{"id":169,"date":"2021-12-07T00:06:02","date_gmt":"2021-12-07T00:06:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gerardweatherby.org\/camping\/?p=169"},"modified":"2022-04-17T16:18:57","modified_gmt":"2022-04-17T16:18:57","slug":"shore-power-cable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gerardweatherby.org\/camping\/shore-power-cable\/","title":{"rendered":"Shore power cable"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After installing the surge protector, <\/a>the next thing I did was replace the hard-wired electrical connector with a boat-style attach-to-the-side of the trailer one. I’d read Greg Zimmerman’s excellent post <\/a>while waiting for delivery and hand the parts in hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I reused a longer shore power cable I had from boating days and ordered the connection online. I wasn’t keen on drilling another opening in the shell, so I decided to use the existing hole by attaching the connection to the door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was clear the stock door, which is just meant to keep bugs and stuff out, wasn’t strong enough to support the connection, so I set about reinforcing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"preparing
Masked door<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Mixed
Resin mixed<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Applied\"
Patch after application<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After masking the door to limit the patch application and the hole to keep the bugs out, I mixed up the West Systems epoxy. The funky color is due to the age of the hardener; it doesn’t affect the final strength.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the patch cured, I drilled out the opening for the plug and the patch promptly fell off. Oops. Insufficient preparation, I had not roughed up the door surface enough. After some heavy sanding with coarse sandpaper, and another layer of resin, I was good to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"clamping
Clamps. Lots of clamps<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"power
Receptacle installed<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"connected\"
Cord connected<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So how’s it work? Okay.

I’d opted to save a few $$ by getting the plastic-covered SmartPlug<\/a> receptacle instead of the stainless steel one I had had on the boat. If I were doing it over again, I’d have sprung for the metal version, as it latches down onto the cord more firmly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’d read a lot about how RV cords were like boat shore power cords. When the trailer arrived, I found out: not quite.<\/em> Turns out I didn’t know my 30A NEMA\u00a0L5-30<\/em> from my NEMA Tt-30R<\/em>! When I pulled out the shoreline cable I discovered RV receptacles have a different prong pattern than marina ones:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Triangle
RV style<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Round
Marina style. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The boat style “NEMA L5-30” twists to lock in, rather than relying strictly on friction like the RV “Tt-30R.”<\/em> Boats don’t stand still when they’re parked like trailers do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, nothing a few more dollars sent Jeff Bezos’ way couldn’t fix. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"gender
Adaptation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I ordered a dogbone connector off Amazon and extended my existing cord. I’ve taped the connection with fusing (“self repair”) tape I had picked up at a boat show years ago. At least I got a nice handle and indicator light on the plug receptacle end.

This has worked out well for us. We keep the cord in the van. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After installing the surge protector, the next thing I did was replace the hard-wired electrical connector with a boat-style attach-to-the-side of the trailer one. I’d read Greg Zimmerman’s excellent post while waiting for delivery and hand the parts in hand. I reused a longer shore power cable I had from boating days and ordered the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-electrical"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gerardweatherby.org\/camping\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gerardweatherby.org\/camping\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gerardweatherby.org\/camping\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gerardweatherby.org\/camping\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gerardweatherby.org\/camping\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/gerardweatherby.org\/camping\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":261,"href":"https:\/\/gerardweatherby.org\/camping\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169\/revisions\/261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gerardweatherby.org\/camping\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gerardweatherby.org\/camping\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gerardweatherby.org\/camping\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}