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Shore power conversion
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349 Posts
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March 23, 2012 - 7:57 pm
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In the five years we owned the Flagstaff I had often thought about converting the shore power cord from 'stuff it in the mouse hole' to a detachable cord. Never got around to it ...

When we traded it last fall, I decided to splurge and buy myself the parts for Christmas, and I finally got a chance to open it and make the switch. Total conversion time was about an hour. I bought the kit on qid=1332546645&sr=8-13 and it includes everything needed, including the adapter to step down the size of the cord opening.

Went from this:
[IMG]http://inlinethumb06.webshots.com/25797/2176762100095026574S500x500Q85.jpg[/img]

To this:
[IMG]http://inlinethumb27.webshots.com/14874/2189554210095026574S500x500Q85.jpg[/img]

Some step by step pics at http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/582531153NPPbYB The best part is that it opens up another storage compartment, which is perfect for our bunk lights and lanterns.

John

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57 Posts
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March 23, 2012 - 8:57 pm
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Looks great!  Much nicer than jamming the power cord back into the camper.
Jason

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191 Posts
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March 23, 2012 - 9:41 pm
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I'll be doing that upgrade this year.  The cord always gets tangled.

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93 Posts
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March 25, 2012 - 3:07 am
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This is something I've been wanting to do on my Kodiak hybrid.  The cord goes into a compartment that can only be accessed by completely pulling the converter.  So I would prefer being able to just seal it off.

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349 Posts
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March 25, 2012 - 10:12 am
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Mark,

This would really be a beneficial mod for your Kodiak. The new outlet completely seals the outer wall.

I did have to drill two new holes because the adapter ring was slightly smaller than the mounting ring on the original. The kit includes gaskets but I added some butyl tape under the ring to make sure it sealed the old screw holes.

John

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43 Posts
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March 27, 2012 - 10:55 pm
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Nice, that one is on my list too.

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333 Posts
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March 28, 2012 - 1:15 pm
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Nice upgrade.  I thought about doing this with our popup, but never got around to it, and wound up selling it last year.  I like it because there's no open hole for critters (i.e., stink bugs) to crawl into.

Our HTT came with this type of connector.  In our case, it was probably required since there's no room for the cord on the other side of the wall due to the interior layout.  The only down side is that you need to store the cable somewhere when not in use.  Typically that's either right inside the entry door, or right inside the storage hatch.

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349 Posts
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March 29, 2012 - 6:23 am
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According to Fleetwood, you're not supposed to raise or lower the electric lift with shore power plugged in, so we'll store the cord right inside the door. That'll be a good reminder for us since the door can't open until the roof is lifted!

We always sprayed a couple paper towels with bug repellent and stuffed them in the mouse hole, so having that opening taken care of is a great side benefit, as far as I'm concerned!

John

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191 Posts
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March 29, 2012 - 9:35 am
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I just received the "kit" in the mail yesterday.  It was a collection of all the parts, not bagged or boxed in any way.  But everything was there, including instructions.

Hopefully I'll be able to get this knocked out this weekend or next.  I'm thinking about disconnecting the cord from the converter and running regular electric line between the converter and the connector.  The instructions have you cut the existing cord.  But I figure by using regular electrical wire, I'll be able to route it better and it will give me an additional foot or 2 of power cord.

Anyone ever seen it done that way?  Any negatives to it?

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349 Posts
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March 29, 2012 - 1:14 pm
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I've read about some conversions done that way, Fritz. No negatives to it, as long as the replacement wire is sized correctly.

Ours was routed well and wouldn't have gained much, so I didn't bother disconnecting at the converter. If I had done the conversion on our other PUP it would have gained about 2 feet!

John

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93 Posts
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March 29, 2012 - 3:05 pm
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Sasha's camping site talks about using heavy gauge cable between the converter and connector. I'd probably gain 4 feet doing that.

Sent from my Android using Tapatalk.

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450 Posts
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March 29, 2012 - 3:37 pm
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Looks good... I keep thinking of doing this as well to pick up the space where the cord is stored.

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93 Posts
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March 29, 2012 - 6:49 pm
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In my old Niagara I would pull all of the core out even if I only needed a couple of feet. This gave me another cabinet to store things when set up.

Sent from my Android using Tapatalk.

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191 Posts
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April 2, 2012 - 11:22 am
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I did this mod yesterday.  It went smoothly, but not without problems.  The holes on the mounting bracket didn't match the old holes.  I also had to enlarge the hole in the wood between the compartment and the side of the pup.

I was going to use regular electrical wire instead of chopping off the cord.  But that would have required me to open up the converter and I wasn't in any mood to mess with that.

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349 Posts
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April 2, 2012 - 12:52 pm
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Good to hear that you didn't have too much trouble, Fritz.

From what I had read before, I expected the adapter ring to match the mouse hole size/hole spacing exactly. It didn't. On ours I was just able to cover the old holes with the ring.

John

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