Van Diaries 8 – External Power Plug

External Power Plug

A while ago, we tested sleeping in our van during winter. Fortunately, we had a portable heater and easy access to a 120V power outlet!

Sweet!! With the accessible power, we wanted to run an extension cord into the van to power the heater.  🙂

Unfortunately… with no external power input to the van, the only option was to run the cord through an open window. 😬

While this works… it isn’t something we want to continually do.

Today we’re going to fix that!

We first look at Amazon.com and aren’t surprised to find what we need 😛

An AC Port Plug with Integrated Extension Cord!

We take a bit to choose where we want to connect our power and settle with right behind the driver’s door.

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The main reason for this spot, is to stop us from driving away while plugged in… It’s sad but true. 🙃

We’re hoping it’ll be hard to miss anything plugged in if the driver needs to essentially step over it to get into the vehicle.

So! To access the spot, we pull back some of the internal paneling; we make sure the area is clear and

Begin Drilling!

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Frankie keeps watch as the drill bit starts to poke through.

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The result is a clean cut hole in the side of our van.

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It’s now time to…

Install the plug!

We simply apply a little Fuse-It to seal and  hold the plug in place, then insert three screws included with the plug.

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We replace the paneling inside the van, connect a power strip…

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and now have a weather proof and convenient way to run 120V power into the van!

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