GETTING POWER TO TRAILER

As I understand this, the OP is wishing to power his 5'er. temporarily, from his FIL's existing service panel. The distance from house to 5'er is 40'.

One conundrum:You shouldn't pigtail in any service through the front of the service panel for that amount of time. It's a safety issue. If you want a new 30 amp receptacle, you'll have to gain access to the top, bottom, or sides of the load center. The simplest solution is to pull wire from the bottom and locate a new 30 amp receptacle in that location. If you don't know how to do this without affecting the integrity of the load center, have an electrician do it.

Your other choice is to connect multiple 20 amp or 15 amp cords to receptacles in the FIL's house. Invariably, that will be a PITA.

For connection to the 5'er, I would choose a good 30 amp extension cord. You don't want to make this the Manhattan project for the FIL (or any one else, for that matter).

If you are even thinking of having a permanent supply to that location upgrade it from the begining for the day you get a 50amp trailer.

If this is just a temporary thing & the spot will not be the regular parking spot get the 30amp extension cords. They will come in handy again someday somewhere.

One word of caution though.... IF you are having a professional put in the outlet for this make sure he understands it is 120 volt and MEASURE it before you plug in (or have him measure it)

Or better yet, if having a pro do it IF you plan on leaving the outlet in place (A good idea if it is where it can be done) after house is built.. have him put in a 50 to start with and use a dog bone to connect.

Well. the cost of 50/30 now is not that much, but the cost of upgrading to 50 later... If you put in a 30 now, is great, but if you put in a 50 now, it is zero.

I got an Electrician buddy to help me run a 30A service near my RV.
Cost me a Steak dinner... I would have pd., but I enjoy his and his wifes company.
Afterward they bought a Class C and started camping.

Ok, then go to a RV dealer.. My primary 30 amp extension cord has since been converted into my primary 30 amp cord.. It is plastic wrapped, not rubber, it's bright red as I recall, not black, and it's very easy to wrangle when the mercury is ... Where it's been the last few weeks, they synthetic jacket does not get "HARD" like the rubber cords do when it gets cold... What can I say.

OF course this being a 50 amp rig I have a 50 amp cord too,, both of 'em have Marinco 50 amp outlet ends.

But that said.. I will modify my suggestion.

If you want to put in a permanent parkign spot for the RV, one that you will still be using years from now. Go with 8/3 Underground feeder wire and a pedistal. YES 8/3 to cut down on the voltage drop.

If you do not plan on making that the forever site for your RV

Go with the standard 30 amp extension cord from a reliable RV source and the ones from Wal-mart should be good.. just weather resist the joint as I described above.

enblethen wrote:
By the time you buy the cord and then the correct 30 TT cord bodies you can buy a ready-made cord at Walmart. Not to mention your time!

You get what you pay for
I would rather have a good rubber cord than a crappy piece of plastic

By the time you buy the cord and then the correct 30 TT cord bodies you can buy a ready-made cord at Walmart. Not to mention your time!

If this were mine, I would measure what I needed, Go to home depot, have them cut me x feet of 10-3 sjoow and put the correct ends on it. After the house is built, i'd probably make a long and a short extension cord out of it.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Southwire-10-3-SJOOW-Black-300V-By-the-Foot-55812599/204633009

rhartman911 wrote:
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The worker at Homedepot said I could not run my RV off of an extension cord like that because I will lose voltage drop at 40'

When the worker at Home Depot hears "Extension cord" he thinks about the 16Ga jobs they sell in the extension cord isle.. He does not know nor has he ever (in all likelyhood) seen an extension cord rated for 30 amp RV use such as you'd find at Camping World or ____'s RV sales and service.

We are talking about that kind of cord, I has TT-30 Plug and socket not the standard wall type socket and plug, And it is SPECIFICALLY designed to supply an RV over that distance. In fact, it is heavier than what the HomeDepot guy suggested. So it is the better deal.

One suggestion: Unless you are doing it yourself and KNOW what you are doing (As I did) When the House builder's electrican puts in that 30 amp outlet for you do two things.

1: Confirm it has SINGLE 120 volt breaker, (Ok the breaker can be rated higher but make sure it is a single not a dual ganged or a wide single that takes up two slots).

2: METER the outlet to insure it is 120 and not 240 volt before you plug in.

Once that's done LABEL IT (Brother P-touch or commercial "Badge maker" engraved plastic): 120 volt 30 amp RV

We used a standard RV cord with water proof outlet box when our home was being built. I also had a 100 lb lp cylinder brought in and hooked to our fiver. We lived in it from July to January running a/c with no problems.