20amp - UPDATE!!!

[Uncle Chan]

Good evening,

I bought a 20amp Marinco inlet for my teardrop, thinking it was a 15amp Marinco inlet. It was bought online. Long story short, I've been trying to find an inexpensive adapter so that I can use my nice heavy duty 15amp extension cord to plug into it from a 15amp 110v power source. Inside the camper, the backside of the inlet was supposed to be wired to a pigtail and I would plug my 15amp power strip into it.

Now, I suppose I could just buy everything and wire everything 20amp, but everything minus the inlet is 15amp and I would have to purchase everything again. So, where can I find an adapter? I've been looking, but no success. The inlet is male, 3 prong, straight. I would need a 20 amp female receptacle straight prong and it would convert to a 15 amp standard male three prong.

Advice?

[satch]

I'm trying to picture what you need. Can you post some pics on the parts you have? Might make it easier to figure out your problem.

[Uncle Chan]

Hi Rick. Thanks for the reply.

This is the 20 amp Marinco Inlet :



I'll drill a 1 7/8 hole in the side of the tear drop to install the inlet. The problem with the inlet is that it is 20 amps and because of this, the male prongs are aligned perpendicular to each other, not parallel like a 15 amp setup.

I need an adapter to convert 20amp to 15amp. I'm not having much luck finding such a thing.

The other option is to convert everything to 20amp, but I've already purchased the nice extension cord, power strip, etc. for a 15 amp service to the TD.

[Gerdo]

A 15 amp plug has a ground pin and two blades that are parallel to each other.

A true 20 amp plug has a ground pin, a neutral blade that is the same as the blades on a 15 amp and a hot that is turned 90*.


Is this what the plug looks like?

It sounds like you need to make a short adapter. You need a 20 amp female connector, a couple of feet of 12-3 wire, and a 15 amp male plug.

OR you can cut the end off your extension and hard wire on a 20 amp female connector. This is a simple fix and the way I would deal with the issue.
20 amp connectors will accept either a 15 amp or 20 amp plug. It should look like this.

[Kevin A]

Get one of these and wire it on the end of your extension cord.

Ok, Gerdo posted the right one, mine is a 20 amp/230 volt plug.

[Uncle Chan]

Thanks all. Looks like I'll be making my own.

Gerdo, the second pic is what the inside of the inlet looks like. Gerdo and Kevin, I like the idea of cutting the end off of the HD cord and just putting the 20amp female on it.

Uncle Chan

[satch]

Looks like I'm abit slow on the draw
That's what I was trying to get at, you can those parts at any box store and make your own. Would be cheaper than trying to buy one.
Good Luck

[Kevin A]

hey Uncle Chan,

Looky what I found...

http://focuscamera.com/product.asp?id=9 ... apter-cord

[wlooper89]

Kevin,

That adapter is very cool. It would solve the problem for plugging into the trailer outlet.

Uncle Chan,

If you still want to change the receptacle on the power cord this site might help with the wiring. A 20A receptacle on the cord can still be used with 15A plugs. The additional feature is that it will accommodate the sideways blade in your power inlet.

http://assets.twacomm.com/assets/pdf/17391.pdf
The link contains pictures and simple diagrams. The outlet slots marked "W" mean it is for the common wire (with white insulation) and the one not marked is primary. Some of the diagrams are for 250V items and do not apply to us.

This can really confuse me because things are turned around between receptacles and plugs. Regarding receptacles, if the ground hole is turned downward, the 15A one has two vertical slots with a longer slot on the left and that is the common. The shorter slot on the right is primary. This is residential wiring except the ground hole may be turned upward instead of down in some houses.

A 20A receptacle with the ground hole downward has a T-shaped slot on the left and a vertical slot on the right. On this one the T-shaped slot is the common. It is in the same relative position as common on the 15A receptacle. If a 20A plug has a blade turned sideways it fits into the T-shaped slot and is the common.

Bill

PS A page similar to the one in the above link helped me a lot with AC wiring. I carefully marked all the blades and slots and still managed to reverse common and primary on one receptacle. A plug-in circuit tester like this detected my mistake and it was easy to correct.
http://www.tripplite.com/en/products/mo ... delID=3941

[planovet]

I noticed that the inlet that Uncle Chan showed comes in 15 and 20 amp options. Is there advantage of the 20 amp over the 15 amp?

[Uncle Chan]

you folks are the greatest. 15amp adapter is on the way (thanks Kevin)!!!

Thank you everyone.

Bill, you've been so helpful. Thanks so very much!

Uncle Chan

[satch]

I noticed that the inlet that Uncle Chan showed comes in 15 and 20 amp options. Is there advantage of the 20 amp over the 15 amp?

It would depend on how much amps you plan to use. If I was running alot of heavy elec. appliances, A/c, micro, I would want to use the 20A, basically the higher the rating, the more current it will handle before over heating.

[Uncle Chan]

We'll be running a 7-8amp heater and a laptop, nothing else. 15amp should be fine. If I need more, I'll rewire for more.

Thanks,
U.C.

[Uncle Chan]

Good afternoon,

Well I put the upgrade together today.

I ended up taking a 25ft 15amp Heavy Duty 12ga electrical cable and putting a 20a 125 volt female on the one end. This end will plug into the 20amp Marinco inlet I installed on the Mobi. On the other side of the inlet, I put a 1ft long pigtail and another 20a 125 volt female. I will plug a 15amp powerstrip into all of that. Provided I don't go over 15 amps, we'll be just fine.

If anyone wants pics, just holler.

Thanks for the assist.

Doug

[Gerdo]

I noticed that the inlet that Uncle Chan showed comes in 15 and 20 amp options. Is there advantage of the 20 amp over the 15 amp?

It would depend on how much amps you plan to use. If I was running alot of heavy elec. appliances, A/c, micro, I would want to use the 20A, basically the higher the rating, the more current it will handle before over heating.

When you are looking at a heavy duty plug or connector, the 15 amp and 20 amp units are built the same. (except for blade configuration) The true difference is the blade configuration. A 15 amp outlet/connector will only accept a 15 amp plug. This way you can use a smaller wire and not overload it. A 20 amp outlet/connector will accept either a 15 or 20 amp plug. You can buy an extension cord that has 15 amp plugs on it and is made with 12 gauge wire (which is rated at 20 amps).