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Trouble in 50 AMP LAND – Ouch!
The first time I hooked my bus up to 50 amp service it was a trial but I got it done. This time not so much! The picture below will help tell the story. You no more than get the connector through the hole in the bay floor when you have to bend it towards the hook up . One problem is the plate holding the receptor is not connected at the bottom. So you have to stick your left hand in and hold it as you try to engage the connection. And the hose reel on the left really did a job on my hand!
I never did get the connection made after a good 45 minutes of trying. I may be the first on the forum this ever happened too, or at least the first one to admit it! I’ll take another run at it after my hand heals but I’ve got to find a better way to get this connection made! Today was a beautiful sunny 60 degree day and I couldn’t get it done. I can’t even imagine pulling into a park slot with it raining and have to deal with this!
I’m frankly amazed it was designed this way. I know I’m a Resident Bean Bag but come on, this is nuts!
Harry
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32 Replies
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Harry you may have to spend about 2 hrs pulling the house reel out to be able to reattach the bottom of the receptacle. After that you should be able to connect fairly easy.
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I have a cord you wind and throw in the bay on mine and same with water hose. Cord comes in from bottom like yours. Mine is old school.That water reel looks like a pita. Need to redo that plug as I can see the colored wires.
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Harry, that looks like the same connection we had on our Affinity. You should be able to just push it in to the receptacle and twist to lock. Never had trouble on the Affinity.
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Is there a way to install a connector that you can leave pertinently installed to the bus connection? Then I could run the connector with the 50 amp cord through the hole and attached it the pre installed connector?
Harry
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Harry, any retro-fit is possible…how big is your check book? check with Jeff, he’s replaced plenty of reel cords. Geo.
1984 96" with 8V92TA
(remodeled Liberty Coach)
Greenwood, MO -
If it’s the combination of the loose mounting plate and the sharp bend through the door that’s giving you fits, maybe you can create a short 50A pigtail cable until you can fix the mounting plate. Plug that in without the additional challenges, then run the longer cable through the door and join them. I’m not sure it’d be more cost effective than just fixing it though.
Come to think of it, can’t you just pull about six feet through and make a wide bend rather than that sharp 90 degree bend? Get it plugged in and then wiggle and twist as you pull the excess cord back out. I suppose I may be missing something in your post.
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Hi guys, I’d like a permanent solution so I didn’t have a problem each time I hook to power. I like the Pigtail idea, anything rather than having to go right through the floor and then try to bend it. You can already see the wires showing between the connection and the cord. How much longer before that fails? I like the pigtail, we have an auto supply here in town and I’ll check with them first.
Harry
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Adapter
Right Angle Adapter, 50A 125/250V Locking w/ Sealing Collar System Female Connector and 50A 125/250V Locking Male Plug
Part # 1RPC50 -
Thanks Tom, that looks like the right solution to me. It’s simple, long term and takes the pressure off the main power cord that’s already showing ware.
Harry
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Harry,
The pigtail that Tom shows could be a good short term solution. It looks to me like there are only 3 wires at your connector. I believe that 50 amp should be 4 wire. 2 120v legs, 1 neutral and 1 ground. If it were my bus I would first check that the wiring to the receptacle was correct. Then I would eliminate the receptacle and replace it with a short, hard wired pigtail with a male twistlok that matches the shore cord (make sure the connectors are rated for 50 amp!). That way you would have 1 less connection to cause problems.
Let us know how it goes.
Doug
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Just two comments. First, the converters don’t make things hard for us otherwise we wouldn’t be buying their product. What I cannot grasp is why it should be hard to hook up a shore power cord and I can only conclude something is not right. I don’t know if someone has monkeyed with the coach and changed it, or if the cord has been replaced with one that is not exactly compatible with the attachment on the coach or if Harry is doing something wrong. I know we have some Beaver owners and experts on here and I hope they can post photos of their shore cord connections.
My next comment however is concern that Harry would be even touching a shore power cord that had bare wires showing.
The risk of a problem when the cord end has bare wires showing is significant. They all come apart with simple tools and that cord for sure should be taken apart, have the individual wires reattached and secured and then reassembled so no wires are showing. This is a severe safety hazard.
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Where do you order that pig tail? There has to be some merit to carrying something like this.
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Harry’s coach has 3 a wire male plug that you connect a 3 wire female plug that terminates to 4 wire on the end that plugs into the 50 amp shore power. The neutral and ground are tied together. What I posted was basically a short 3 wire extension which is what he was looking for.
Just like the Libertys that have port and starboard power connections and those plugs are 3 wire.
Harry’s power cord likely looks like this.
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Tom,
Read the desc for that item. It is a 30 amp cord.
The 50 amp cords are 4 wire. 3 spades and the outer ring is ground. It is a marine style cable.
I grabbed the wrong picture, corrected. Tom
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Harry Beaver owner here. What’s with the water hose, you need to take that apart and see if the springs still work, ie pull the hose back on to the drum. Reinsert it into the hole with the roller wheels. That should give you some room. My electrical connects is just like the one with the screw cap, but it is on the outside of the coach. Between that bay door and the rear wheel fender. attached to the lower stainless panel. Mine is plumbed the following from the location the wires in that box there is a metal conduct going thru the right side of it to the wheel well then 90 degs to the stainless panel of the bus. That capped 50 amp connector is then screwed to the panel. Been that way for 26 years with Zero problems.
my only issue is the water hose in order to get it thru the hole in the floor you have to pull out all the hose you are going to use and then run it thru the hole. Even at that it only a 2 minute job.
Pictures to follow
The frist picture should be rotated right and the second rotated left.
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