Shore power cord replacement

[atvmcg]

I have some loose pins on my 30 amp plug, so I need to replace the plug and power cord? The replacement plug with cord ( didn't buy yet just looked at the RV store inventory) has white, blue and black wires...after opening up the box in the rear well I see I have a green and yellow wiring pattern. Any ideas on what is what? My manual has no info on color code or even a mention of replacing the shore power line.

[wmarsha]

well, i hope that new cord was black, white, and green. Black is the hot, white is the neutral and these two are current carrying conductors. the Green is the grounding conductor. Now the Old AS you are working on was built with little or no attention to the NEC so, any colors could be/were used. You will have to trace them back to your circuit breaker panel. the conductors connected directly to the circuit breaker(s) are the hot leads and should be black (or red) the neutral conductors should all be connected to a common bar and all conductors to this bar should be white, or gray. Now, depending on how long ago your AS was wired, the neutral conductors and the grounding conductors would either be on separate collector bars inside the circuit breaker box (relatively new construction) or all connected onto the same collector bar (uhh pre-1995, I think). Most all of the grounding conductors will be bare except the one coming into the ckt brkr bx from the shore line-it usually will be insulated and really should be green, but I really don't know what colors were used.

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by atvmcg

I have some loose pins on my 30 amp plug, so I need to replace the plug and power cord? The replacement plug with cord ( didn't buy yet just looked at the RV store inventory) has white, blue and black wires...after opening up the box in the rear well I see I have a green and yellow wiring pattern. Any ideas on what is what? My manual has no info on color code or even a mention of replacing the shore power line.

Before you buy a replacement city power cable, that's 25 feet long, consider that the Airstream factory offers a "Canadian" cord as they call it, that's 35 feet long, that has the same 30 amp plug.

That extra 10 feet can be real handy sometimes.

Andy

[Alwhisman]

The "blue" is probably just an odd variation of green. Some of the cables from across the big pond do that sometimes....

I agree with Andy as well, you have the opportunity to explore adding some length, now is the time. Extension cords should be avoided. I have no doubt that some of the nice folks who laid out the utilities at some state parks apparently never saw an RV! I carry two water hoses, but won't use an extension cord.

[HowieE]

I would ask you to take another look at that cord in the shop and look at the pin configuration. The presence of 2 colored wires leads me to think that is a 50 amp 220 volt. I f that is not the case and you do buy a new cord you will have to ohm it out to make sure which wire is which before hooking it up.

If just the plug is bad on your present cord why not just replace the plug. Any electrical supply can get you the plug. It is not a normally stocked item but they can order it.

Also if you open the floor just above the umbilical cord cabinet you may find an additional 6 to 10 ft of cord wound up in that space. Not sure why Airstream doesn't use all the cord they supply but that is what I found.

[overlander63]

If you really want the longer length, and don't want extension cords, you can get one of these, cut the female end off, and have a single shore power cord up to 45 or so feet long.Heavy Duty 30-amp 10/3 STW Cord, 50’ - Item - Camping World
While I don't care for a shore power cord that long, because of possible voltage drop, if you find you're regularly needing to use an extension cord, or reposition the coach to get it close enough to plug in, it's certainly an option. I'd rather do this than have another cord just to get that extra 10 feet to the outlet box at the campground.

[JimWeilhammer]

A friend of mine purchased a new cord, but he couldn't pull out the old cord. Any helpful hints on how to pull out the original cord through the bumper box?

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by JimWeilhammer

A friend of mine purchased a new cord, but he couldn't pull out the old cord. Any helpful hints on how to pull out the original cord through the bumper box?

You are referring to an older shore power cord, which is permanently attached to the AS, and coiled up in the bumper box for travel, like we had in our 1985 25'. What year and model is your friend's unit?

In general you must have access to every part of the cord until it gets to the electrical distribution panel. This may require the disassembly of a bed, settee, etc.. There is usually a cable clamp inside the trailer someplace, which anchors the cable mechanically to the trailer, per the electrical code.

It is unlikely that any interior skin will have to be removed [IMO], as the replacement of the shore power cord is a possible maintenance item envisioned by the AS design.

Good luck!

Peter