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Old 07-12-2012, 06:40 AM   #1
randerson1
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Adding a 110v Outlet for a CPAP

Greetings to all,

We have a 2011 Montana 3580RL floor plan and I would like to add two 110V outlets to the king size bed pedestal to power our CPAPs. The bedroom slide on this floor plan is extra wide and there are no outlets except in the closet, by the dresser, and around the sink.

We do not have a generator nor do we boondock at this time. Not sure if we'll do a whole lot of boondocking in the near future since we both are still doing that dirty four letter word of "work".

I've looked through the forum posts and most of what I found centered around the installation of inverters such as the post by 'Hookman' for 'Inverter Install' for his CPAP while boondocking.

I'd like to tie into an existing outlet and daisy chain it to the bed pedestal (thought about using the one in the closet since I see no use at this time for it). To make it professional looking I'll need to come up through the floor under the pedestal with enough slack for the slide to go in and out without placing a bind on the power cable run. My concern is that too much slack on the power cable might cause it to bind up between the bottom of the slide and the top of the floor.

Has anyone done something similiar to their pedestal bed or does anyone have any ideas I might have overlooked?

Thanks in advance to all responses!

Randy & Cynthia
2 Silky Terriers (Max & Quincy)
1 Snoodle (Mushu who's a Poodle & Schnauser mix)
 
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Old 07-12-2012, 07:42 AM   #2
DQDick
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I'm pretty sure Ozz and snfexpress have done it or at least have put outlets in the bed to power a sleep number bed. Pm them or look for posts by them.
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Old 07-12-2012, 08:12 AM   #3
NCFischers
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John Kohl and I just put one in his rig and I'm putting two in mine. We came up through the hole where the hydrolic lines are with Romex and put it in a splice box. From there, we use SO cord to the outlet. The SO cord is more flexible and will move easier under the bed. You will need to put spade connectors on the end of the SO cord where it connects to the outlet.
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Old 07-12-2012, 09:55 AM   #4
HOOK
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I use the one in the closet for my CPAP. Ours is a 3455sa and there is an outlet behind the sliding door to bathroom. I just sit the machine in the closet floor and hang the mask on closet round when not in use. Larry
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Old 07-12-2012, 10:54 AM   #5
DQDick
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We have a front closet in ours and there's an outlet in there also. We all could use more outlets in the bedroom, who needs an outlet in the closet?
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2017 3720 RL, and 2013 HC 343RL
Pullrite Hitch, IS, Disk Brakes, 3rd AC, Winegard Traveler, Bathroom door mod, Dometic 320, couch for desk swap, replaced chairs, sun screens, added awnings, etc.
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Old 07-12-2012, 11:19 AM   #6
randerson1
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Thanks to all so far in replying.

I'll have to check out the hydraulic feed under the bed that NCFischers posted about. I guess my biggest concern is the slide going in/out and snagging the power cord. I know plenty of you have done it and obviously it works for those of you who have taken the plunge by adding in additional outlets.

Even though the idea of an outlet in the closet may sound odd to most of us, it was probably the easiest method for Keystone to come up with without adding a potential problem to the slides.

Again thanks to all.


Randy & Cynthia
2 Silky Terriers (Max & Quincy)
1 Snoodle (Mushu's a Poodle & Schnauser mix)
2011 Montana 3580RL
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Old 07-12-2012, 12:00 PM   #7
Ozz
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I tapped onto the unused dryer circuit and ran the wire down the wall and under the steps, hooked up a charging station for the battery stuff, then went up under the bed, outlet there, then ran around the corner of the bed support and wired in an outlet there.
I also tapped into the TV outlet and ran across the top of the closet and made an outlet there: the simplest route to take for you, I think. No pictures of that, but you could just run a 14 ga. extension cord above the sliding door and plug your stuff into that, with the plug near your head area.
Good luck. Ozz

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...s/fb39d8a5.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...s/2dd15385.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...s/e489256a.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n194/JimsSue13/Ozzsmods101/Electrical%20pics/6e0d4aac.jpg
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Old 07-12-2012, 04:48 PM   #8
8.1al
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My Cpap is actually 12v, the 110 cord cuts the voltage to 12v so I bought a 12v power cord for the Cpap and installed a cigarette style 12v outlet in the floor next to the bed. It's not in the slide so I don't have to worry about going in and out,if there is a power outage I'm still running and when we boondock I'm all set there tool
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Old 07-12-2012, 05:00 PM   #9
sailer
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I hooked mine to the washer out let rite from the main box as Fisher did . thats the best system ..sailer
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Old 07-13-2012, 04:39 AM   #10
randerson1
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by Ozz

I tapped onto the unused dryer circuit and ran the wire down the wall and under the steps, hooked up a charging station for the battery stuff, then went up under the bed, outlet there, then ran around the corner of the bed support and wired in an outlet there.
I also tapped into the TV outlet and ran across the top of the closet and made an outlet there: the simplest route to take for you, I think. No pictures of that, but you could just run a 14 ga. extension cord above the sliding door and plug your stuff into that, with the plug near your head area.
Good luck. Ozz


Thanks Ozz and to everyone else as well.
You've all triggered some great ideas and I see a weekend project in my near future. That unused dryer circuit on our rig now has a productive future planned for it.

Randy & Cynthia
2 Silky Terriers (Max & Quincy)
1 Snoodle (Mushu's a Poodle & Schnauser mix)
2011 Montana 3580RL
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Old 07-13-2012, 04:48 AM   #11
H. John Kohl
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If you have an outlet in the basement it might be easier to feed off of it as long as you total usage does not over load the breaker feeding that circuit.
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Old 07-13-2012, 04:55 AM   #12
Ozz
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by H. John Kohl

If you have an outlet in the basement it might be easier to feed off of it as long as you total usage does not over load the breaker feeding that circuit.
Good idea, I had none there, had to install my own. I guess the new- fangled ones have them now.
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Old 07-13-2012, 05:26 AM   #13
Ozz
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Here is a slide-show I made when fishing wires for my Inverter, shows the anatomy of the wall and breaker area. Like John said, if you have a basement outlet, much simpler. I think Jim said use SO wire, which is pretty much the stuff appliance cords are made of, and a great idea. Odds are you would not be loading up a circuit with night-time use, but keep that in mind.
Here is my photo info:

https://picasaweb.google.com/Jimsue13/MontanaWiringWorkMonday2212011?authuser=0&feat=dir ectlink
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Old 07-13-2012, 05:54 AM   #14
Tom S.
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To add to what 8.1AL said, many CPAP machines will operate on a wide range of voltages, including 12vdc. Mine works on 12vdc as well as 110vac and 220vac. We have a 110vac plug next to the bed, but if I didn't, I'd look at tapping into the 12 volt system instead.
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Old 07-13-2012, 10:33 AM   #15
8.1al
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The propane locker on the driver side of our unit is right under the bed so it was easy to run a 12v wire into that then up through the floor next to the bed
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Old 07-16-2012, 02:53 AM   #16
randerson1
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All,

The Dw and I are now the proud owners of multiple new outlets not only with one on each side of the bed pedestal, but an additional one in the basement on the driver's side.

I actually followed the advise of a few people in doing this. Ozz recommended using the dryer circuit (unused by us) and running the line under the stairs, coming up under the bed and adding outlets on ether side of the bed pedestal. I did this and it works perfectly.

Another recommendation was to tie into the basement wiring since our rig has the basement TV connections with 110V outlet. I simply tied into this outlet behind the wall and ran another outlet to the driver's side. This now gives me 'sheltered' power connections within the the basement on either side of the rig. Again, it works perfectly.

Thanks to everyone for your responses, advise and insite. MOC is my first stop now for questions, suggestions and general reading on RVs. I'm getting much more out of this forum than any magazine has provided in the past!

Thanks, Randy
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Old 07-16-2012, 08:11 AM   #17
Art-n-Marge
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Ah, what I'll call the NCFishers mod! He just did this, too but I don't know if he used an existing circuit or installed a new one. I recall NCFishers (Jim and Vickie) are pretty good at all things electrical. Jim does the work and Vickie is happy about it. My kind of success story.

Congrats on your new outlets! It sounds like you are equally handy! Good job. And another yay for the MOC.
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