All Things Electrical

The more time you spend in your travel trailer or motor home, the more important items like surge protectors, electrical cords and solar panel will become. When you start off and if you only do part time a few weekends a year and maybe a week or two during the summer, these are not important. But if you move into retirement or for other reasons start spending large amounts of time on the road, you should consider adding them to your collection.

Surge Protectors

Electrical service, when available, can be subjected to surges, low voltage brownouts and other disruptions. A surge protector will help prevent any sudden voltage increases from entering your RV possibly damaging anything plugged in and maybe the wiring in the RV itself. Get one of the appropriate size for your unit. You don’t need to go overboard, but an undersized one can cause more problems then it prevents.

Solar Panels

Solar panels are the way to go to help keep your RV batteries charged without having to be plugged into shore power or run an expensive generator. You might opt for a permanently installed system or a portable one you can set up and move around based on the position of the sun. If you do a permanently installed one – please do not DIY. Have a professional do it. An improperly installed unit can cause a fire.

Electrical Cords
A word of warning. RVs come in two different power connections. The standard household 3-prong and a modified/slanted 3-prong. We are showing options for the slanted prong only. After you purchase your travel trailer/motor home, check the requirements for it. If a standard connection – visit your nearest home supply and buy a super heavy duty one, actually two, in the 50′ minimum to 100′ lengths. If you need the special connections, you can review the options below or get one at a quality RV dealer supply store.

Buy the heaviest gauge you can get. Cheap light weight cables have higher resistance over long distance. This resistance can cause the cable to get very hot to the point of burning the skin if touched to even starting a fire. This is not a trivial point. Buy heavy gauge, high quality cords.