Wire Connectors--We'll Pass on the Nuts

If you have an RV and 'fix it yourself,' then you know electrical fixes are a part of life. And of electrical work, putting wires together--making connections--is probably the most common of activities. How do you join your wires?

Unacquainted with the stresses that work on RVs, some unknowingly twist wires together, slap a little electrical tape over the connection and blissfully head off down the road. A little vibration, a little moisture, and that "fix" will soon come apart--possibly with disastrous consequences. Others take a step farther: After twisting the connection together they add a "wire nut," which technically is a trademark name for a "twist on wire connector," although across the pond you'll find such connectors sold under the name "Scru-It." Hey, I don't make the names up, I just report 'em.

In any event, personal experience and advice from professional techs often points up that 'twist on wire connectors' often don't hold up to the rigors of the shaking and baking that an RV puts them to. We've had them fall off, burn out, or otherwise give up the ghost.

What's to be done? Our vote goes to crimp connectors. These are dandy devices, made to join solid or stranded wire to itself, or set up to connect to screws via various forms. In our illustration here, they're refereed to as solderless insulated lugs. In practice, you simply strip the insulation back to the proper length, insert it up into the connector, and crimp the connector tight over the wire. These are virtually flawless connectors, and resist the usual problems in RV wiring systems of vibration, and extremes in temperature.

The problem is when users try to crimp with something other than the proper crimp tool. A pair of pliers, a linesman's tool, a hammer, vice grips--these tools aren't designed to properly crimp a crimp connector, and they will often "part ways" after being connected. Even a cheap crimp tool is better than using an "alternative" tool. But if you really want to splurge, then check out fancy ratcheting crimp tool. Easy on the hands, these characters crimp with uniformity each and every time. They aren't cheap--here's a set that runs almost $80. I'll be sticking with my $5.00 pair for a long time, but whatever fits your pocketbook will go a long way to making solid, dependable electrical connections.

By the way, here's an excellent book on RV electrical work, Managing 12 Volts available through the RV bookstore. Learn all about your RVs 12-volt electrical system including how to upgrade and operate it and troubleshoot problems.

Lug" illustration, courtesy svconline.com

Take Care With Your RV Generator

Got a "built in" RV generator? Don't have to "plug and unplug" shore power cords when switching from shore power to the genset? Then you have an ATS (automatic transfer switch). They're convenient, indeed, as the rest of us without them have to go outside, typically open a door, and plug the shore power cord into a special receptacle fed by the genset.

However, there are a couple of caveats you need to be aware of: An ATS is not a "perfect" device, and problems can occur. Here's a good rule when firing up the generator when using an ATS. In fact, this is a good rule when firing up any RV generator, ATS or not: Reduce power consumption before firing up the generator. That means, make sure the air conditioner, the microwave oven, the portable electric space heater--any of those "big draw" devices are turned off.

A big surge in electrical current can actually damage an ATS, and in some cases, the genset itself. There have been cases, too, when the ATS somehow wasn't fast enough to isolate the generator from the shore power system--with very nasty and sometimes expensive results. Take the extra moment to reduce your power consumption before you hit the start switch.

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Which Circuit Did You Blow?

Every rig comes with a fuse panel, but not all of them are adequately marked. Lighting circuits can be oh, so clearly marked: "Lighting 1," "Lighting 2," etcetera. If you do blow a fuse then it's a matter of not knowing which circuit is which, and pulling fuses until you get the right one. In some rigs it's even worse: Fuses without identification.

Here's a simple identification assignment: Shut off all your 12 volt users, lights, water pump, et al. Now pull out a single fuse and see which appliances don't work. Label the fuse appropriately and repeat until you know which fuse operates what. Keeping a batch spare fuses close (or inside) the fuse box really helps.

RV Extension Cord Safety

Ever come up just a "scoatch" short on managing to plug your RV shore power cord into the outlet? It's a frustrating experience, and there's always the temptation to use an adapter and a light duty extension cord to make up the difference. Please don't. Electricity is a funny thing--when too "light" a wiring is used, not only do you endanger yourself with fire, you also run a good risk for your expensive RV equipment.

Here's the deal: Electrical wiring actually does have a certain amount of resistance to the flow of electrical current. The longer the run of wire, the greater the amount of resistance. As the current struggles against this resistance, it produces heat energy--hence electrical cables can actually get hot--sometimes hot enough to create that hideous problem known as fire. What usually "goes first," however is the under-rated fittings on the end of the cables. These can overheat and burn up, or on the way to that create even greater resistance to electrical flow. But even if that doesn't occur, the resistance of the wiring actually reduces the amount of voltage that can reach your RV.

So if you have too small an extension cord out to the RV, and then fire up a big power consumer--on these days we think of the air conditioner, and not enough voltage is present, then physical damage can happen to devices that need that power. So how do you work with this problem? Well, you could purchase a ready-made RV extension cord. For the 30 amp RV crowd, a 25 foot cord will probably set you back as much as $50. For the 50-amp users, that same length could run you over twice that price.

Tempted to "do it yourself," and build an extension cord? It's do-able. But you need good working data on what size conductors to use in your cord. Here's a link to a site that can help you calculate wire size requirements for a given load. But as you run your calculations, be sure to take into account the length of your existing RV shore power cord. One of our rigs has a 25' shore power cord, so building an additional 25' of extension cord would require figuring a full 50' run. Whatever you do, don't skimp on the wire gauge or the fittings.

If you decide to build your own, always double check your connections before putting your cord into service. We use the ohm meter portion of a digital multimeter to verify that everything it where it should be. Imagine our surprise when we completed a cable and we found two of the conductors reversed. How'd that happen? Squinting through bifocals at the included wiring diagram for one of the fittings, a slight misinterpretation of what the fine print and finer arrow we're pointing to led to what could have been a real problem.

If you're the least bit squeamish about your ability, drop the bucks on a commercially built unit.

And one more thing, when you use any shore power cord, it's never a bad idea to pull all the shore power cable out of the compartment before hooking up and using the shore power. Why? Well, since cable does have resistance, if you put enough load on your shore power cord, you could actually have the equivalent of a "heating cable" in your cabinet--like those things those poor folks in the north use to keep their pipes from freezing in winter.