Shore Power Cords

[Oonrahnjay]

I've recently broken TWO wires that feed our cable modem. One should never move the bus while thinking about the next project. I need to use an airplane-style checklist before switching on the ignition.

But I've not yet made that list.

For some stupid reason.   

      I've made that list ... it's a good thing.  DAMHIK!

[oltrunt]

I've made the list.  Now all I have to do is remember to use it.  I've driven into the garage with the slide out extended.  I've driven into the garage with the top extended.  I've even backed out of the garage with the garage door partially closed, but I've never driven off still plugged in---yet---give me time!?!  I think this qualifies for the adage "its hard to get good help when you do it yourself".   Jack

[gumpy]

I want one for each side, and/or maybe also a third up front, to reduce the need to drag cables too far or under the bus  -  yes, I know that all inlets are live when one is plugged in, but an LED idiot light next to each inlet will remind me to not touch or lick it when connected.   I'd thought about 50A inlets, but my bus is definitely going to be a low-power-usage conversion, so I can't think why I would need all that power  -  heck, most of the time 15A will suffice for my meager needs!   (With a roof-full of solar panels I don't plan on often needing shore power.)

Take another sip of wine...................................... mmmmmmmm.......................

<Rant on>

Well, I'll just say this and leave it be  ....

I have some serious problems with your plan here. You are conceding that you will have multiple inlets around your bus which will have 125V hot prongs in them. You say it's ok because you know they're hot, but you don't account for the wayward child or curious busnut who just happens by while you are not home and wants to take a better look at your electrical inlet setup. You're brewing a recipe for disaster of both life (someone else's) and property (your's when you get sued). It's dangerous, and since you acknowledge that you know about it, it's irresponsible.

<Rant off>

If you're going to do that, at the very least, put shutoff switches on each inlet so you can turn off the unused ones!

Now addressing your comment regarding pulling cords...

I set up two long cords, about 50 ft each. One is a 30 amp cord (10 ga wire), and one is a 50 amp cord (6 ga wire). They each have a male 50A twist lock on one end and a female 50A twist lock on the other end. Then, I have two short cords, one about a foot long, and the other about 12 ft long. One has a 50A male plug on one end, and a 50A Female Twist Lock on the other end. The other has a 30A male and 50A female Twist Lock. I can connect both long cords together to reach up to about 100 feet away (limited to 30A on that setup due to wire size and distance). Normally, though, all I need is the short pigtail connected into one of the long cords to power the bus. Going under the bus is not a big deal. I just slip one end under. Normally, though, I just snake the cord around the front wheels and along the side and sling the cord under the bus along the side to keep it out of the way (snowblower, etc). This has worked very well for me. I've needed the extra length of both shore cords only a couple of times. Sometimes I luck out and the power pole is withing 10 feet of the inlet and I can just use the short cord.

I've never really had a need to have a power inlet on both sides of the bus.

I also have a buddy plug receptacle on the front corner of the bus, and outlets in each of the bays.

[eagle19952]

If you're going to do that, at the very least, put shutoff switches on each inlet so you can turn off the unused ones!


ADDITIONALLY YOU can put locks on the switches and devices....

[Lin]

If you are going to build an inherently dangerous system, then as suggested, you should add as many protections as you can.  However, as Mrs Murphy once said, "What can go wrong will go wrong."  Her husband did not agree.  Hence, his famous epitaph.

[luvrbus]

Country Coach used a 2 plug system on their Prevost conversions and I kinda like it, 1 was a 50 amp the other is 30 amp they have used it for years

[TomC]

Both my bus and truck are wired straight 120vac. I can only use one leg of the 50amp shore power. That's still 6000 watts. My generator is also wired straight 120vac which makes for not worrying about balancing the load. I can easily run two A/C's off the 50amp. The shore power cord is wired directly to the breaker box so there is no plug to reduce power because of resistance. Good Luck, TomC

[eagle19952]

just because something is 4 wired doesn't mean you have to use 220v.

I fail to see why you would want a separate hookup/cord for 30 or 50 amp when an adapter is cheap and easy to store.

[luvrbus]

Just a feature CC has had for years they usually have the 2 together in the service bay area and another 30 amp towards the front people love the setup that have it I personally don't care for adapters of any shape or form 

[eagle19952]

Just a feature CC has had for years they usually have the 2 together in the service bay area and another 30 amp towards the front people love the setup that have it I personally don't care for adapters of any shape or form 

I get that... you wire your house at 220v... that doesnt mean that you need an electric dryer or stove or any other 220v appliance... just the way it is done.

Consequently I do not see any advantage to doing it any other way....
especially 120v...

[gumpy]

just because something is 4 wired doesn't mean you have to use 220v.

I fail to see why you would want a separate hookup/cord for 30 or 50 amp when an adapter is cheap and easy to store.

In my case, I pitched the dogleg 30A to 50A adapter because it has a built in crossover between the hots which I could not undo. I built my own transfer switch,
and do the crossover in there so that when I'm plugged into 120v, all power goes through my inverter so I can use the input current limiting and load sharing features
of the inverter. Couldn't do that if the lines were split before they got to the inverter. So I have a short 30A plug that connects into my 50A or 30A long cords. It works
for me.

[Iceni John]

If you're going to do that, at the very least, put shutoff switches on each inlet so you can turn off the unused ones!


ADDITIONALLY YOU can put locks on the switches and devices....

OK, based on the feedback to my idea, I'll put solenoid latches on the inlets' covers to prevent unused inlets from being opened if there's power connected to any inlet.   That's an easy fix.

My thinking to have more than one inlet is quite simply for redundancy.   This is why I have two city water inlets, two water pumps, separate gravity fills for each water tank, two gray water dump valves, multiple ways to heat water, and my PV setup has two separate arrays of panels each feeding its own charge controller for its own bank of house batteries.   As much as possible I want to reduce having single potential points of failure for my house systems  -  I'm building my bus for possibly long-term off-grid boondocking, when the failure of a single pump for example would be a big problem.   At this stage it's not much extra work to provide back-ups during the build process.

John

[Lin]

We also have a 50 amp, 120v house connection. Since I did not plan on using any 240v appliances, a single 50 amp leg was completely adequate.  This allows us to use a 3 wire (2+ground) rather than a 4 wire shore cord, which would be 33% heavier and thicker.

Wiring a house with 240v is different since aside from possibly needing 240v for an appliance, you would generally need the 2 legs of 120v for all the circuits that a modern house would have.  I do not need so many circuits in the bus.

[Paso One]

Here is a picture of my set up, from the electrical panel box  the input cable goes to a disconnect switch, coming out of the disconnect switch I have  a typical welders male plug, I manually move the male to the appropriate female receptacle, you can see the writing, I either plug it into the shore, gen, or inverter, This is pretty simple but it works and the transfer switch  ( ie: my right arm won't ever fail on me)
I feel I have a fail safe hook up and gives me the warm fuzzy feeling anyway.

[MightyThor]

Here is a picture of my set up, from the electrical panel box  the input cable goes to a disconnect switch, coming out of the disconnect switch I have  a typical welders male plug, I manually move the male to the appropriate female receptacle, you can see the writing, I either plug it into the shore, gen, or inverter, This is pretty simple but it works and the transfer switch  ( ie: my right arm won't ever fail on me)
I feel I have a fail safe hook up and gives me the warm fuzzy feeling anyway.

KISS, absolutely fool proof.