B190 Enthusiasts

Hi there,
The 30 amp plug that we use for shore power has been falling apart since I bought my 90-91' B190. Finally, I tried to plug it into my Honda 2000 genny and it did not work anymore.

Has anyone replaced the plug or entire cord? Do you have to hard wire it into the converter under the couch or does it just plug into something under there (I can't get under the couch without taking it apart). What would you use to replace the plug if that is the correct thing to do?

I saw Alaskan's post on replacing the housing on the outside and eliminating the cord, but I'm not that handy nor do I have that fabbed adapter. Any suggestions are welcome!

B)

The cord is wired to an electrical box on the underside of the tub. This area is accessed from the left back door, and an access hole that leads to the underside of the tub. I would doubt your problems route all the way back to the converter box. I would look here first to see if the connections are frayed, or even broken, and while not the best of working areas, can usually be repaired fairly easily.

weekender wrote:The cord is wired to an electrical box on the underside of the tub. This area is accessed from the left back door, and an access hole that leads to the underside of the tub.

Unfortunately, the 90' has it under the couch. I think they started putting it under the tub around 92'. The converter box is there as well along with all the cord (you can barely see it with the couch down). I might just disconnect the battery, they start taking it apart the coverter box from the outside across from the sink. The couch doesn't look like it's easy to dismantle...

B)

I replaced the plug on mine a few weeks ago. My dissatisfaction with the part led to my converting to an updated receptacle you mentioned in Alaskan and my posts. You are pretty much doing the same work to replace the entire cord if you go that route. You can get replacement plugs. I would look at a pigtail version and buttsplice it together. They have about a foot of cord on them. I got the $35 replacement plug and hated it. Not only was it ridiculously hard to wire, but it would not fit inside the access cap that is originally on the vans. It took me longer to replace the damned plug, than it did to do the entire receptacle conversion. Seriously...
My advice is if you are going to go at the whole cord, just do the whole thing once, the right way. it is not difficult.

Wakeslayer wrote:I replaced the plug on mine a few weeks ago. My dissatisfaction with the part led to my converting to an updated receptacle you mentioned in Alaskan and my posts. You are pretty much doing the same work to replace the entire cord if you go that route. You can get replacement plugs. I would look at a pigtail version and buttsplice it together. They have about a foot of cord on them. I got the $35 replacement plug and hated it. Not only was it ridiculously hard to wire, but it would not fit inside the access cap that is originally on the vans. It took me longer to replace the damned plug, than it did to do the entire receptacle conversion. Seriously...
My advice is if you are going to go at the whole cord, just do the whole thing once, the right way. it is not difficult.

Hmmm, I think you're suggesting to mount the Marinco outlet, correct? I thought you had to fabricate that adapter plate since the opening is round. Me not being a machinist and it's location under the couch, that could be difficult for me (I have no idea how to remove the couch/bed mechanism). I may need to bring this thing to a specialist, doh! I was hoping I just needed to cut the old plug off and slice a new one on. As you can tell, I'm not an electrician

B)

If it 's just a plug end that's bad, why not just buy a replacement and wire it in. simple to do, just cut the bad plug off and go to an electrical outlet or home depot or similar and ask them for help if you need to. the wiring is simple enough, green-ground, white-neutral, black,red, blue and sometimes yellow/orange are hot. Most connectors are marked as well so its just stripping the ends and screwing them in to the connector. I like the idea of the adapters that everyone is talking about but I've never had a problem with pulling the cord out and plugging it in nor have I never had a problem putting it back into the van and as far as I'm concerned, you still have to have a cable and a place to store it so I will leave mine as it is, one less thing to remember if it's packed and where to put it. Mine is a 91 van and everything is under the couch so the cable just goes back under the couch, one less thing to think about.
I just went out and checked my plug, a standard 30 amp and it's just 3 wires, black green and white, a plug end should be simple to find.

I don't disagree at all. If it is just the plug, like mine originally was, swapping it is fairly easy. Just get the pigtail version with the same 30A RV head that you have so it will fit back in your existing housing. The one I got would not, which is part of what prompted me to replace everything. It was also a complete bear to put on. The pigtail version you would just need three but splices and some heat shrink.

Also, the couch is held on by just 4 nuts as I recall - 2 on each end. Take those 4 nuts off and you can remove the couch from the frame and easily work in what was "under the couch".

Just make sure the replacement plug fits through the hole in the camper.

Being that the plug is only 8 bucks at Camping World and looks the same as the one on there, I'll give that a shot first. Thanks for the tips!
http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/it ... ends/57414

B)

That is the one you want.

This one sucked to install, and did not fit in the housing

Just a short note. The plug you show is good and if there is a Harbor Freight near you, they have a small kit with heat shrink tube that you could slide on the cable before splicing your cable and the plug together then slide the shrink tube over the splices and hit it with a heat gun or hair drier and it will shrink to about the diameter of your cable and gives a watertight finish in most cases.