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Old 05-08-2016, 02:43 PM   #1
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Power Cord

I need advice: I say that you need to pull out the entire power cord to hook up to the campground power supply; husband says no only pull out what you need and leave the rest in.

He gets frustrated trying to push the cord back in when breaking camp.

What say the group?
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Old 05-08-2016, 02:49 PM   #2
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Mixed reviews. I had that type power cord on 2 different campers for 8 years and just pulled out what I needed, never had a problem.

I have heard the other side of the coin and being from an electronics background, a coiled wire with power going thru it can cause extra heat and induced voltage. However in fact, it never caused me any problems, except I liked to pull it all the way out from time to time to clean it and to get the kinks and tangles out of it.
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Old 05-08-2016, 03:42 PM   #3
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If running the AC or a couple elec heaters you could overheat the coiled up cord. Maybe or maybe not, but there is a simple solution. I am in to simple solutions. Cut off the cord leaving maybe 5 ' on the outside. install a male plug on the short piece. Then install a female plug on the other end of the longer cord. You can order the replacement plugs on Amazon for less than $20. You now only have to stuff the short cord and can coil up the longer one that is now a 30amp extension cord. Make sure you leave 5' or more so you can tuck it under the TT to keep the plug connections out of the weather.

Problem solved. I left enough on the short cord that I can plug in my Honda 2k for a quick overnite at Wally world.
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Old 05-08-2016, 05:00 PM   #4
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If running the AC or a couple elec heaters you could overheat the coiled up cord. Maybe or maybe not, but there is a simple solution. I am in to simple solutions. Cut off the cord leaving maybe 5 ' on the outside. install a male plug on the short piece. Then install a female plug on the other end of the longer cord. You can order the replacement plugs on Amazon for less than $20. You now only have to stuff the short cord and can coil up the longer one that is now a 30amp extension cord. Make sure you leave 5' or more so you can tuck it under the TT to keep the plug connections out of the weather.

Problem solved. I left enough on the short cord that I can plug in my Honda 2k for a quick overnite at Wally world.
Nice!
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Old 05-08-2016, 05:22 PM   #5
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There's Bassdogs 'short cord' solution and some others are replacing the entire the 'hole' and going with a detachable cord.

I heard that heavy loads on a coiled cord might over heat the cord. So, when running the air conditioner, we make it a practice to pull out the entire cord. Otherwise we pull out enough to connect to the site power.

BTW, when we break camp, it is the DW's responsibility to stow the cord so I never complain about it.
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Old 05-08-2016, 05:38 PM   #6
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More information on this thread

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Old 05-08-2016, 07:59 PM   #7
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Originally Posted by oldmanAZ View Post
There's Bassdogs 'short cord' solution and some others are replacing the entire the 'hole' and going with a detachable cord.

I heard that heavy loads on a coiled cord might over heat the cord. So, when running the air conditioner, we make it a practice to pull out the entire cord. Otherwise we pull out enough to connect to the site power.

BTW, when we break camp, it is the DW's responsibility to stow the cord so I never complain about it.
Just noting that the new connection port and detatchable cord is substantially more expensive and much more of a project to install. Some go that route because they think it looks nicer on the side of the unit. For me simplier and cheaper is better and totally takes care of the problem of stuffing a long cord.
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Old 05-08-2016, 08:39 PM   #8
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snip... For me simplier and cheaper is better and totally takes care of the problem of stuffing a long cord.
... plus, going the short cord route, you can decide how long of a cord you want before you must grab the extension cord. So if you have a generator and the short cord, you may be all set. With a detachable cord, it might leave you with many feet of unneeded cord to tie up or lay on the ground.

On the other hand, some like the idea of a detachable cord to seal up the hole the cord runs through. I'm not fond of the hole, but so far it hasn't been the problem (ants, etc.) I feared it might be.
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Old 05-09-2016, 07:44 AM   #9
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The overheating coiled power cord is a myth. Unless you keep your power cord neatly coiled around a ferrite core.


Pull out what you need and stuff it back in when done.
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Old 05-09-2016, 07:53 AM   #10
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At the provincial parks here in Canada, you pull out all of your available cord, then grab your 50' extension cord, and then grab your 25' extension cord, plug them all together, realize the power post is still 6 inches too far away, hitch up and move the rig a bit closer, then plug in.
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Old 05-09-2016, 08:08 AM   #11
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The overheating coiled power cord is a myth. Unless you keep your power cord neatly coiled around a ferrite core.


Pull out what you need and stuff it back in when done.
Its not a myth.

A coiled cord, or a cord in any way where it won't get the air circulation that is needed to cool it can over heat and melt.

However, this is really only an issue when running near the max capacity of the cord for most of us.
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Old 05-09-2016, 07:53 PM   #12
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We replaced ours with a detachable cord because it took too long to put it away - up to half an hour, 'cause it wouldn't work right, and it was pulling the face-plate off when we pulled it out. We think the detachable cord's the way to go.
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Old 05-09-2016, 10:01 PM   #13
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A properly sized cord protected by a properly sized circuit breaker will not melt. The portion of the cord outside the TT in the full sun will get hotter than the portion of the cord in the air conditioned TT. The plywood box that the cord is in has plenty of airspace and the cord will not be in a neat coil.
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Old 05-10-2016, 06:11 AM   #14
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A properly sized cord protected by a properly sized circuit breaker will not melt. The portion of the cord outside the TT in the full sun will get hotter than the portion of the cord in the air conditioned TT. The plywood box that the cord is in has plenty of airspace and the cord will not be in a neat coil.
Probably true but its still a PITA to shove that cord back into the side of the RV. Then when it is 20 degrees and you try to pull that cord out you may find a tangle that won't come out. A pile of cord stuffed inside your RV may not burn it down but there are a lot of reasons to change it out.
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Old 05-10-2016, 06:22 AM   #15
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Wow...I never realized any of this. I've always thought you were supposed to pull the cord all the way out. At least that's what I always did. It wasn't that much of an issue putting the cord back in. Took what?..2 minutes tops. Eh..is what it is.
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Old 05-10-2016, 07:06 AM   #16
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Old 05-10-2016, 07:16 AM   #17
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If running the AC or a couple elec heaters you could overheat the coiled up cord. Maybe or maybe not, but there is a simple solution. I am in to simple solutions. Cut off the cord leaving maybe 5 ' on the outside. install a male plug on the short piece. Then install a female plug on the other end of the longer cord. You can order the replacement plugs on Amazon for less than $20. You now only have to stuff the short cord and can coil up the longer one that is now a 30amp extension cord. Make sure you leave 5' or more so you can tuck it under the TT to keep the plug connections out of the weather.

Problem solved. I left enough on the short cord that I can plug in my Honda 2k for a quick overnite at Wally world.
This is essentially what the 'install kit' for a Hughes Autoformer does. It gives me a 2-3' cord with a male receptacle that gets wired into the electrical box where the original 25' cord was. You than take the end of the original 25' cord and put a female receptacle on it. Plug the short cord into the Autoformer, plug the extension into the other side of the Autoformer.

I always leave my Autoformer in the electrical bay w/ the door cracked open. I'm still unsure if that's wise or not.
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Old 05-10-2016, 09:47 AM   #18
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Its not a myth.

A coiled cord, or a cord in any way where it won't get the air circulation that is needed to cool it can over heat and melt.

However, this is really only an issue when running near the max capacity of the cord for most of us.
Well, you'll have to provide some proof of your position to convince folks with a little common sense. There are 10's of thousands of high end motorhomes wired for 50 AMP service running around with automatic and manual power cord reels. There are probably 100's of thousands of power cord reels used in various shops and factories all around the country. Inductive heating of RV power cords just doesn't happen.

If you are correct there would be dozens of fires and melted cords every day. Bet you can't find a single documented case of an RV cord overheating and melting from being coiled. An overloaded cord maybe but not because of being coiled. The coiled cord overheating myth ranks right up there with the daddy long legs being the most poisonous spider myth.

Now if you're running your 30A RV on a 100' 14 gauge extension cord you'll generate some significant resistive heating but it has nothing to do with being coiled.
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Old 05-10-2016, 10:36 AM   #19
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At the provincial parks here in Canada, you pull out all of your available cord, then grab your 50' extension cord, and then grab your 25' extension cord, plug them all together, realize the power post is still 6 inches too far away, hitch up and move the rig a bit closer, then plug in.
This made me laugh...

I only pull out what I need for no other reason than I don't like extra cord laying on the ground.
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Old 05-10-2016, 11:07 AM   #20
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With my Popup trailer I always pulled out only what I needed, mainly because I didn't want much of it laying on the ground as a potential trip hazard and it would get wet and dirty which made it more of a chore to put away. Its also more difficult when its cold outside and cord is stiff. However, when I bought my 2016 27DSRL, the owner's manual says this:

"WARNING
The power cord must be fully extended when in use and not left coiled in the
electrical compartment or on the ground. If the power cord is left coiled, it may potentially create enough heat to melt its protective casing."

So, I've been pulling it all the way out. I don't like to do so, but I thought it was a safety hazard. Now, I'm rethinking that practice and may go back to only pulling out what I need.
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