Electrical

myredracer wrote:

Bob Landry wrote:

I did my 20A feed into the side of the trailer that would give me the shortest amount of wire to pull under the coroplast. There is 12ga wire from the inlet to the breaker, then the breaker feeds two outlets with 14ga wire since I'm not ever going to plug a 20A load into the outlets. They are 15A outlets so I couldn't do that anyway. The circuit breaker protects the wire from the pedestal to the breaker. These are only used to run space heaters in cold weather.

Are you the one that posted info. on that small breaker thingy in your photo? It's a marine item IIRC. Would you mind posting the manufacturer's brand and info.?

The little panel and the circuit breakers are made by Blue Sea. It's a double pole breaker because when I do marine wiring, I'm required to break both legs. Blue Sea also makes a panel for a single breaker. I don't remember the part numbers, but you can get it off of Blue Sea's website.

Bob Landry wrote:

I did my 20A feed into the side of the trailer that would give me the shortest amount of wire to pull under the coroplast. There is 12ga wire from the inlet to the breaker, then the breaker feeds two outlets with 14ga wire since I'm not ever going to plug a 20A load into the outlets. They are 15A outlets so I couldn't do that anyway. The circuit breaker protects the wire from the pedestal to the breaker. These are only used to run space heaters in cold weather.

Are you the one that posted info. on that small breaker thingy in your photo? It's a marine item IIRC. Would you mind posting the manufacturer's brand and info.?

Yes. it is. Sorry. Had not read the last page.

Kiwi_too wrote:
Use a recessed male socket on trailer.

Isn't that what the Marinco inlet shown above is?

I did my 20A feed into the side of the trailer that would give me the shortest amount of wire to pull under the coroplast. There is 12ga wire from the inlet to the breaker, then the breaker feeds two outlets with 14ga wire since I'm not ever going to plug a 20A load into the outlets. They are 15A outlets so I couldn't do that anyway. The circuit breaker protects the wire from the pedestal to the breaker. These are only used to run space heaters in cold weather.

Use a recessed male socket on trailer.

Nothing to add here. Other than I like the idea of color-coded receptacles inside the coach.

You could do it by installing a standard Marinco (ParkPower) 20 amp inlet like in the photo. The duplex recept. on a pedestal is usually 20 amps (and GFCI). Install a 15/20 amp T-slot receptacle in a convenient spot inside which might be close to the inlet to make running wiring easier. Use a 12 gauge (20 amp) extension cord. You would need to use a connector that fits into the Marinco inlet. I would buy a standard #12 cord and install a new connector like the Marinco one pictured. Marinco products tend to be rather pricey and you could either shop around the internet or use an equivalent brand.

You don't want to use a 14 gauge (15 amp) extension cord and recept. (inside) because the 20 amp pedestal breaker will not properly protect anything downstream rated at 15 amps.

This is a good mod. to do if you want more power for a heater or other appliance and it's fairly straightforward to do. I did it on a previous TT and the only difficult part (nerve wracking) was drilling a hole in the exterior.

Camping on the weekend, I noticed several MHs with a cord out a window plugged into the 20 recept. on the pedestal. No 50 amp pedestals in our CG so the only way to get more power is to utilize the 20 amp recept. Just looks funny to see a big dollar MH with a cord hanging out a window....

Oh, one other suggestion....

If you cut the end off the end of the extension cord and replace it with a DUPLEX receptical.. Make it a DIFFEREN COLOR from the ones in the RV now.. Usually the RV either has white or off-white, or black or brown.. If white, use black or brown, If black or brown use white or off white.

For inverter powered outlets use red, yellow or orange.

Hi,

I get "around" powering all the "extra" outlets in a little different way.

If I have only 30 amp shore power, I use the inverter to power the "extra" outlets using a 30 amp to 15 amp dog bone.

The dog bone is plugged into the inverter, and the two auxiliary shore power cords are plugged into that.

I do the same thing if and when I run the generator (for air conditioning). That way I can exceed the generator output (Yamaha 3000 sIEB).

mmiille wrote:
I did that. I ran an extension cord from the 20 amp receptacle for an additional heater through an opening in our slide that the other hoses and electrical wires run through. This past winter was a test on how much we really needed. We have 2 separate 50 amp receptacles where we are now so I might add two electric heaters and more heat tapes underneath to account for the furnace not running as much..

Same way I ran my 12 2 with ground. terminated it in a two plug receptacle inside since it was handy. I split the receptacle so now i have one plug that works with the 20 amp external power and one that runs off the 30 amp trailer service.