Power cord length

[Yoshimura]

Our new RV included a 25' power cord. From your experience... is 25' enough, should I get an extension cord or simply a longer cord?

Many thanks!

[cruising7388]

Originally Posted by Yoshimura

Our new RV included a 25' power cord. From your experience... 25' is enough, I should get an extension cord or a longer cord?

Many thanks!

I opted for a 10 gauge 25 ft extension cord which has come in handy now and then. I got mine from Adventurerv.net with 30 amp male and female terminations.for under $30 + $10 shipping which seems reasonable as it's a heavy duty cable.

[Gryphon]

I agree, you should get an extension cord. I don't use mine very often, but I do use it.

Also get 15A & 50A dogbones, for times when there isn't a 30A connection available.

[booster]

We carry 100' of 12ga cords as one 50' and two 25'. You can't run the AC on the the 12ga at the same time as the micro, but OK if you stay low on power use. There are places with centralized power poles that a long way from the sites, especially in Canada. We don't need the cords often, but it does happen.

[<<B-Guy>>]

Always good to have - when you need it you need it!

Having said that, with a class B, it would often be a little easier to relocate your van on the site so that your normal power cord could work alone - not so easy with a large trailer.

I do carry a 30 amp extension cord in our B as well as an extra 25 ft water hose.

Brian

[SteveJ]

I carry a 25 foot 30 amp cord and a 100 foot construction grade 12 gauge. And I've needed one or both from time to time. Usually when driveway camping.

[CaDreamin]

Depends on how and where you camp. We don’t hook up very much. I carry a 20A dogbone that I use a lot at the house. I have a 50A adapter (not a dogbone). I have a 25 foot regular extension cord that I carry in case I need a little extra length but I’ve never used it. I don’t think I’d be able to run the AC with it.

[rowiebowie]

My Furrion cord is 30' and it has always been enough. However, when my cord connection fried (long story, but not my fault or the cord's fault) I bought a new cord and replaced the end of the old cord with an extension connection. So I carry 60' now, just in case.

[Doneworking]

I know most on this forum will find this the wrong thing to do but I have now done it successfully since we bought our Roadtrek in 2006. I took a good quality 12 gauge extension cord and clipped off the female end and installed a RV plug. I use this for my regular cord to connect the RT to the 15 amp regular grounded outlet on the posts. I carry a couple of adapters for the post in case I need them.

Since we are going to be boondocking 90% of the time this has worked well for us. No, you can't run the microwave when the air is on. But our use pattern is that we don't go camping much in the heat of our summers in any event. It is just too hot in most Bs to be comfortable.


In our occasional trips in the summer not boondocking we revert back to the old heavy duty regular rv cord. My cord is light weight and much more convenient to use than the standard cord. It is perfectly adequate for running everything except the convection oven and the AC.

All I can say is it works for me but if you have a lot of power uses as your normal camping style, don't do it. Those heavy RV cords take up a lot of space.

[JohnnyFry]

I carry a 10/3 50 foot cord which has household plugs somI use an adapter on each end if I am using it to extend the 30 anp cord. Although the 10 AWG wire is OK for 30 amps, the20 amp household ends are marginal so I have to watch my load carefully but it makes for a versatile combination.

[michaelingp]

I don't think 25' is long enough. In addition to the big 25' 30 amp cord, we carry a 50' 14 gauge cord and adapters. I'd say we need this at maybe 1 in 10 campsites. Part of the reason is that we don't carry levelers, so sometimes we have to be creative of where we park the van.

Like others said, we can't use the A/C and the microwave at the same time, but that's not a big deal at all. We rarely run the A/C, and we can certainly turn it off for the few minutes the microwave is running.

We could probably leave the 30 amp cord at home and just use the 15 amp cord as Doneworking suggests, but even though storage space is really tight in our camper, one power cord is not really an issue. And we'd have to buy a 30 to 15 amp adapter. What really takes up space is the Progressive Industries EMS!

[JebTN]

New to B van camping and having power hungry things to feed. We moved from a small slide in camper with gas range and no AC. We seldom even plugged in since all we were running was some LED lights and a vent fan. Now with electric range and frig, AC, etc, I'm still figuring things out. I carry a 25' 10/3 cable but bought an adapter to connect to the van directly to switch to regular 15amp plug for when I don't need so much power and carry a 25' 14g cord for ease of setup. I may upgrade to 12g. Also have the adapter for the male end of the 10/3 to reach out to 50' if I needed to. Really like the screw on adapter.

[rowiebowie]

Originally Posted by michaelingp

What really takes up space is the Progressive Industries EMS!

You've got that right! I love the piece of mind and the protection, but that thing is harder to stow than my two 30A cords.

[avanti]

Originally Posted by michaelingp

What really takes up space is the Progressive Industries EMS!

Doesn't your Safari Condo's inverter have built-in power management? If so, then all you need is surge-suppression. Install a simple, whole-house inverter and lose the PI device.

[Belzar]

In two years (40K miles) of camping I've only had one time where 25' cord wasn't long enough so I don't bother to give up space for extra cord. Also, only once did i end up at a 50 amp-only site and camp office had dog bones to lend. (Its really easy to get caught up; on all of the "what if's and "just in cases" and end up carrying spare this and that, tools, etc. I did that when first got van. I've since realized these things are rarely needed and when needed, there are usually options.)

[Fishalert]

I carry a 25ft. extension cord and have used it 2-3 times in the last 18 months.

[Hatteras Jim]

Visited all 48 states in our class B and after 50k miles, our single 25 foot cord was enough. Our power inlet is amidships, driver's side. This seemed to work for those campsites with front posts and the more common rear posts. As stated previously, the flexibility of positioning the class b usually solves the problem. Of course there will be that one place where 25 feet isn't enough. If you have the space, I'd carry an extension. I don't have the space so I don't.

[JebTN]

Space and convenience is why my extension cable is lighter weight, most of the time I don't need the the heavy 30 amp cord but I can get both out if needed. Might even swap out the 25' 15amp cable for a 10' to 15' 20 amp which most of the time is plenty and even easier to handle, and takes up less space.

[JeanM]

In about a year (plus an extra summer) I found that our 25-foot cord caused us some degree of inconvenience on a regular basis. Sometimes it meant not getting to park on the most level part of a site, or having to park facing a direction that we would have rather not faced. One time, having only a 25-foot cord meant needing roadside assistance to pull us out of our assigned campsite because I tried to park close to the outlet and I didn't realize how fast and how far we would sink into the deep muddy troughs left by previous campers' tires.

[Yoshimura]

Originally Posted by Belzar

In two years (40K miles) of camping I've only had one time where 25' cord wasn't long enough so I don't bother to give up space for extra cord. Also, only once did i end up at a 50 amp-only site and camp office had dog bones to lend. (Its really easy to get caught up; on all of the "what if's and "just in cases" and end up carrying spare this and that, tools, etc. I did that when first got van. I've since realized these things are rarely needed and when needed, there are usually options.)

Good point to remember. Particullay since we are preparing our fisrt RV trip.

Thanks for sharing all your experiences. I did buy an 25' extension for our peace of mind.