Community Forums

Fred and Bonnie · 12-15-2019, 06:10 PM

I am tired of fighting a stiff 50amp power cord, we call it the "Black Mamba" as it will surly beat you up. Any experiences with power cords that will allow you to store it with any resemblance of order. Our current cord mostly has to be stored in the shape it was on the ground.

Fred

**Spdracr39** · 12-15-2019, 06:16 PM

Fine strand SOOW cord is so much easier to handle. You can buy it at electrical supply houses and put your own ends on it. That stiff RV cable is for the birds.

Bigd9 · 12-15-2019, 07:18 PM

My power supply cord outer cover started to shrink away from the plug. That cord was stiff, especially in cold weather. So I replaced the cord with this one and it has been great improvement, especially when we go snow skiing and use the coach as our home away from home.

https://www.amazon.com/Surge-Guard-5.../dp/B00LH2HP4E

NOTE: the picture shows a plug in w=each end of the cord, however, the description indicates "male". When I received the cord, it only had a male plug the other end was just wires stripped and ready to install in the motorhome junction box.

I have pictures if you need them.

powerboatr · 12-15-2019, 07:52 PM

mine is from surge guard

came from their site, really flexible

Rhagfo · 12-15-2019, 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spdracr39

Fine strand SOOW cord is so much easier to handle. You can buy it at electrical supply houses and put your own ends on it. That stiff RV cable is for the birds.

This!!
I have a 40' SOOW 50 amp cable 6/4 cable. It all coils and fits in a 3 gal. bucket.

Dutch Star Don · 12-15-2019, 11:35 PM

Just a suggestion....make yourself a short cord. Often people mess with these 30' - 40' cords when often all hey need is 10'. Have a 10' for the majority of your camping and then only deal with the long one when necessary.

richard5933 · 12-16-2019, 04:14 AM

Best I have found for a pre-made cord is the Park Power by Marinco. Not cheap though, so be prepared to pay. Work well for me in cold weather, and it's much more flexible than my less-expensive Camco.

Making one yourself is a good idea if you have the skills. The problem I have found though is weatherproofing the connectors on the end. Anyone found a way to solve that part of the problem?

**Spdracr39** · 12-16-2019, 05:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by richard5933

The problem I have found though is weatherproofing the connectors on the end. Anyone found a way to solve that part of the problem?

Never had an issue with it. I always turn the power off before plugging and unplugging and have never seen any corrosion issues due to water. The only time it is really exposed is if plugged into an extension as one end is inside the electrical bay and the other is mostly covered by the pedestal cover. If you were plugged into an extension just put the connection on a rock or something so it isn't laying in a puddle.

richard5933 · 12-16-2019, 05:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spdracr39

Never had an issue with it. I always turn the power off before plugging and unplugging and have never seen any corrosion issues due to water. The only time it is really exposed is if plugged into an extension as one end is inside the electrical bay and the other is mostly covered by the pedestal cover. If you were plugged into an extension just put the connection on a rock or something so it isn't laying in a puddle.

That's good to hear. My cord plugs in on the exterior, so one end is always exposed.

hohenwald48 · 12-16-2019, 09:14 AM

Mine has never been an issue. I learned a long time ago if you coil it in the electrical bay in an figure 8 format you eliminate the kinks.

Solo_RV_Guy · 12-16-2019, 09:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hohenwald48

Mine has never been an issue. I learned a long time ago if you coil it in the electrical bay in an figure 8 format you eliminate the kinks.

A more compact way is called "over-under". Used a lot in the entertainment industry where cords and cables must lay flat for safety and/or video director's OCD. Over-under is a variation of the figure 8, twice as tall but half the foot print. There are several YooToob vids of various roadies demonstrating the technique (none are me).

To add to Hohenwald's kink-free comment: both figure 8 and over-under keep the conductors and "fillers" from twisting inside the outer cable jacket and forming lumps and kinks. Spiral winding works okay if the same person does it, in the same direction, every time. At work I have cables that are 35 years old that look new and lay flat, and a couple of 6 month old cables that look like Porky Pig's tail and will never lay flat again... And winding cables over your arm? PLEASE... NEVER do that.

Edit PS: the cords that seem to have the best low temp handling are elastomer-jacketed. We've gone to SEOOW for multi-conductor power cables and I replaced the shore power cord on my Majestic with Southwire 8/3 SEOOW after handling their 4 and 5 conductor cables at work.

Bigd9 · 12-16-2019, 10:17 AM

You guys must have a lot more cord storage room than my coach has if you can 'figure eight' the cord and get it to fit inside the compartment. I have just enough room to coil the cord naturally.

I was watching a husband/wife team yelling at each other trying to break camp. Kind of like the fun watching people launch a boat! Well the husband took his thick electrical cord and jammed it into a compartment with it going every which way, then he yelled to his wife to get the TV cable and put it away. She proceeded to jam it into the same compartment kinking the heck out of the coax cable, then they proceeded to use their feet to jam a water hose into the same compartment. I wish I had gotten a picture of the results! Maybe it was their last day with a rental?

hohenwald48 · 12-16-2019, 02:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bigd9

You guys must have a lot more cord storage room than my coach has if you can 'figure eight' the cord and get it to fit inside the compartment. I have just enough room to coil the cord naturally.

Could be. I've never measured it but my electrical bay is probably 3.5 to 4 feet long and about 2 feet deep.

Gary RVRoamer · 12-16-2019, 02:14 PM

As with many things, the better grades of shore cable are more flexible, with more flex in both the wire inside and the outer shield, but they cost more.

Here is an example, but you probably need the hardwired type for your Dolphin.

https://www.amazon.com/Surge-Guard-5.../dp/B00LH2E8SK