30 amp power inlet

[firstwave]

When I pulled the plug today on my 2006 classic I could smell rubber. One of the inlets on my cord was a little scorched and one of the matching blade on my inlet showed a little scorching. I think the cord is worn and causing arc so I ordered a new 30 amp cord.

I am wondering if I should also replace the inlet. Is this a simple 3 wire swap or is it more complicated.

I found the Marinco and ParkPower inlets on Amazon that look like the one I have.
The Marinco 30 Amp Valox Marine Power Inlet is 30A 125V Power Inlet.
Marine grade UV stabilized glass-filled polyester construction.(top picture)

The ParkPower 301ELRV 30A Power Inlet, White with Stainless Steel Trim 30A Easy Lock power inlet, NEMA L5-30R looks identical.

Has anybody replaced their power inlet that could share a little knowledge?

thanks
Dave

[r carl]

May just be a good idea to replace both.

[grizbear]

I would try cleaning it up first. A small file or sand paper on an ice cream stick
I had same thing at the other end and my surge protector cleaned up used some corrosion X. They cleaned up well and have been working fine for about a yr. now. I would try cleaning it and check how warm it gets with use of say the AC. But having said that I'm big on safety and replacement may be the safest way but you could end up with a new problem like a leak. Sometimes I'm being proactive on PM and end up causing a new issue. Best of luck Rand

[firstwave]

Thanks Rand--sounds like good advise. I will try cleaning and the new power cord but I would still like to have the replacement power inlet on hand.
I normally keep the trailer plugged in at the storage facility (30 miles away) so I would be concerned about the power inlet overheating when I'm not around to check it.

Does anybody know if the ParkPower or marinco inlets will replace my existing inlet?

[richinny]

you might want to do a google search for smartplug.

[greenflag]

Replacing the power inlet may be a bigger job than meets the eye. I fried the inlet on my 2007 25' international while in Canada. Aistream did not leave enough slack in the wires to attach the new inlet. The tech had to beat the back of the cabinet out in the vanity to feed enough wire to the inlet box. Just a thought. yours may not be the same. I have used my wife's emery board to clean contacts in the past.

[grizbear]

Greenflag has a good point a lot of jobs appear straight forward until its too late to turn back. Then 2 days later and four trips to hardware store and $$ I ask myself what the heck did I do this for. But in the end I'm like glad that's over. Rand

[Wolf Alaska]

The power cord recept tends to fail sooner. When the cord recpt fails, it can be replaced with a twist lock terminal or an RV recept to make it a 30 amp extension cord.
After you clean up the trailer prongs, coating with dielectric grease with minimize future failure.
The burning typically happens @ high current. If you have power on in storage, amps will be low, maybe battery maint. only. Not much to worry about there.
Let's Roll !
Wolf

[BambiTex]

I put this one on my vintage trailer:
Furrion 30A Round Stainless Inlet
Mine was an easy swap but suggest you look at the wires behind yours before starting.
Twist-lock and locking ring are helpful.

[dznf0g]

Originally Posted by BambiTex

I put this one on my vintage trailer:
Furrion 30A Round Stainless Inlet
Mine was an easy swap but suggest you look at the wires behind yours before starting.
Twist-lock and locking ring are helpful.

Me too, nice product. In my experience most melting occurs due to loose wires or sloppy enlarged prongs on female end so check the cord end.

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by firstwave

When I pulled the plug today on my 2006 classic I could smell rubber. One of the inlets on my cord was a little scorched and one of the matching blade on my inlet showed a little scorching. I think the cord is worn and causing arc so I ordered a new 30 amp cord.

Dave,

The cord fails more often than the inlet, for two reasons. First, metal fatigue affects the spring properties of the contacts. The cord connector has spring contacts while the inlet does not. Second, the flexing of the cord combined with exposure to the elements can cause the connection between the contacts and the wires in the cable to deteriorate. Since the wires inside the trailer from the inlet to the breaker panel are secured in place and protected from rain and sun they typically do not deteriorate, although it is possible for the screws to come loose.

Reports on inlet replacements have varied, with it going smoothly on some trailers, and with some trailers having poor access, insufficient wire length, and excessive caulk all interfering with replacement. The stories upthread continue this pattern. I would recommend that you confirm that you have access to the interior side of the inlet, and inspect visually, before starting replacement.

If there is visible oxidation on the contact surfaces of the inlet, they can be polished with fine emery cloth or a dremel tool and cleaned with compressed air or a nonflammable contact cleaning spray.

Overheating problems in the shore power circuit only show up under heavy load. Unless you are running electric heat, a heat pump, or an air conditioner in your trailer while it is in storage, the chances of problems there are remote. On the other hand, once you've replaced the shore power cord, you can run these or other higher-power appliances in the trailer while keeping careful watch to see if a problem with overheating yet remains.

[Americal]

Replaced the power inlet on my 2008 27' international today. This thread helped as I did not know the parkpower was the same as the marinco. Couldn't find a marinco locally. We are leaving on a trip tomorrow and I wanted this fixed today as one of the wires had shorted out. Was able to buy a parkpower fixture, white color and reuse the existing outer gray marinco face plate. I thought I could unscrew the "guts" and leave the inner housing but there was not enough wire sticking out so I decided it must all come out. I think if I was doing it again I could possibly get by without removing the inner housing I was able to push additional wire from inside the trailer by going below the closet and pushing on the orange wire. The inner box housing was caulked from the inside very well. Tried to access from the closet but was going to have to cut out metal to get to the inside of the plug. It turned out that I did not need to access from the inside. I finally used a box knife on the outside and just kept sticking it between the alum and the inner box to cut it loose. I used a pair of pliers to pull on the box while cutting with box knife and it finally came out. It all goes back in as one unit, inner box, fixture with prongs and outer cover.

[TeddyK]

Trying this today on my 05 Safari to run power to Victron multi. Outlet pulls out half inch but white inner housing and black seal stay static. Have limited access from under bath sink see if I can push some orange 10/2 thru to create slack. Haven’t tried removing small straight head screws that go in perpendicular to front of prong faceplate yet. I’ll update when complete thanks for insight everyone