Electrical upgrades: Adding an AC Outlet

Nice, you even had enough room there to use a standard depth outlet box.

I also bought the Marinco receptical on eBay and have power to an electric heater or fireplace. I didn't want to go thru the trailer power.

BarneyS wrote:
I do as RoyB does above.
I added an extra plug receptical to my trailer a couple of years ago.

That was something I considered too.

It's a really good idea, especially for cold weather camping where you want to run a heater and other high draw AC appliances, such as water heater, microwave, etc. and not worry about tripping the main circuit breaker in your AC panel (or the 30amp pedestal breaker).

OR, to run TWO heaters... one on the dedicated shore inlet and one through the main RV electrical system.

I do as RoyB does above.
I added an extra plug receptical to my trailer a couple of years ago. The device that I used was this one from West Marine.

With all the cool weather we had down in Florida, we needed a way to run our electric heater without going through the trailers electrical system. I put in a waterproof outside receptical and inside outlet in the side of our slide out. Now we can run the electric heater without worrying about tripping the trailers breaker.
Works great!
Barney





Quite simple mod.

1. I first determined where the studs were by tapping around on the outside. Then drilled a 2" hole ( I think that was the size) through the outside wall.

2.Cut an opening in the inside wall about 6 inches to the side of the outside hole for the inside plug outlet and box.

3.Snaked a 12/2 wire from outside over to inside hole.

4.Connected outside receptical to wire and mounted it on wall.

5.Connected inside receptical to wire and mounted it on the wall.

6.Checked wiring job with outlet checker - everything showed ok.

7.Plugged in the heater and it worked fine! :)
Barney

Nice install on your trailer using your 120V service from your distribution panel...

I have used a portable electric heater many times in my off-road POPUP when camping at camp grounds with electric hookups. Our Propane Furnace is just way too much heat for us most of the time... Always just bring along a second extension cord along and plug-into the camp ground 120VAC 20A service on their pedestal...

Running my portable electric heater then does not take away for my 30A Connection doing this...

Roy Ken

You were lucky to have your electrical panel right next to the drawer where you wanted your new outlet, and had plenty of room for a standard size box.
I have a 40 foot long trailer with a queen size bedroom in each end and wanted to had two wall lamps, in both bedrooms on each side of the bed for a total of four lamps.

Talk about a challenge: in each bedroom I tapped off a circuit feeding a wall outlet which was the last item on the circuit which meant I only had to be concerned with one cable and my new one. Problem number one is the fact that the outlet was one of those with no box since a standard receptacle and standard box won't fit in the narrow space between the inside wall and the outside of the trailer so I had to use a new "old work shallow box" with the additional compartment on the side which gave 17 cubic inches of space for the wiring. In using that type box I had to enlarge the wall opening to a standard box size opening.
I won't go into the rest of the pulling insulation out of the wall using long needle nose pliars, and pulling the cable from the side wall to around the end wall and drilling holes and daisy chaining the cable from one new lamp box to the opposite one since it was such a complicated mess, but it is all done and came out good.

Guy

Pretty cool, thanks for sharing. Did a local store carry the breaker?