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Old 06-21-2018, 10:19 AM   #1
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2018 27' Flying Cloud
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Electric Receptacle by tv’s

We have a 2018 AS 27FB Flying Cloud and want to have an AC receptacle by our front and rear tv’s. The current receptacles have half of the receptacle blanked off. [ATTACH]. Can I replace the current receptacle with a std. house receptacle so we can plug in our Apple TV. Why is my current receptacle blanked off? Thank you in advance for you knowledge!
Rob and Robyn
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Old 06-21-2018, 11:09 AM   #2
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It's entirely possible the blanked-off part of your receptacle has the electrical contact guts under the plastic, and the blank-off material is very thin. Others have reported using this method to restore the connection, and I have no idea where that thread may be, so here's what I remember about the technique used--with a few safety precautions thrown in....

I'd try the following:

1) Remove ALL AC power from the trailer, including shutting off the inverter manually. Since I'm hyper paranoid about getting zapped, I'd pull the negative side of the batteries, and disconnect both ends of the shore power cable. I also cover the battery lug with RED tape, and put a strip of the same tape over the shore power receptacle on the AS as a reminder someone has their fat fingers in the wiring.

2) Obtain a very sharp ExActo (or equivalent) craft knife with a sturdy, pointed blade.

3) Using appropriate eye and hand protection (the blades can snap occasionally and throw sharp bits around), carefully carve into just the thin plastic covering the slots in the bottom part of the receptacle.

4) Whittle away all the blank-off material, being sure to stay within the lines (the lines are your friend in this case) and smooth off any rough edges. You may want to use a small 'needle file' to do this. Use a shop vacuum or equivalent to suck out any stray plastic bits from the outlet opening you just made.

5) When you have all the slots opened and cleaned out tidy-like, insert a standard three-prong plug into the outlet, and make sure it fits in smoothly and is properly retained by the contacts inside the outlet.

6) Restore power, and use a three-prong outlet tester (The kind with three lights) to verify you have proper power in the bottom part of the receptacle.

7) Plug in your Apple TV, hook up the HDMI output wiring to the television set, then open a beverage of your choice, and brag about the great job you did by letting us know how it worked, and posting pictures of your accomplishment to the forum!

IIRC, the reason those outlets are partially blanked off was to prevent someone plugging a heavier load into the inverter circuit. An Apple TV box is not that much of a load...
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Old 06-21-2018, 11:23 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by robertwarren View Post
We have a 2018 AS 27FB Flying Cloud and want to have an AC receptacle by our front and rear tv’s. The current receptacles have half of the receptacle blanked off. [ATTACH]. Can I replace the current receptacle with a std. house receptacle so we can plug in our Apple TV. Why is my current receptacle blanked off? Thank you in advance for you knowledge!
Rob and Robyn


Wow, your reply is over the top! I am on it! Thank you, Bob
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Old 06-21-2018, 11:26 AM   #4
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Easier fix is to add a surge protector plug with 2 or 3 AC receptacles including USB ports. Then you just unplug the whole unit and insert into inverter receptacle as needed. All works fine and protects TV/phones from power surges.
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Old 06-21-2018, 11:32 AM   #5
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C'mon Mojo, you know the only answer I'm going to come up with is the complicated "Overkill Engineering" solution...since I seem to be the department head most days...

Yeah, a surge suppressor with a short cord would work just fine, but my DW would object to the "extra stuff" cluttering the area...so this is the 'tidy' solution.

It's not my work, BTW, it was discussed rather heavily on the forums quite a while back. I just have a decent memory for an old fart...and time to write a short story on the procedure...
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Old 06-21-2018, 11:41 AM   #6
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We old farts are often capable of learning new tricks from others on this forum. I didn't come up with this on my own!


No cords, no clutter. Except the photo is sideways.
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Old 06-21-2018, 12:02 PM   #7
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Mojo, that looks like a decent solution for many other situations, not just this one.

Where did you find that part?
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Old 06-21-2018, 12:13 PM   #8
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I cut the openings so i can insert a plug into the lower "blanked out" position. It is soft thin plastic and all I needed was a sharp X-acot knife. The connection behind the plug are already there (second image). Once anything is plugged in you cannot see how bad my cutting job was.
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Old 06-21-2018, 12:21 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rmkrum View Post
Mojo, that looks like a decent solution for many other situations, not just this one.

Where did you find that part?

Just about anywhere, home depot, lowes, ace, walmart...
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Old 06-29-2018, 01:10 PM   #10
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All done!

My thanks to all that offered their advise on this thread. As asked by one responder this is what I did: removed current outlet, expanded the hole, added a box, installed a new 20-amp outlet, tested for correct polarity, and added a screw anchor 3-outlet, 2-USB charger outlets surge protector ( aquired from Amazon). Robyn, who did not want anything there says that it is “ok”. Now I can plug in my Apple TV without it looking cluttered. Mission accomplished. Again, thank you for your time and support!
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Old 06-29-2018, 02:09 PM   #11
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Hi

Keep in mind that the outlet is one of the ones on the inverter. That may or may not be what you want to hook this or that to..... On most trailers it's not a GFCI protected outlet. Again, this may or may not matter ... it all depends ....

Bob
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Old 07-07-2018, 10:05 AM   #12
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I’d wondered about the outlet myself and bemoaned the lack of another plug... with the encouraging posts here I opened it up and seeing that it should be functional used my pocket knife to cut out the offending plastic. Will stick to low draw electronics like my laptop and am happy to have done it!
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Old 07-21-2018, 02:48 PM   #13
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TV Inverter Receptacle

Wave Man, what did you mean when you said you "opened" it up? Did you cut all power to receptacle? I want to plug in Roku. You have a very easy solution.
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Old 07-22-2018, 07:03 AM   #14
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Originally Posted by lmk View Post
Wave Man, what did you mean when you said you "opened" it up? Did you cut all power to receptacle? I want to plug in Roku. You have a very easy solution.
Hi

If you are poking knives into sockets or pulling off faceplates then yes, you should very much remove all power first ....

Bob
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Old 01-05-2019, 11:29 PM   #15
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Sorry !!! I meant I took off the faceplate and shined some light in there- even extracted the receptacle to view wires and connections etc..

I put the faceplate somewhere safe before using the tip of a sharp (locking) pocket knife to “chisel” through... A little shaving and it was passable and I put it all back together
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Old 01-06-2019, 06:37 AM   #16
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I replaced them ALL with in wall boxes and new Commercial plugs.

Blog post below

http://www.airforums.com/forums/blog...on-boxes-2988/

http://www.airforums.com/forums/blog...nd-boxed-2989/

http://www.airforums.com/forums/blog...-support-2975/
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Old 01-06-2019, 06:42 AM   #17
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I'm glad I stumbled upon this tread as I have been trying to figure out how to get Apple TV working in my AS. I was not aware that there was a full receptacle behind the cover.

If this is an inverter circuit can I assume it will work fine for Apple TV?

Thanks!
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Old 01-06-2019, 06:50 AM   #18
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Just curious why you did this. Electrical stuff is my shortfall (pun intended). But there is a severe shortage of A/C outlets in my GT.

Are you planning to do something similar in your new GT?
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