Ideas for Exterior AC outlets & 12V lights for my Little

[Karl]

Hello,
Inexperienced newbie here as it pertains to electrical items on my trailer.

I have 110/AC electrical devices outside of my trailer that I need to power. This includes a mini fridge, a Waeco electronic cooler, and a battery charger on the front platform of my Little Guy 6-Wide plus a couple strands of lights on my EZ-up canopy. Perhaps there would also be the need to power a fan in the EZ-up on warm days or a small TV for rainy days. I currently run one or two extra extension cords from the campsite’s electrical box (in addition to the 30-amp cord that plugs into the side of my Little Guy). I would like to do away with the extra extension cords and instead tap into the trailer’s main power supply by placing 110 outlets on both sides of the trailer plus on/around the front platform. The side outlets could probably come right out from the cabinets where the trailer’s electrical box is located. I have not figured out how to best run power to the front.
I was speaking with a very knowledgeable person at Chain O Lakes regarding this idea and he thought he had seen a combination device that would provide exterior lighting plus has 110 outlets on the underside of the light’s frame. I’m not sure if he thought the lighting was 12V or 110 but I would prefer 12V if possible. I have looked around the internet had no luck finding anything. Either I didn't word my search very well (most likely) or these things are in short supply.
I would need 2 or 3 AC outlets on each side of the trailer plus 3 or 4 AC outlets on the front; all preferably built in to a 12V lighting fixture.
Any suggestions will be appreciated on where to find such an animal (or, if need be, separate components you have had luck with).
Thanks!

[wlooper89]

Hello, I used inexpensive Arcon 12V lights like this with wires to them inside the cabinets. They can be purchased with or without a switch in the bottom of the housing. For these I put switches inside the trailer. In the galley I added two of the same type light with built-in switch.

This type of exterior 120V outlet is available at Home Depot or Lowe's. I am planning to put one outside my tail light compartment on the side below the side marker light for my PetCool, but it could go outside the cabinet area too. This one holds a Decora type regular or GFCI outlet.

I ran some wires underneath the trailer into the taillight area. Getting under the trailer was not much fun. You might want to do it all inside the trailer. I used small raceways from Panduit like this to get wires from the tail light area up into the cabinets and forward along the floor for an interior AC outlet on each side and continuing to DC reading lights. The AC outlets are great for the electric blanket. Some would object to having AC and DC wires in the same small raceway, but it seems to work fine and I decided not to worry about it. The AC outlets are also from Panduit, low profile surface mount and are also used in the galley. I made the foot panel more easily removeable by cutting it into two sections and used PVC slats to cover the cut, then decided to put the slats around the sides and bottom also.



Links to four more photos show one of two porch light switches under the cabinets and more raceway and outlet detail.
http://tnttt.com/album_ ... c_id=37831
http://tnttt.com/album_ ... c_id=37829
http://tnttt.com/album_ ... c_id=37828
http://tnttt.com/album_ ... c_id=37734

Bill

[Karl]

Hello, I used inexpensive Arcon 12V lights like this with wires to them inside the cabinets. They can be purchased with or without a switch in the bottom of the housing. For these I put switches inside the trailer. In the galley I added two of the same type light with built-in switch.

I ran some wires underneath the trailer into the taillight area. Getting under the trailer was not much fun. You might want to do it all inside the trailer. I used small raceways from Panduit like this to get wires from the tail light area up into the cabinets and forward along the floor for reading lights.

Bill

Putting the trailer's exterior (side) light switches inside makes sense. I will do that.
Using raceways inside the trailer sounds like the way to go since as you indicated, getting underneath the trailer is not easy.
Thanks for all the ideas!

[bobhenry]

Hey Karl

Since you are pulling so much juice on the toys in the nose. what about a 2nd shore power inlet on the platform up front then hard wire the toys into this second source. By hardwiring the cooler ect there is no way a fellow camper ( bad guy ) could simply unplug anything and walk away with it.

During our conversation I did not realize you wanted dc exterior lighting I thought you were plugging into the distribution box for ac. Find a nice ac light fixture and add a dc dome light socket and bulb and wire for both ac and dc and have the best of both worlds or simply screw in a medium base 12 volt dc bulb ( wal mart in the RV section) and wire the ac fixture for dc only.

P.S. Your " Redneck " antenna is built and boxed will mail out Friday

[Karl]

Since you are pulling so much juice on the toys in the nose. what about a 2nd shore power inlet on the platform up front then hard wire the toys into this second source. By hardwiring the cooler ect there is no way a fellow camper ( bad guy ) could simply unplug anything and walk away with it.

During our conversation I did not realize you wanted dc exterior lighting I thought you were plugging into the distribution box for ac. Find a nice ac light fixture and add a dc dome light socket and bulb and wire for both ac and dc and have the best of both worlds or simply screw in a medium base 12 volt dc bulb ( wal mart in the RV section) and wire the ac fixture for dc only.

P.S. Your " Redneck " antenna is built and boxed will mail out Friday

Bob,
You are one smart(ass) guy. How on earth do you seem to know EVERYTHING?

Since the mini-fridge and electronic cooler are for all intents and purposes permanently placed on that front platform anyway, hardwiring them in might not be a bad idea. I have a large tool box on the tongue in-between the battery box and the platform. Inside the tool box is where I hooked up an inverter to the trailer's battery to provide AC power from the battery for those two devices when traveling ... so I guess I could easily put something else inside there too for this purpose...and then keep it locked up all the time at the campsite.

Just to make certain I'm clear on your terminology, are you saying “2nd shore power” means I would have another heavy-duty, 30-amp electrical cord going to the campsite's electrical box instead of using the existing one and simply tapping into the trailer's electrical box and putting those devices on a second circuit breaker? If so, do most campgrounds have two 30-amp hookups for each campsite? I have no clue since I never really paid attention until I got my Little Guy late last year.

Regarding the amount of juice these two devices pull, this is what the Waeco CDF-40 manual says.
Running time per hour: 22% with ambient temp at 68 and cooler temp at 41.
Running time per hour: 32% with ambient temp at 86 and cooler temp at 41.
Average power consumption is 35 watts while the maximum is 70 watts.
This unit can freeze down to 5F.
Perhaps I am wrong but this doesn’t seem to be an extremely heavy power load…not much different than some laptop computers, I’m guessing. In light of the power data just mentioned, is a 2nd shore power inlet what you might still recommend or is tapping into the current breaker box just as good?
Thanks!

Hey, I bet you sold a ton of those Dutch Oven lid lifters last weekend. People at Chain O Lakes were saying they work better than anything else they've ever used. Also, I heard people were amazed that your "Redneck" antenna took them from only getting 2 TV stations to 25 or more. Pretty cool stuff.

[bobhenry]

We need the electrical guys help here

I just saw a stack of refrigeration , converters , inverters and chargers and surmised that most of your power needs were out front. You could easily run the lights and a radio or tv and a few party lights on the 15 anp plugin at the pole. I run all of my needs on the 15 amp plug ins and have never had a problem.