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How to wire 12VDC outlet in POD?
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tsunami View Drop Down
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    Posted: 02 Jul 2011 at 11:31am
My POD does not have an interior 12VDC outlet.  I looked at the TV-antenna power outlet, but the wiring there is not conducive to tapping in an extra wire.  The breaker box has 2-3 unused fuse positions, but the front of the box, when removed, does not have any access to the rear wiring.
The rear of the box is installed with water pipes tight against the back, so to access the rear I would have to disassemble some of the pipes.
Has any member run a 12VDC outlet into the interior?  If so, where did you tap the power and which wires did you tap into?
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tsunami View Drop Down
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Points: 426 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tsunami Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Jul 2011 at 11:02am
12volt wiring update.
As mentioned above I needed to install a 'female' 12VDC outlet in my Pod.  I have a 12v hand vac that I wanted to use to clean up the Pod, but the Pod did  not have an outlet.
I finally was able to wire up a 12v line to a female outlet:
1) removed the front plate of the power center
2) found 'negative' ground bus bar and connected a black ground wire (14 gauge)
3) ran the ground wire through one of the slats on the side of the power center
There were three 'unfused' female spade connectors beneath the fused ones.  I had a spare fused-spade wire connector (bought at local RV store)...the connector has two fuse spaces...one to re-install the removed spade fuse and another to install the fuse connected to the new positive wire coming out the side of the connector.
4) insert the fuse connector into the empty socket.
I found that the fuse connector HAS to be inserted with the powered lead side away from the red LED warning light side.  The power center's fuses have red LED warning lights which lite up if a fuse is blown...really easy to tell which fuse has blown.
5) butt-connected additional length of red 'positive' wire (14 gauge) to the fused connector and ran it also through one of the cooling slats on the side of the power center.
Re-installed the power center front panel.
6) carefully determined where to the outlet was to be installed...using a correct diameter hole saw I drilled through the wall.
7) Inserted and installed the 12v outlet.
8) the outlet had male spade connectors...so I installed female spade connectors to the two wires coming from the power center.
9) Tested the outlet with the 12V vac
I now have an outlet for any 12V powered device (I also bought a very quiet, high efficiency 12V fan to use when dry camping...I don't like the ceiling fan...too noisy and very high power consumption...and the air is not moving where I want it)
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cmjmoore View Drop Down
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Would it not be easier to just purchase a DC plug in converter from Radio Shack. I use one to charge my phone with my car charger when I am on a trip and it plugs into the wall and has a female 12 Volt DC auto plug. Clark
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Lark View Drop Down
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I just installed a 12 volt radio/cd player in my 171.  If you take the wood cover off over the converter, and the front panel off.  You will find as you said 3 open fuse terminals.  If you look behind the converter you will see a strip with white wires going to it mounted  on the floor.  You attach your white wire to this strip.  On the back of the converter you will see a bundle of wires going into the 12 volt side (right side) of the convertor.  You can push or pull your red lead in with this bundle, attach it to the  screw terminal and you have a nice neat job.  
Lark F150 171 
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Lark View Drop Down
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Or the black wire (negative) as may be
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Originally posted by cmjmoore cmjmoore wrote:

Would it not be easier to just purchase a DC plug in converter from Radio Shack. I use one to charge my phone with my car charger when I am on a trip and it plugs into the wall and has a female 12 Volt DC auto plug. Clark
 
CMJmoore..That is ok when you are hooked up to analog power (regular electrical power/shore power), but I'm pretty sure that the analog plugs do not work unless you are.  I may be wrong.Dead
 
By running a 12 volt outlet you can use it when you don't have shore power, and you can plug in an inventer to power lets say a dc fan or laptop from the battery.Big smile
 
I ran two lines one to the bunk area for a fan and another under the floor to the kitchen area for a coffee pot and inventer (not at the same time).   So i can boondock and run off the battery a little.
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Still a work in progress, lots of pictures.
http://podterfly.blogspot.com/
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tsunami View Drop Down
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Points: 426 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tsunami Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Jul 2011 at 8:57am
I wanted a DC outlet inside the Pod, for when I am dry camping (no AC available).  Also as mentioned, I have a medium sized high-efficiency fan which can run on AC or DC.  When dry camping, I found that the ceiling (bathroom) fan was noisy and drained the batteries at a fast rate. Now with a DC outlet, I can cool the interior and also use the fan facing out the kitchen window as an exhaust fan.
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