Size May Not Matter, But Length Certainly Does!

[Mike Johnson]

Had a little bit of a shock today, and not sure what to do. I have a new tow vehicle, and the new vehicle's 7 prong plug-in port for the camper cord is considerably to the left side of center, almost to the far left side of the bumper. (My former vehicle's port was almost centered directly next to the hitch.) Today, when I hooked up the camper for the first time to the new tow vehicle, the cord stretches almost tight to the port on the truck tail, and on right turns it does stretch tight. Obviously this is not good, but I am unclear what the alternatives are. Do they make extensions for the cord with a seven prong female end on one side and a male on the other? Does the entire cord have to be replaced? Its reasonably clear that I can't move the truck's port toward the center so I suppose I have to do something to get some increased length on the camper cord. Any experienced campers got some counsel? Thanks!

[tlhdoc]

I don't know if they make an extension.  I have never seen one, but you can cut the plug off and add more wire to each of the wires and then attach the new wire to the plug.

[hoppy]

I have to agree with thldoc on this one.

 You really do not want multiple exposed connections that may corrode, and cause bad connections. This will double your chances of failure.

  I think the best way would be to splice, solder, and shrink tube in the additional wire to give you the length you need.

  As for an extension cord, I havent seen them. But if you decide to go this route, you can always buy the two ends, and wire your own.

[Flacamper]

I had the same problem.    I went to the local RV shop and bought a 36" piece of wire, a male and female plug and made my own extension.  It works great.  No problems so far.

[Venatic]

We had the dealer make an extension for ours when we added a bike rack that went between the tow vehicle and our camper. A little more that what we needed, but I wasn't sure of the length that we would need. Haven't had any problems with it.

[AustinBoston]

Beforte making an extension or re-wiring the existing plug, take a look at whether it might be easier to move the plug on the tow vehicle.  If you have a plug that, like ours, is mounted to the underside of the bumper, fours screws and a few minutes with a drill would remove it and move it closer to center.

Austin

[Tgraham]

If you do decide to extend the wires to the existing location of your tow vehicles plug, make sure the longere wires are not dragging while in tow. It will not take long for these wires to fall victim to "road rash".