Awhile back I discovered the outdoor electrical outlet on the drivers side isn't working. I figured it may be corroded terminals. Today I decided to look into it. After separating the coverplate from the exterior wall and removing the outlet itself I saw the problem, no wires. The outlet itself was white instead of brown like all the others in the Concourse, led me to wonder if previous owner replaced it and dropped the wires inside accidentally and just said screw it and left them there.
I searched here after thinking I never heard anyone here mention the driver side outlet and come up empty.
I've seen pictures of other concourse's with outlets on the drivers side, do you guys have them and more importantly do they work?
I hope the wires are not inside the wall exposed.
2000 Concourse "Hummingbird edition" Triton V10 Banks Power kit
I didn't think the Chinooks from that era had driver side outlets. My 2001 Concourse only has an outside outlet on the passenger side. In the late 2000/2001 model year they consolidated all the driver side connections into one compartment (water/city water/outdoor shower/cable/phone). I assumed the "outlet" cover on the driver side was used on previous models for the phone and cable TV connections rather than 120V. My outdoor outlet on the passenger side was white however, not brown like the interior outlets.
Someone with the previous setup can clarify, however.
I have a 2000 Concourse with the driver side white outlet, but like caconcourse says it covered a combined cable TV and phone connection.
Since I had no use for that, I replaced it with 2 solar plug connections for use with an external solar panel or two. I did it while I was replacing the hot water heater, as only when the heater was removed is that area accessible. Maybe you can use one of those cameras on a flexible stick to see back in there, in case there are any wires loose?
The outlets for cable/phone are there on the driver's side on my 1998 Premier. No exterior 120 volt receptacles.
Good move, BobW9. I had thought I'd need to install a marine shore power thru-hull, or some alternate, for portable solar panels, to add them to my permanent roof panels. I have no use for the phone/cable outlet either, so can use it as you did. Did you use a regular 120 volt three prong receptacle?
Like other said, there is no outlet there from the manufactor, so maybe something they added, but not completing the job. Or maybe they decided to remove the phone/cable, and then decided to put a fake outlet there.
2000 Concourse dinette, on 1999 6.8L Ford E350 Triton V-10 Chassis
Roly wrote: December 27th, 2020, 6:35 pm
I have no use for the phone/cable outlet either, so can use it as you did. Did you use a regular 120 volt three prong receptacle?
I used a RV Designer E465 GFCI Outlet Cover and then put into it two 2 Pin SAE Power Socket Sidewall Port Connector's, which I had to cut down to fit inside the opening of the Outlet Cover (each SAE connector is round, you can see them on some Sprinter RVs). I wanted to keep it looking the same on the outside. The SAE connectors are the type used for many portable solar panels, 12V DC with short 12 AWG wires, which I connected to 8 AWG wires internally running to the batteries (mine are inside coach now).
This image shows the 2 connectors cut up and stuffed in together. I don't have a photo handy of the finished product, its a little messier due to the way I had to screw the connectors together via a backing plate because I couldn't find any other way to hold them together securely enough.
Oh, and if you do go with SAE connectors, be aware it is my understanding that Zamp Solar uses them a lot but has them reverse wired (negative <-> positive, Zamp wires their ports so the female is positive, which is opposite of the standard). This makes them incompatible with normally wired connectors, unless you use/make some plug converter to swap male<->female. So you'll need to decide if you want normal SAE wiring or Zamp wiring - some of the RV's I've read about that have them have the Zamp, so never assume which way any SAE port or panel is wired, always check before plugging in an SAE panel to a port! Thanks, Zamp.
I would think that a NEMA L5-15R duplex could do the job, but could be mistaken for a 120 VAC device. Likely not legal for 12 VDC reverse use.
I believe that in a house, code permits a 240 volt receptacle to be used for low voltage, as long as there are no actual 240 volt AC circuits present. (In a place with both 120 VAC and 12/24/36 VDC circuits.) Trolling motor or trailer connectors would work, too.
Besides the SAE connector, other popular 12 V DC connector are Anderson and barrel connectors. All of these are pretty ubiquitous, but I never look around to see if any of them have an easy way to incorporate with a outlet cover.
2000 Concourse dinette, on 1999 6.8L Ford E350 Triton V-10 Chassis
I went with SAE because after researching I found:
1) Many of the Sprinter-type vans being sold with external solar ports are using SAE (whether custom built van or manufacturer like Winnie, though it varies between some using Zamp wiring, and others standard SAE). A few use Furrion.
2) The only Anderson powerpole ports I found were too thick to fit in the existing cover spot (there is only about 1.5-2" until the interior wall).
3) I found no MC2 barrel connector ports that were meant for temporary connections, like for plugging in the panel(s) at each camp site. The MC4 connector itself is not designed or built for constant plugging in and removing, and the only port I found that would fit has the barrel on the outside with no cover - so you could mount facing down, but not water tight. It was meant for going through your roof to plug in a permanent panel.
4) There is another type of connector/port in some trailers and RV's, called Furrion. It appears to be a good connector type though not nearly as popular as SAE, but I'm not sure if it would fit with that interior wall. More to the point, it is thicker around and shorter than the existing hole and cover, so you'd have more work to do to patch the fiberglass or something, and could only fit 1 port. I wanted 2 ports, and to not have to touch the existing hole or even the screw holes in the fiberglass. So, more trouble creating the cover and ports, but no changes to my Concourse.
5) Personally, I would never use a standard AC power outlet type of any kind for this 12V DC connection, so that lets out normal 120V AC.
I did not realize there is so little room between the two panels, and it does make perfect sense now that you pointed it out. When it comes to specialty connectors, they tends to be expensive, and not a lot of configuration. I think what you got there is a very good compromise.
2000 Concourse dinette, on 1999 6.8L Ford E350 Triton V-10 Chassis
