10 Electric Must Haves for your Small Travel Trailer
There are a few essential electrical items that will make travelling with your small travel trailer safer and more convenient.
#1 Good Surge Protector
One of the most important things to have for your campground stays is a good surge protector. It is common to hear stories about bad wiring at campgrounds. And, plugging your travel trailer directly into a bad circuit or getting a power surge could cause damage to your trailer’s electrical system and appliances. To avoid the risk, it’s best to use a good surge protector every time you plug in your trailer. We have used the Progressive Industries EMS-PT30X for almost a year and have had a really good experience with it. The scrolling digital display shows if there are any errors with the campground wiring and provides peace of mind that the power is clean. It has a weather shield and a secure locking bracket to prevent theft.
#2 110V Male to 30A Female Dogbone Adapter
Another very important item that should be with your small travel trailer at all times is a 110V Male to 30A Female dogbone adapter. This will allow you to connect your trailer’s 30A power cord into a regular household 110V outlet. It’s essential when you want to hook up at a house or anywhere there is just a regular 110V outlet. Since we store our Scamp travel trailer in our garage, we constantly use the adapter to keep our battery charged and also run the Scamp lights and other appliances when necessary. We often use the adapter so we can power our Scamp’s refrigerator the day before we leave on a trip [since our Scamp has 3 modes for running the fridge – AC, 12V (when driving), and Propane (when no electricity is available at the campground)]. Lastly, it’s very common for us to stop at a relative’s house during our trips and we use the adapter for power when we driveway camp.
#3 110V Household Extension Cord
You should always carry an outdoor 110V household extension cord in your small travel trailer so you can hookup your trailer (using your dogbone adapter) to household current. We use ours all the time when driveway camping.
#4 50A Male to 30A Female Dogbone Adapter
Another adapter that might be considered but might not be essential (until you really need it) is a 50A Male to 30A Female dogbone adapter. We have yet to use this adapter, but purchased on the advice of our friend Hugh who mentioned that there are some campgrounds and RV parks where only a 50Amp outlet will be available. This adapter is inexpensive and light enough that we purchased one and carry it with us in the Scamp in the rare event we ever run across a campsite where this is the case.
#5 Heavy Duty 30A Outdoor 25’ Extension Cord
One item that we have already used (which our friend Hugh also recommended) is an outdoor 30A heavy duty 25’ extension cord. Normally, when you pull your travel trailer up to the utility pedestal at a full hookup campground, all the utilities are right there (e.g. 30A power, water, and sewer). However, in some cases, the utilities may be separated. We first discovered this on a visit to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. We pulled our Scamp travel trailer up to the water area (which was close to the sewer as well). But, the electrical outlet pedestal was in a separate location, quite far from our trailer. After a lot of maneuvering, we were able to get our Scamp in a central enough location that we could reach the water hose and electrical outlet at the same time. But, our Scamp’s power cord was pulled completely tight and slightly in the air so there was concern it could be a tripping hazard at night (since it is very dark at the campground). Our friend Hugh loaned us his outdoor 30A heavy duty 25’ extension cord, which solved the problem. We ordered one as soon as we returned home from this trip and always carry it in our Scamp.
#6 Portable Air Compressor
It’s super handy to have a portable air pump so you can keep your small travel trailer tires and car tires inflated to the proper levels. This not only saves on fuel, but it can also be necessary for your trailer’s hitch to clear driveway bumps. We’ve been using the 12V DC Hausbell Portable Air Compressor for a while and it performs great. It has a nice digital display and allows you to set the desired pressure. It can also be used to fill up air mattresses and other inflatables. It’s small and light, so it can easily be carried in your car.
#7 Small AC to DC Converter
A nice complement to a portable air compressor is a small AC to DC converter. This little device allows 12V devices (like the 12V air compressor) to be plugged into it and then plugged into a regular AC 110V wall socket. This is useful when there isn’t a cigarette socket available (e.g. your car isn’t nearby and/or your small travel trailer doesn’t have an outdoor 12V socket). We have the RoyPow AC to DC adapter. We use it in the garage to inflate our Scamp’s tires (we plug our 12V tire inflator into the RoyPow which is plugged into one of our garage’s 110V outlets). Or, we plug our Scamp into 110V power and plug the RoyPow into our Scamp’s outside 110V outlet. Use it at the campground by plugging into the 110V power pedestal and then plug in the portable air compressor into it.
#8 Battery Power Bank
A luxury item that could be essential depending on how you travel is a large external battery power bank. The independent power bank can power many of your essential items while reserving your travel trailer’s battery power for your super essential items like lights, fan, and pumps. We purchased the Jackery 500 which has 518Wh of power (which can power a lot of devices for a long time). It has a 12V cigarette socket, USB ports, and even a 110V outlet. We use it to charge our phones, drones, cameras, and power our 12V television in our Scamp. It can even be used to run your portable air compressor. You can charge it in your car while driving between camping locations, with 110V power outlets at campsites, and also with a solar panel.
#9 100W Solar Panel
A 100W solar panel is a great option to help recharge your small travel trailer batteries daily when camping without hookups. We’ve found our solar panel can maintain our Scamp’s battery at 12.5V (a good place) for days on end as long as the sun shines. The solar panel may also be used to recharge your independent power bank. Get a good extension cable set so you can easily position the panels into the sun. Having this connector will make it much easier to connect your solar panels to your battery. You will need a crimper tool and a set of connectors so you can make a dongle with wires on one side that slide into solar panel and connectors on the other which plug into the extension cables.
#10 Multi USB Charger
A multi USB charger is great for your car and small travel trailer to charge your portable devices when travelling. We use the Jelly Comb to charge our phones, cameras, drones and other USB devices. It has a 12V socket and a long cable so we can plug it in the Scamp’s 12V socket and position it in convenient locations for charging. We also can plug it into our car and portable power bank.
“There’s no wi-fi in the mountains, but you’ll find no better connection.” Anonymous
Disclaimer: You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale. These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences. However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer. It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything correctly.
