Outlet in Basement

I know I've seen somewhere on the forum someone has put an outlet in their basement. I was doing that yesterday and got everything wired and tested it before I secured everything, and guess what? I pulled my power from an overhead light and when I tested with a shop vac it would just barely run. Then I remembered those lights are low voltage! Does anyone have an idea where to pull from to get full power?

NC Firefighter wrote:I know I've seen somewhere on the forum someone has put an outlet in their basement. I was doing that yesterday and got everything wired and tested it before I secured everything, and guess what? I pulled my power from an overhead light and when I tested with a shop vac it would just barely run. Then I remembered those lights are low voltage! Does anyone have an idea where to pull from to get full power?

I've got an electrical drawing of the 12 volt and 120 volt wiring for the 32QBBS I can email you. Its not the prettiest drawing but its what I got from FR.

I surprised your vac did anything with 12VDC. I don't have that model, but you will probably have to go up into the living area to find 120VAC.

I've added outlets to my basement but I put a whole new circuit in and a plug on the side of the trailer that plugs into the 20 amp circuit at the park power pole.

The factory wiring is maxed out and I wouldn't want to tap into it for anything.

Big Dave wrote:I've added outlets to my basement but I put a whole new circuit in and a plug on the side of the trailer that plugs into the 20 amp circuit at the park power pole.

The factory wiring is maxed out and I wouldn't want to tap into it for anything.

Good call. Some have also put a new circuit outlet inside to supplement the maxed out OEM wiring.

Look here

Scruffy put an outlet in our basement. On the 29rlbs, there is a 110 outlet on the outside of the trailer that can be reached from inside the bathroom vanity/sink cabinet - that's what he used.

http://www.wildcatcamperforum.com/diy-improvements-f3/outlets-in-basement-t1032.htm

Tater

NC Firefighter,

I guess it depends on how difficult you want to do this outlet install. My install, see Scott's post above, is probably the most difficult, but I know I wont overload my 30AMP now like I did before. And it really was not difficult, just scary on cutting the hole in the side of the CAT.

I'm not familiar with your model CAT to suggest where to tap off of, but hopefully, someone who is familiar will chime in and assist you.

But, you do need 110 Volts AC, not 12 Volts DC.

Why couldn't you grab power of an outlet inside if your not utilizing every plug you wouldn't be taxing the system? Why would you need power in the basement that just running a HD extension from the 20 amp at campground coundn't accomplish?

harddock wrote:Why couldn't you grab power of an outlet inside if your not utilizing every plug you wouldn't be taxing the system? Why would you need power in the basement that just running a HD extension from the 20 amp at campground coundn't accomplish?

From my understanding, most have the 20A circuit for electric heaters on the inside. Since you are doing all the wiring anyway, they add the second receptacle in the basement at the same time on the same isolated circuit.

True, you could use a HD extension cord, but I think this is for the folks who winter camp and want a clean permanent installation.

Exactly, I wanted it for the electric heater when its cold out. And since I was at it, I figured I would put a few in other places too.

I just wanted and outlet there for recharging my cordless drill. And I usually grill on that corner of the unit and just in case I wanted to plug something else up instead of using an extension cord from the side outlet. But thanks for all of the suggestions.

Just curious, what's up with my post time, It's 9:27 PM on Monday night, is my computer wacky or what?

NC Firefighter wrote:I know I've seen somewhere on the forum someone has put an outlet in their basement. I was doing that yesterday and got everything wired and tested it before I secured everything, and guess what? I pulled my power from an overhead light and when I tested with a shop vac it would just barely run. Then I remembered those lights are low voltage! Does anyone have an idea where to pull from to get full power?

NC Firefighter,

Here's a shot of the outlet that I installed on the basement wall to power the wet/dry vac that I piped into my 29RLBS. The outlet is powered from the 20A heater element circuit for the HW heater. I've not had a conflict problem in using the vac, even when the HW heater is operating. The outlet for the HW heater is just on the other side of the basement wall on my model. I also replaced the el-cheapo OEM outlet for that at the same time. Hope this helps.

I installed one in our camper a few years back when I changed the converter. That's where the converter is plugged in and I use the 2nd outlet to charge the batteries for the drill:
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/1291950249056654887YzSurQ

We have a 32qbbs and i pulled the power from the front bunk room outlet , i only use it for charging my cordless drill and occationaly some string lights. It was an easy pull through the back of the built in drawers. Ive never had a problem with the circut