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Shore power cable on reel concerns...

June 18, 2015, 05:21:10 pm

I was recently at a rally of various coach owners and several of them observed my reel containing my shore power cable.  They recommended that I pull out at least 50% of the cable to avoid excessive heat build up and potential electrical problems.  They noted that in the hot Texas climate and with 50 amp usage for A/C, etc., a tremendous amount of heat would build up in the coiled cable on the reel acting like an electrical coil.  My cable did not feel unusually hot.

Is there any validity to these warnings?

Frank

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Re: Shore power cable on reel concerns...

Reply #1 – June 18, 2015, 05:29:13 pm

Frank,

Best answer is exactly what you did.  If with a full electrical load (both A/C's on) the cord is not hot, NO WORRIES. 

If hot, sure, pull it out, but leave it under the coach (out of the sun so it doesn't get REALLY hot)!

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Re: Shore power cable on reel concerns...

Reply #2 – June 18, 2015, 07:16:02 pm

We have just recently spent several days in mid-90's heat, both A/C's blasting away, and only about 5' of cord pulled off our reel.  We were parked (by necessity) so close to the utility post that I could barely get our bay door open.  The cord remaining on the reel never got above ambient temperature, except when (as Brett notes) it was exposed to the sun.  I think there is a lot of safety margin built into the large diameter shore power cord that is standard equipment on Foretravel coaches.

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Re: Shore power cable on reel concerns...

Reply #3 – June 18, 2015, 10:13:13 pm

We are currently at a friends house in New Hampshire and have about 75 feet of 50 amp cord stretched out and the shore power reel completely retracted. Running w/d, A/C, water heater on AC with no problems. We do however have a Progressive
Industries unit in the line at the outlet.

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