to outlast any warranty.

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

this type of outlet has been used in houses, mobile homes and trailers for years. The downside is that the contact point is a small single point area rather than a larger area with the newer "backstab" with a plate or a screw attach. For normal resistive loads they work ok, when they tend to cause problems is with inductive loads with high inrush currents. It can eat away at the contact area causing high resistance.

Personally I'm no fan of them, either the type for RV's with the tool that attaches them or the older backstab home outlets. (The current home backstabs use a plate and nut and IMHO are as reliable or more reliable than wrapping around a screw).

I did replace all of my RV outlets with comercial grade outlets in a shallow box. If you do replace yours you need to install a shallow box. The RV outlets are designed such that they do not need a box.

Those RV outlets have been used for almost 45 years. There is NO danger. IF you have one that can get wet, it is best to have it on a GFCI circuit. But, refer cabinets are not a wet area unless you do spray water inside the vent. When I install or replace I strip the wire insulation off to get a better contac. I also cut off the paper insulation that has shards. Even with that paper gone, if you spray water on the outlet it will trip a gfci if one is in the circuit. Doug

"The receptacles used in RVs get an unjustified bad rap all the time. If they were failing, there would be lots of posts about them. Do a search. They are better devices than the stab locks used in sticks & bricks. Go shake your sticks & bricks down the road for thousands of miles and see how long any of those receptacles last. So far the receptacles in my 95 Bounder have been flawless".

"Shirley you jest"

When I built Quicksilver, I used Bryant hospital grade green dot 20-amp receptacles, 10 gauge duplex marine wire, and soldered spade terminals under the side screws. Marine type breakers on a custom panel.

The bus has a bit more than a hundred thousand miles on MEXICAN almost roads. Outlets have lasted and still have an extremely tight plug-in wise. OEM RV electrical moving parts last 5% as long down here

I suppose they are not failure prone as RLS7201 points out. My unit is 15 years old and hasn't had problems with them. I do use a space heater occasionally, but it's plugged into the GFCI that actually uses screw connections. I just check on the one I plug the coffee maker into to make sure the plug isn't getting hot.

My feelings are they should be outlawed along with the stab type for homes. All those connections are a point of failure waiting to happen. In a perfect world, only switches and outlets with screwdown connections would be allowed but our world is governed by "for profit" motivations that at the present time cannot be overcome.

Mine have been fine almost 15 years. Unless you are running a space heater continuous I would not worry much. Fridge is about 3 amps.

The receptacles used in RVs get an unjustified bad rap all the time. If they were failing, there would be lots of posts about them. Do a search. They are better devices than the stab locks used in sticks & bricks. Go shake your sticks & bricks down the road for thousands of miles and see how long any of those receptacles last. So far the receptacles in my 95 Bounder have been flawless.

Richard