Extension cord
Printed From: R-pod Owners Forum
Category: R-pod Discussion Forums
Forum Name: Podmods, Maintenance, Tips and Tricks
Forum Discription: Ask maintenance questions, share your podmods (modifications) and helpful tips
URL: http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=7858
Printed Date: 03 May 2024 at 9:21am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 9.64 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Extension cord
Posted By: GLBCamper
Subject: Extension cord
Date Posted: 01 May 2016 at 5:01pm
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I am about 5ft. short with the 25ft. cord into a 30 amp to 120v dogbone. I am currently using a 5ft. 15 amp appliance cord to span the gap between the male end of the dogbone and the outlet. Is that a high enough gauge cord? I don't really want to buy a whole new 30 amp cord just to add 5 ft. since they are quite expensive. Other suggestions? ------------- Old: 2014 177 HRE 2015 Tacoma V6 4x4 Double Cab New: 2016 EVO ATS 200rd 2016 F150 4x4 Sport |
Replies:
Posted By: jato
Date Posted: 01 May 2016 at 5:29pm
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If you aren't using the a/c or oven or anything else that runs a lot of amps you can probably get away with what you have. I would rather spend the 5 - 10 minutes to hook up the pod to your TV, pick up the 4 stabilizers, and move your extension in and move it CLOSER to the electrical supply so that you just use the 25' cord. AND then you can unhook, and re-level everything again, hey it's good practice! In my 5+ years of owning our 177 I have made the mistake of getting everything ready and then hooking up my 25' cord LAST and then find out I am anywhere from 2 to 5 feet short, ugh. After doing that a couple times I am now trained to do that FIRST, even before unhooking the trailer from the hitch. ------------- God's pod '11 model 177 '17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake "...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." |
Posted By: GLBCamper
Date Posted: 01 May 2016 at 5:31pm
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This is at the house, so just to keep things charged. Can't move closer because of where the outlets are. ------------- Old: 2014 177 HRE 2015 Tacoma V6 4x4 Double Cab New: 2016 EVO ATS 200rd 2016 F150 4x4 Sport |
Posted By: jato
Date Posted: 01 May 2016 at 5:40pm
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Ok, so using a 15 amp cord will reduce your usable wattage that you could use with the heavier 30 amp cord that came with your pod. The 15 amp cord can handle up to (15a X 120v) 1800 watts. If you are only using to to keep things charged w/o using any heavy wattage users you will be fine. To be safe just add up all the things running while you are plugged in. As long as you are under the 1800 watts, no worries.
------------- God's pod '11 model 177 '17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake "...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." |
Posted By: GLBCamper
Date Posted: 01 May 2016 at 6:05pm
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Do you know what the fridge takes? I like to pre-cool it a day before heading out. That is the only thing I might use on electric on the 15 amp extension. ------------- Old: 2014 177 HRE 2015 Tacoma V6 4x4 Double Cab New: 2016 EVO ATS 200rd 2016 F150 4x4 Sport |
Posted By: jato
Date Posted: 01 May 2016 at 6:14pm
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Don't have the specs. in front of me but I know of other podders who have used a 15 amp cord for the very purpose you state. We do the same thing as far as pre-cooling the fridge the day before we leave. As long as you are only using the fridge (no a/c, furnace, htw, oven, entertainment center) you will be fine.
------------- God's pod '11 model 177 '17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake "...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." |
Posted By: ronahue
Date Posted: 01 May 2016 at 6:21pm
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I cool my fridge before trips using a standard extension cord on a 15amp outlet. ------------- Ron & Sharon 2015 R-Pod 179 2022 Nissan Frontier No trees were harmed in the sending of this message but a billion electrons were really agitated |
Posted By: GLBCamper
Date Posted: 01 May 2016 at 6:26pm
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Thanks for all of the quick replies from all of the helpful podders! ------------- Old: 2014 177 HRE 2015 Tacoma V6 4x4 Double Cab New: 2016 EVO ATS 200rd 2016 F150 4x4 Sport |
Posted By: StephenH
Date Posted: 01 May 2016 at 7:47pm
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I have used a 15 Ampere cord to connect to our house which only has 15 or 20 Ampere outlets. I have run the air conditioner or the furnace as needed without problem. I wouldn't try to cool the refrigerator also. That might be too much. However, running the lights is no issue. If not running the AC, then I would pre-cool the refrigerator on AC.
------------- StephenH Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,... http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=7712 - ouR escaPOD mods Former RPod 179 Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS |
Posted By: CharlieM
Date Posted: 01 May 2016 at 8:38pm
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The fridge uses less than 150W on 120V, or about 1.2A. Even the converter, charging a really depleted battery should be less than 400W, or 3.3A. Lights, if LED, the pump and the fan really don't count. The furnace is 36W which equates to about 0.3A at the 120V side of the converter. So, without the electric WH, A/C, and Micro your 15A cord is very adequate, Even the electric WH is only 1440W, or 12A at 120V. So, bottom line, your 15A cord will run pretty much anything except the Micro and A/C. Careful management will even permit Micro and/or A/C, but only by themselves. Just in general I would suggest a 15-25 ft heavy duty #12AWG cord made for outdoor use. Then you're good to go whatever you want to do, even if you miss the magic parking spot. EDIT: All that assumes there are no significant additional loads on the house circuit. The extension cord will still be fine, but additional loads will subtract from available power at the outlet. Things like motors, fridges, freezers in the house will limit how much is available for the POD. ------------- Charlie Northern Colorado OLD: 2013 RP-172, 2010 Honda Pilot 3.5L 4WD PRESENT: 2014 Camplite 21RBS, 2013 Supercharged Tacoma 4L V6 4WD |
Posted By: JandL
Date Posted: 01 May 2016 at 9:09pm
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When the refrigerator starts up it draws 9.5 amps at 120 volts AC. I have not checked it after it reaches temperature what the current drops down to if it does. When running on 120 volts AC the DC control of the refrigerator takes .13 amps and the 2 air circulation fans used for forced air circulation take .32 amps DC each. These fans only come on when it is warm outside. I have a 12 gauge extension cord I picked up at a garage sale and made a cord out of it to run from the side of my houise to the trailer. ------------- JandL 2013 Honda Ridgeline 2012 177 2 Paynes in a Pod |
Posted By: CharlieM
Date Posted: 01 May 2016 at 9:16pm
What model Pod and fridge do you have and how are you measuring the 9.5A? Are you sure you don't mean 0.95A at 120V? That's about 10X what it should draw. I assume you have the standard absorption fridge, or has someone substitute a residential type fridge. ------------- Charlie Northern Colorado OLD: 2013 RP-172, 2010 Honda Pilot 3.5L 4WD PRESENT: 2014 Camplite 21RBS, 2013 Supercharged Tacoma 4L V6 4WD |
Posted By: JandL
Date Posted: 01 May 2016 at 10:16pm
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I have a Dometic Model RM 8501 and I looked in the owner’s manual that came with my trailer and on page 11 it says ‘Rating details mains 1135 W” and that’s where I got my 9.5 amps from. I now see that that is a typo in the owner’s manuals because the next refrigerator on the list the RM 8505 only draws 135 watts. I went out and looked at the refrigerator rating plate and it says 120 V 1.2 amps. I never noticed the owner’s manual was wrong till now. Thanks ------------- JandL 2013 Honda Ridgeline 2012 177 2 Paynes in a Pod |
Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 02 May 2016 at 7:20am
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As far as the extension cord thing, go buy a real 30A RV extension cord. probably 25% of the campsites we have been to, we needed one.
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Posted By: SandD
Date Posted: 02 May 2016 at 8:48am
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Changed the plug on a 25' boat shore power cord to match the rpod plug and am able to plug into the garage.This also allows the use of my surge protector while plugged in at home.Safety first. ------------- There are two types of people in the world. Those who like RPODs and those who are wrong. Rpodder 2014 RPOD 178 06 Tacoma Prerunner TRD |
Posted By: TheBum
Date Posted: 02 May 2016 at 6:17pm
| We keep our Pod plugged into a 15A outlet to keep the batteries topped off. The fridge doesn't take much electricity, so you're probably OK running it. The microwave and A/C are the two big power draws that you need to avoid. |
Posted By: techntrek
Date Posted: 03 May 2016 at 9:30pm
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The AC and DC heating elements in the fridge only use 120 watts. Nameplate ratings on appliances are always wrong. Add a few more watts for the electronics and you'll be close to the 150 watts mentioned above. As furpod said, get a proper 30 amp extension cord, plus a 15-to-30 amp adapter and 50-to-30 amp adapter. ------------- Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1723 - Pod instruction manual 
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Posted By: Rustler
Date Posted: 09 May 2016 at 12:31am
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I use the Reliance Amwatt Appliance Load Tester with my Yamaha 2000 watt inverter generator. It will tell the amps or watts being drawn by an appliance. It is relatively inexpensive - just $25 at Home Depot: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Reliance-Controls-AmWatt-Appliance-Load-Tester-THP103/202213704 - http://www.homedepot.com/p/Reliance-Controls-AmWatt-Appliance-Load-Tester-THP103/202213704 ------------- Russ 2009 Toyota RAV4 V6 w/ tow package 2016 Rpod 171 HRE |
Posted By: this_is_nascar
Date Posted: 09 May 2016 at 6:10am
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Which model Yamaha? ------------- "Ray & Connie" - 2017 R-Pod RP-180 - 2007 Toyota Tacoma TRD-Off Road |
Posted By: Rustler
Date Posted: 10 May 2016 at 3:48am
I compared the Honda EU2000I and the Yamaha EF2000IS. Both are well reported on, but I chose the Yamaha for the following reasons:
I have used that Yamaha to start an electric chipper with a 14 amp rating. While it does hesitate when turned on, once it gets started the chipper draws about 4 amps. Maybe the Yamaha can run an Rpod AC unit. I might try adding a hard-start capacitor. ------------- Russ 2009 Toyota RAV4 V6 w/ tow package 2016 Rpod 171 HRE |
Posted By: this_is_nascar
Date Posted: 10 May 2016 at 6:24am
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That sounds like the model I used to own. It did run the AC on my RP-151. ------------- "Ray & Connie" - 2017 R-Pod RP-180 - 2007 Toyota Tacoma TRD-Off Road |