Electrical Cable

RCB

Hello All,
Two questions please !
1. How much cable do you carry ? I carry 50ft of the thumb size variety and 50 ft of about 14ga. At times I need more than 50 ft of the big one.
2. Once plugged in; as far as I can determine, there is no way to determine on an ongoing basis if in fact you have a connection (other than plug something in). So has anyone added a 120volt indicator light that is on when plugged in to 120 ?
ciao

Mouseketab

I carry my standard 30 Amp cord, and a seperate 30 Amp extension cord. My television is not on battery, so if the the green lights come on the television, I have power. I also have a simple battery monitor plugged into a 12V outlet. If it shows 13.67, then I know my shore power is providing power to the converter.

Oh, I also have a bin with various regular extension cords for gegaw lights, and extra kitchen appliances such as microwave and toaster oven, which I power directly from the regular outlets on the campground power pole.

ChanW

Our Progressive surge protector will tell us, but there's also a little red LED on the end of our 30A cord that lights when it's powered. I actually use the LED to know when the Progressive is done with its delayed start, so I can turn on the Alde etc.

BogieMeister

Get a 12 Ga extension cord that has male and female connectors that light up when power is applied. I just purchased a hundred footer at Sam's Club for 39.00.

RCB

On boats I’ve owned with shore power, there was an indicator light on the panel and a volt meter to indicate the status of incoming ac current. That I guess is what I need to replicate.

N7SHG_Ham

I have the PI hard wired EMS, it has a readout that cycles between voltage, cycles and load amps. That tells me what I need to know.

You can also buy outlets that have an indicator led that lights when power is present. Other indicators are the built in MW clock in the Tab 400.

Verna

My indicator is a dusk to dawn night light plugged into the outlet in the bathroom. If it’s daytime, I just cover the light, and if it still doesn’t come on, I check the EMS readout. 

Tundra57

I have never needed a cable longer than the one supplied with my Tab 400. What circumstances would require a 100ft extension? I assume a hefty gauge is required for voltage drop problems?

Verna

I was a camp host three years ago. In order for me to safely connect to the 30 amp electrical outlet, I needed 75 ft of 30 amp cable. They’re not cheap, but since I was running my A/C, I certainly didn’t want to burn down the building supplying my electricity, not did so want to burn up my T@B. Otherwise, I would have made fo with a lesser gauge of 15 amp extension cord and an adapter. 

And, the only other place I have seen an 30 extension cord used was at üCamp19 and that was because there is only so much dry space in the Winklepleck campground after an unusually wet spring. I loaned them to a fellow camper so she wouldn’t have to park in a mud puddle!

Mouseketab

I have needed an extension cord on several occasions to reach the campsite hookups. Turning sideways near the back of the site, when the plug is near the middle has been one occasion. Since the T@B is so small, you can place it just about anywhere on the site, and I prefer to put the T@B in the best location and turned the best direction, and not worry about the location of the utilities. Extra power cord, and extra water hose allows that.