After reading this article, thanking Mike for his work in this industry, I have some experience to offer as answers to this subject. I recently retired as an electrical contractor in NJ and I have a bunch of manufacturing experience as well as some time spent in the R&D side of Airport Design for the FAA. Please, don't be impressed... Mike is the man. But, what I will say is that when a manufacturer designs and offers a product and gets a UL listing, they also provide an instruction instruction to keep the UL listing and for liability reasons. The tool and training helps shield them from liability. When the product gets to the installation part, the user assumes the responsibility for the install. Sadly, some business owners care about the money then the customer. And then there's the pressure to go with the flow to stay competitive. I have taken these outlets apart and was struck with fear. I grew to hate Scotch Locs and as an electrician, learned to wrap wire around the switch and outlet termination screws as fast as "stabing" the back of an outlet because I have seen the failure of that practice. Side note... modern outlets won't allow #12 wire to be stabed in the back of devices anymore... the NEC made that ruling. So, we need to simply fix our own campers and help others to do the same. We need to share product information and procedures with each other. The outlet box pictured in Mike's article is available almost everywhere. We need to get to know about Wago's for connections and do the work like it will be inspected. Wire nuts are not intended for high vibration caused by traveling down the road so keep that in mind.
Mike, I have replaced all my SCDs in my RV. I did not need the thin boxes, but did have to enlarge all the openings to fit a clamping box. I had no issue with wire lengths. And I use Wagos, because they are way easier on my fingers.
The manufacturer allows three but only when insulation is stripped. The neutral wire was barely making contact. After seeing this crap, I opened every outlet. Every single SCD had a deficiency, most dealing with the strain relief. While I was replacing outlets, I changed the 14AWG stranded cord to the slide with 12 AWG cord.
Thanks for the warning Mike. Are these self contained outlets common in RVs or not? It’s scary to think that I couldn’t easily replace an outlet if needed. I never have needed too so far but I have had to replace my USB power wall outlets several times. Even that required some wire hacking although it worked out ok.
Thanks Mike. It would be great if you could tell us (or reference a procedure, or poll your readers) on how to replace these outlets ourselves as many people like myself do our own repairs because we are very far away from dealers or RV service centers.
Thanks for this article. My FIL was having problems in his MH. We pulled the outlets which were the SCD style. I found the wires not pushed into the slots very well. Used a flat screwdriver to press the wires into the slots (carefully). Worked ok. No room for regular outlets. Surprised how heavy the wires were for 15 amp circuits.
I had some problems with some of these in my 2012 open range, where they had become intermittent because of (my opinion) high cycle fatigue temp cycling of a jam fitting of 14 ga copper into a slot to make cheap quick install low profile daisy chain device. Lost a bunch of time trying to reinstall to get back function as a repair. Did not work!
Found (from a good rv repair Farmington ME) that you need. “Replacement!” Box that includes the installation keys& features molded into the back cover to align then tap into place to hold all 6 ends.
Not cheap but they still fit into the thin sidewall.
In an industry widely known (and reviled) for extreme cost-sensitivity, high labor turnover, and minimal worker training... what clown came up with that SCD/tool design?
Rhetorical question, but here's a real one: standard UL sockets cost pennies, and terminate by poking a stripped wire into a hole. Shallow versions are available, including types that could mount in RV walls. Why isn't this low-cost option used?
I found one of these “pieces of junk” used as a splice in our 07 Jamboree… This was near the breaker panel… i removed it and used a metal junction box to properly splice the wires…. I have replaced several of these outlets with real recepticals in real boxes… Four more to go to get rid of these junk (IMHO) outlets….
After reading this article, thanking Mike for his work in this industry, I have some experience to offer as answers to this subject. I recently retired as an electrical contractor in NJ and I have a bunch of manufacturing experience as well as some time spent in the R&D side of Airport Design for the FAA. Please, don't be impressed... Mike is the man. But, what I will say is that when a manufacturer designs and offers a product and gets a UL listing, they also provide an instruction instruction to keep the UL listing and for liability reasons. The tool and training helps shield them from liability. When the product gets to the installation part, the user assumes the responsibility for the install. Sadly, some business owners care about the money then the customer. And then there's the pressure to go with the flow to stay competitive. I have taken these outlets apart and was struck with fear. I grew to hate Scotch Locs and as an electrician, learned to wrap wire around the switch and outlet termination screws as fast as "stabing" the back of an outlet because I have seen the failure of that practice. Side note... modern outlets won't allow #12 wire to be stabed in the back of devices anymore... the NEC made that ruling. So, we need to simply fix our own campers and help others to do the same. We need to share product information and procedures with each other. The outlet box pictured in Mike's article is available almost everywhere. We need to get to know about Wago's for connections and do the work like it will be inspected. Wire nuts are not intended for high vibration caused by traveling down the road so keep that in mind.
Mike, I have replaced all my SCDs in my RV. I did not need the thin boxes, but did have to enlarge all the openings to fit a clamping box. I had no issue with wire lengths. And I use Wagos, because they are way easier on my fingers.
I did this after having an issue with the fridge, when I opened the outlet up I saw three wires with insulation in the stab-back. I have photos and happy to share. https://www.irv2.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=429199&d=1728439416
The manufacturer allows three but only when insulation is stripped. The neutral wire was barely making contact. After seeing this crap, I opened every outlet. Every single SCD had a deficiency, most dealing with the strain relief. While I was replacing outlets, I changed the 14AWG stranded cord to the slide with 12 AWG cord.
Great discussion and worthy of Mike’s future testing.
Thanks for the warning Mike. Are these self contained outlets common in RVs or not? It’s scary to think that I couldn’t easily replace an outlet if needed. I never have needed too so far but I have had to replace my USB power wall outlets several times. Even that required some wire hacking although it worked out ok.
Yes, most RVs have SCD outlets from the factory.
Thanks Mike. It would be great if you could tell us (or reference a procedure, or poll your readers) on how to replace these outlets ourselves as many people like myself do our own repairs because we are very far away from dealers or RV service centers.
Not surprised that Airstream did this and IMO it’s due to poor training and supervision. I’ll wager many manufacturers do the same.
Thanks for this article. My FIL was having problems in his MH. We pulled the outlets which were the SCD style. I found the wires not pushed into the slots very well. Used a flat screwdriver to press the wires into the slots (carefully). Worked ok. No room for regular outlets. Surprised how heavy the wires were for 15 amp circuits.
Hi Mike
I had some problems with some of these in my 2012 open range, where they had become intermittent because of (my opinion) high cycle fatigue temp cycling of a jam fitting of 14 ga copper into a slot to make cheap quick install low profile daisy chain device. Lost a bunch of time trying to reinstall to get back function as a repair. Did not work!
Found (from a good rv repair Farmington ME) that you need. “Replacement!” Box that includes the installation keys& features molded into the back cover to align then tap into place to hold all 6 ends.
Not cheap but they still fit into the thin sidewall.
Did that Airstream really come out of the Airstream Factory or the Airstream Factory Service Center like that?
To me, that looks like it may be a poor DIY outlet rewiring job.
If that was done by a certified RV technician, what is their training?
I also question some of the techniques demonstrated on some DIY YouTube videos on replacing an RV outlet.
https://youtu.be/IOL5c5w44uY?si=TeNcYijcL5h27A-C&t=108
In an industry widely known (and reviled) for extreme cost-sensitivity, high labor turnover, and minimal worker training... what clown came up with that SCD/tool design?
Rhetorical question, but here's a real one: standard UL sockets cost pennies, and terminate by poking a stripped wire into a hole. Shallow versions are available, including types that could mount in RV walls. Why isn't this low-cost option used?
I found one of these “pieces of junk” used as a splice in our 07 Jamboree… This was near the breaker panel… i removed it and used a metal junction box to properly splice the wires…. I have replaced several of these outlets with real recepticals in real boxes… Four more to go to get rid of these junk (IMHO) outlets….
I made a tool out of oak and was able to seat wires effectively. I didn't know there were special tools for this job.