Connecting shore power when closed?

shebantam · 09-17-2015, 05:43 PM

The electric plug. When the camper is down the plug is hidden. I zip tied the plug to the lift arm for my trip to Indiana. I closed it with the plug out a little on an extension cord.

How do you all travel with the plug? I like to plug up when I get home and could not until I pop it up.

Padgett · 09-17-2015, 07:41 PM

a) on my '06 the plug is accessible when the TM is closed
b) I put a junction box for a float charger under the removable bumper cover.

shebantam · 09-18-2015, 04:50 PM

Okayyyyy on B. Are you talking about a battery kill switch?

My 94 old (wo)man TM has a lot of things hidden...

Padgett · 09-18-2015, 06:23 PM

Have a complete load disconnect for battery, inverter, and solar inside the rear compartment, can turn everything off before closing. Float charger box is under the bumper cover so accessible when closed.

LoveToCamp · 09-18-2015, 08:48 PM

Bill, or one of the other members who have been here since before I came along in Feb. 2012, may remember the thread about modifying the shore-power plug so shore power can be connected while the TM is closed. I just looked through all the Electrical posts back into 2011, and I couldn't find it. But, I recall there was a thread, and a couple folks did a mod, such that the power cord could be attached while closed, due to the old location of the power connection.

My 2011 2417 Sport could not be connected while closed, but about March 2012, I think, there were posts about it, and shortly thereafter TM changed the location so all the new units could be plugged-in while closed. The mod thread may help Shebantam with her connection problem.

Padgett · 09-18-2015, 09:56 PM

I yield. This is the plug on my '06 - closed and under tarp.

**Bill** · 09-19-2015, 08:14 AM

Padgett -

Yes, my 2006 2720SL came like that, too. I grew to hate that little mouse hole. The cord is hard to deploy from there, and almost impossible to stuff back into the camper when the cord is cold and stiff. Beyond that, the cover over the mouse hole fell off two or three times while we were traveling, and new ones got expensive. In the end, I pushed the entire cord down into the left part of the bumper compartment, and coiled it up there. You can sorta see it here
http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...pictureid=1276
coiled up under my sewer hose hold-down weight bottles. Now I can deploy and recover the cord simply by removing the bumper compartment cover. Much easier. And yes, the mouse hole cover fell off and disappeared one more time, and I DON"T CARE!

LoveToCamp -

I remember the thread you mentioned. Seems to me the solution was to go to the hardware store and buy a flat air conditioner extension cord with a right-angle socket on the female end. The big cord, with a 30-amp to 20-amp adaptor, could be shoved back into the trailer before closing. The remainder of the flat cord would hang down between the shells when the camper was closed, with just the 20-amp plug hanging out.

Bill

**Kidkraz** · 09-19-2015, 07:31 PM

The power plug on my 2013 is not the mouse hole type. I can post a picture later, but, I have a solid flat cover over the plug. My power cord is similar to that of an extension cord; one end is a male connection and the other a female connection.
Since I normally dry camp, my cord stays rolled up and stored in my rear bumper compartment. The camper end cover has a rubber seal to keep water out.

shebantam · 09-26-2015, 08:18 AM

Thanks guys, found my pig tail type 30 to 20 plug, had been thinking about using that and letting it hang, bungeeing it to the lift arm when traveling.

That plug in the newer models is a neat idea. Wanted to do that for my Cabin A since as stated, that cord can be hard to stuff back in and get back out. Especially with the Cable Cord also coming out the same hole (TV for my husband, NOT me). Even it I did something like that on the Old Gal, I would still have a hidden plug when top was down. Since we have an antenna and Jon added cable for HD, we may not need cable where available, not sure we can even plug into cable with the HD taking up the cable connection.

Padgett · 09-26-2015, 09:35 AM

"almost impossible to stuff back into the camper when the cord is cold and stiff"

What is cold ? If the OAT drops under 32F, the gov calls for a state of emergency.