HowTo ·

Power Up Anywhere: Installing a 15A Shore Power Port on Your Van

Hey everybody, Matt here at AVC and welcome back to the blog!

When you're out adventuring in your van, the places you end up—visiting family, crashing at a friend's house, or prepping the van at home—often don't have the large 30A service found at RV parks.

In our opinion, there's no need for that bulky, high-amp service on a standard adventure build. A simpler, more practical solution is installing a 15A shore power plug, which allows you to easily plug into any standard household outlet.

Today, we're installing the NOCO 15A plug. Let's get to work!

📦 Why We Choose the NOCO 15A Plug

The NOCO 15A plug is simple, effective, and completely weather-sealed.

  • Simplicity: It's essentially a heavy-duty extension cord with a high-quality, weather-sealed mounting flange designed for a clean vehicle integration.

  • Practicality: 15A is perfect for charging battery banks (like a Goal Zero unit), keeping your fridge running, or charging devices while the van is parked at home or visiting friends.

  • Easy Installation: It requires just a 2-inch hole and a few screws.

Step 1: Choosing Your Location and Measuring

We prefer to install the shore power port right into the van's plastic trim panel, not the sheet metal. Cutting the sheet metal is permanent, but the plastics are easier to replace or modify later. Conveniently, Ford provides small access ports inside the metal that line up with this trim.

  1. Alignment for Aesthetics: We like to align the port with the rear door bump stop, as it helps the plug blend into the vehicle's design.

  1. Mark the Center Point: Line up the center of the port with the center of the bump stop.

    • Measure down from the top edge of the plastic trim. In our case, the center of the bump stop is about 4.75 inches down. Mark 4.75 inches down on your desired location.

    • Measure out from the edge of the seal. We chose to be about 3.25 inches from the edge of the door seal.

  1. Final Mark: Once you've measured the appropriate spot, confirm the location with a piece of painter's tape and mark your center point on the tape.

Step 2: Cutting the Hole

The NOCO plug requires a 2-inch hole.

  1. Drill the Hole: Use a 2-inch hole saw to drill cleanly through the plastic trim panel.

  2. Access the Port: Use a panel popper tool to reach inside the trim panel and locate the little pill-shaped plastic plug provided by the factory. Pop this plug out—it will fall behind the plastics, but you can retrieve it from underneath the van. This opening is your pass-through for the cord.

Step 3: Running the Wire

  1. Prep the Cord: We recommend adding split loom to the wire near the port to provide an extra layer of protection against chafing or rubbing inside the panel.

  2. Fish the Cord: Feed the plug end of the cord through the 2-inch hole. Because you removed the factory pill plug, the cord should easily pass through the pre-existing port in the sheet metal and into the van's interior.

  3. Pull Through: Once inside the van, reach down, grab the cord, and pull it through to your electrical area (or wherever your Goal Zero/battery system is located).

Step 4: Final Mount and Seal

  1. Seat the Plug: Feed the last bit of wire into the plastic panel and firmly seat the NOCO plug flange into the 2-inch hole.

  2. Secure: Use the provided stainless screws to screw the flange into the surrounding plastic. Be careful not to over-tighten, which could crack the plastic.

  3. Optional Seal: If you are concerned about water intrusion, this is a good time to apply some spray foam or a non-acetic silicone sealant around the inside of the opening (behind the plug flange) for an extra weatherproof seal.

  4. Test: Plug in the shore power and confirm that your Goal Zero unit or battery system inside the van is safely charging.

With those last screws in place, this job is complete! You now have a practical, discreet 15A shore power solution that allows you to charge your van anywhere you have a standard wall socket. Thanks for reading!

P.S. don't remove the cable by pulling on the wire like this guy did. We fired him :)

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