Electrical Connectors

[Jim & Mary]

Well, today our original Frigidaire microwave/convection oven finally gave up the ghost and sent me scrambling to search old posts to find out what others had replaced theirs with. I found some who found replacements but didn't fit because of conflicts with the pantry on the left. I only thought the microwave/convection oven was dead. Being the trained electrician I plugged it in with an extension cord to another outlet, and wallah! it still worked. Tested the microwave receptacle and found the neutral was missing. For all you who have older Redwoods, our 36RL has three 120VAC circuits in the kitchen (driver)side:
1. Microwave
2. Fireplace
3. Refrigerator, stove recept, pantry, and entertainment area.

We had a failure about 3 years ago in the circuit #3 and found the "Anderson Plug" had failed. Turns out it is made by Molex and I think they did it to transition from NM cable (Romex) to SO (rubber cord) to flex out and in with the slide room. Well, now it looks like Molex plug failure #2. I was able to find it and use wire nuts (Marrettes to our Canadian folks) to temporarily fix it. I think I'm going to implant a large junction box to enclose all three of these circuits to do away with these dreaded plugs.
Just some info for everyone else to look for, as I'm sure ours isn't the only coach to have this problem. I'll try and attach a photo

[hoosierguy]

Jim,

I am a retired electronics/electrical engineer. Is the picture you are showing the "Anderson Plug" you refer to. I am not familiar with that type of connection block. What is actually failing within the "Anderson Plug"?

Guy

[Jim & Mary]

They are really made by Molex, they look to me like a battery disconnect plug made by Anderson in the 70's. The conductors are squeezed into each slot that causes a sharp edge to pierce the insulation. My guess is road vibration over time causes the conductor to separate from the plug contacts. I've had two now fail. The first one was replaced by our dealer under warranty, now this. I'm going to put these connections in a box with a better connection before we hit the road in the spring.

[Jim & Mary]

Guy, here is what they look like installed.20141101_093353.jpg

20141101_093401.jpg

[r time soon]

Molex connector, amp connector or whatever you want to call them. They have different configurations regarding the number of conductors to connect, and the type of wiring used. Most on our Redwoods and most RV's use the 3 conductor type, for 12-14ga solid wire, Romex. The other type is for the stranded SJ type cord on the other end. The bases are similar if not the same, but the strain relief cover comes in a few colors depending on the wiring used. White base, yellow base, clear cover, blue cover all for different applications. Attached is a current installation guide for these.


Chris

[hoosierguy]

Jim, thanks for the pictures. I had not seen one of those type connectors previously. On the Redwoods, are the connectors laying above the coreplast underbody covering?

[hoosierguy]

Chris, thanks for the information sheet.

Guy

[Jim & Mary]

Guy
No all three splices are above the plastic film just in front of the rear of the shore power connector, sealed by that very sticky plastic film tape. (I speak of the 36RL of our vintage, as that's the number of 120VAC circuits in the kitchen slide room).

[XCMARK]

my suggestion is to go to your local electrical supply house and replace that POS with a hubble L5-20 twistlock plug set up male and female.




https://www.newlighting.com/7289/new...iABEgJSWPD_BwE


you also will need its matching female cord end. L5-20P and L5-20C

[r time soon]

With all the Covid going on and all the RV manufacturers going full speed to try and keep up with the demand, the Plant that I work in temporarily ran out of these molex brand connectors and used this other kind for a few days because the supplier ran out. Started using Tii named connectors instead. This may not effect your unit in any way, but now to replace these you need to be sure which kind of connector you have because they are similar but not compatible to each other. Attaching the instructions for these Tii connectors. These clamp together sort of like the Molex but because of patents etc they have to be different. Notice they have posts and hinge areas. Also the clear covers have a black and green dot to indicate where the 'Hot' and Ground wires go placement wise.