Lethbridge

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Adding A New 120V Outlet From an Existing Outlet in My RV (Part Two)

As is typical when embarking on a project about which I know little, I’m very behind on my electrical timeline. But I am making process! I finally got the first of the two new outlets installed.

Disclaimer: I am not an electrician. All of this applies to my own rig using advice from a trusted electrician. I am not responsible if you use any information from this post and damage your RV!

There were a couple of problems with the work I did last time. Croft told me that I had way too much bare wire and that I should only expose as much as I need to wrap around the screws. So I rewired the outlet like so:

I did two wraps around the screws, so the ends are bits that just didn’t fit and were too small to be snipped away

He also informed me that I needed a box to protect the outlet. Eep! No stock boxes exist that would fit the height profile of the cabinet. So I made my own out of a stiff plastic tub that I screwed into the cabinet. Never one to be too cautious, I then taped around it to make sure that everything is secure:

Hey, it looks like an outlet!

The new outlet actually feels more secure than the old one. I haven’t tested it yet with the power on, but when I tried to plug something into it, the outlet didn’t move. The old one used to push up into the cabinet a little.

Now, the other outlet was a little more finicky and by the time I figured out how to use the wall-mount case, I was beyond frustrated. So I’ll come back to it, and the 12V outlet, tomorrow.

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Another RV Show in Lethbridge

Jody and I went to another small RV show and sale this afternoon. I was much more impressed with the units on display this time! Last time was mostly Keystone and this time was mostly Jayco. Again, there were no motorhomes to speak of since Albertans have a truck culture and therefore favour trailers and 5ers.

Here are a few things that caught my eye:

Finally! An RV with lino in the lounge instead of carpet!

Finally! An RV with lino in the lounge instead of carpet!

This laundry basket built into a dresser is a neat idea. I saw another similar idea, but the angle on this one makes the design better since you can easily reach the bottom.

This laundry basket built into a dresser is a neat idea. I saw another similar idea, but the angle on this one makes the design better since you can easily reach the bottom.

I liked the layout of this rear kitchen, especially the counter under the window.

I liked the layout of this rear kitchen, especially the counter under the window.

Instead of a dinette, this rig has a bar! The other side has a comfy bench. I'd love to have all this space for food prep!

Instead of a dinette, this rig has a bar! The other side has a comfy bench. I’d love to have all this space for food prep!

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Adding A New 120V Outlet From an Existing Outlet in My RV (Part One)

This morning, I finally made inroads to adding a new 120V outlet in my study after getting some instructions from Croft last night.

Disclaimer: I am not an electrician. All of this applies to my own rig using advice from a trusted electrician. I am not responsible if you use any information from this post and damage your RV!

Yesterday afternoon, I started on the prep. I emptied out a couple of my upper cabinets, then pried up the bottom from inside. This is smart design; instead of running wires inside the walls, a lot of my wiring, both 120V and 12V, is run inside the base of the cabinets.

As a reminder this is the outlet from which I wanted the new outlet:

As you can probably imagine, I’m tried of having that cord run across the room!

After prying up the bottom, I was able to access the existing outlet. It had a plastic casing:

Here are the instructions for opening up the casing:

That says that you have to depress all four buttons. Who designs these things?! I heard a couple of things crack as I pushed each button in and jimmied it so it would stay depressed.

The wiring was unlike anything I’d seen before:

This stumped me. I had no idea how to add the new wiring to this type of outlet. So I emailed Croft. Thankfully, he was online!

He explained that it is not possible to add another outlet from this type of outlet.  I would therefore have to either put in a new outlet designed to power an extra one or redo the wiring for this one. Here’s a graphic I made explaining that second option to make sure that I understood Croft’s instructions (no laughing!):

Croft said that installing a new outlet was the better choice. Marrettes and electrical tape do hold, but the vibrations in an RV still make this a less stable option. Since outlets and face plates are cheap, I decided to go with the safer option.

So that’s where I was this morning. I trotted over to the home store to pick up a new outlet and, since I’m gaining more confidence in electrical matters and have other projects planned, a wire stripper and an electrical tester. I was very pleased to win 10% off my purchases when I got to the till.

The first thing I had to do today was route the new wiring. I decided that I wanted it to drop down alongside the window inside the valance so that the wiring would look neat. I had to try a number of increasingly huge drill bits before I got to one that made a big enough hole!

I plugged the drill into an extension cord running to the other outlet in the room, by the way, and once the holes were drilled, I cut the power.

Here’s the new wiring coming down from inside the valance (and a peek at the new green!):

I bought a cable raceway that will enclose the wiring and stick to the wall that is paintable. So once the wiring is done, it will be very neat and practically invisible.

Here’s the horizontal hole I had to drill between the two interior sections:

That done, it was time to strip some wires:

That wasn’t enough exposed wiring and I ended up with this:

Adding the wires to the new outlet was easy as everything is clearly labeled:

I’m not 100% sure about my wiring job, though, because of the distance one of the bare wires had to travel, so I sent a picture off to Croft and will wait for his approval before I close up the project. That said, I did turn the power back on and plug in the tester:

It’s upside down, but it’s clear that everything is good since the last two lights are lit up!

Be careful how you grab a hot outlet that isn’t mounted yet. My teeth are still rattling. 😉

I should have this project wrapped up tomorrow, after which point I will be adding a new 12V outlet! I’m now off to look at RVs with Jody and then tuck into a Gary supper. 🙂

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Making Hay

I can’t believe I haven’t posted in a week. It feels like today is last Monday. I went out Monday afternoon to get some electrical supplies for the rig, and came home to a pile of transcription that hasn’t let up. I still have another nine or ten hours of work to do today (and it’ already 2:30 PM). The last week has been typing, an attempt to sleep, typing, working my day job, typing, an attempt to sleep, typing, working my day job, typing… well, you get the picture.

During my sanity breaks, I’m making a list of what absolutely needs to be done in the rig before I move back in and how I can break that stuff down into short segment of times. I know I can’t rely on having whole days available to me in the next month, so I need to start using up those precious little hours between my day job and my evening work, at least when the weather is good. This weekend would have been too cold to work in the rig anyway.

On the list:

STUDY

-add a 120V outlet and a 12V outlet  (all materials have been purchased)

-paint the non-matching woodwork in the study the same colour as the wardrobe doors and kitchen cabinets

-apply two more coats of green

DRESSING ROOM

-finish the trim

-remove the cloth dresser and replace it with a storage ottoman (probably not going to happen right now)

FRONT ROOM

-do two more coats of yellow

-run an extension cord or wiring permanently from the inverter to the study

The electrical work is all top priority. This will be my first time facing boondocking with the need to have my full computer set up, with my kazillion peripherals, not just my laptop, so I need easy and secure access to my inverter.

That’s all I have time to post. Hopefully, I’ll have something interesting in the next couple of days. 🙂

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Repriming the Study

This is what my study looked like last night. *sniff, sniff*

I don’t like white! I miss my green! Waaaaaaaaaah!!!!!

But don’t cry for me, blogosphere! I put on coat of this lovely shade this morning:

This fresh green is much closer to the vision I had for the rig, that it would be light and feminine even though I do prefer darker colours. I will have a better idea after the first coat dries of whether or not I love it, but I definitely like it and am not having any regrets!

I bought a full gallon of paint, remembering that a quart barely got a coat on last time, but this must be better paint because I’ve hardly made a dent. No matter, I think it’ll take four coats to really give good coverage over the old paint. It’s great painting weather and I’ll be able to put the second coat on tonight.

Once the green is on, I will still have a bit more painting to do… I also desperately need to get over my fear of screwing up electrical work so I can a) move my 120V outlet to a more sensible location and b) move my inverter into the study.