Electrical Help

[Stg1]

I'm not a newbie nor am I an electrician. I need your help. I'm going to a relative's farm to camp. Here's what I know:

My TT runs on 110/120 volt 30 amp. It has an ac side and a dc side.
I know that when I plug into a 50 amp rv receptacle with my dogbone, I am running off one side (120 volts)
I sent a 30 amp box with a 30 amp breaker to my relative and they had an electrician wire it in, which should be fine if I can get close enough to the box.

Here's is what I need to know.

They have another box with a 50 amp breaker and a 40 amp breaker. I don't know what type of receptacles it has. If the 50 amp has a rv receptacle, that's fine. If the receptacles are standard house type receptacles (110/120), Can I use these for my TT?. I have an adapter to go from the rv male to a standard house receptacle.

[Indymule]

I'm not real good with electrical either but I do know that a regular household plug will not be on a 40 or 50 amp breaker.
If they have a regular plug on a 15 amp breaker then yes you can get an adapter and plug in, you just won't be able to run A/C.

Be very careful that you have an RV receptacle on 110 V and not a 220 V receptacle as the plugin in can be very similar.
Hopefully some of these electricians on the board will way in and can show you the difference as my knowledge is very limited.

Good luck and enjoy the family visit

[Witch Doctor]

Originally Posted by Stg1

I'm not a newbie nor am I an electrician. I need your help. I'm going to a relative's farm to camp. Here's what I know:

My TT runs on 110/120 volt 30 amp. It has an ac side and a dc side.
I know that when I plug into a 50 amp rv receptacle with my dogbone, I am running off one side (120 volts)
I sent a 30 amp box with a 30 amp breaker to my relative and they had an electrician wire it in, which should be fine if I can get close enough to the box.

Here's is what I need to know.

They have another box with a 50 amp breaker and a 40 amp breaker. I don't know what type of receptacles it has. If the 50 amp has a rv receptacle, that's fine. If the receptacles are standard house type receptacles (110/120), Can I use these for my TT?. I have an adapter to go from the rv male to a standard house receptacle.

First put a meter on the 50 or 40 to make sure they are 110v most that big on a house would be for welding equipment more then likely 220v. The plug ends would be different probably. your standard rv male is just probably rated for 15 amp, unless you got some thing different which I have not seen. I suggest for a few bucks bring a RV 50 amp outlet then you can easily change it out and use your dogbone. Most home outlets are configured like a drier plug 220 amp. This just a guess on my part being I can't see the outlet. Give them a call and ask what they are used for or put in for. That might help you out. All house outlets are different then RV, they are made that way, same as the boating ind. they use rv plugs also. Just cost you a call and the worst buying a 50 amp outlet. 10 min change. BE SAFE and have a great ...stay.... PS: by the way I don't even think they make a 50amp 110v breaker, but they could have only hooked up 1 hot out to the box off the breaker, as you can tell there are a lot of scenarios. If have a problem when you get there PM me, I'll walk you through it by phone add your # to the PM. If you buy one at CW and didn't have to use it you could always get your money back for it.

[07 ThunderRoad]

be careful. some larger 220 volt outlets do not have a neutral. welders typically do not require a neutral.

[Herk7769]

I would not trust the "electrician's" wiring without verification either.
He might not realize an RV outlet is NOT 220 volts.

I have included a downloaded instruction on how to "reverse engineer" an RV acceptable socket from a welding socket.

OR

You can also make a 30 amp RV outlet (ONLY) by doing a rewire using the existing wiring by using the existing red "hot" as a neutral. Just disconnect the red wire from the 220 breaker (paint the red wire "end" white) and connect it to the neutral buss. Change the socket to the correct 30 amp RV socket and MAKE SURE the "formerly red; now white" wire gets wired to the correct pole of the RV socket as shown in the attachment.

The exposed breaker buss ends MUST be painted white to avoid confusion in the future should someone else find the red wire hooked up to the neutral buss instead of the open port on the 220 breaker (PROVIDED it is a 30 amp breaker! If it is 50 amp; it must be replaced anyway so get a single pole 30 amp breaker).

Keeping the old 220 breaker and using only one leg won't hurt anything, and will facilitate reverting BACK to a welder if you ever sell the RV or no longer need the RV outlet.

If the above is confusing to you, DO NOT DO IT.
I ASSUME NO LIABILITY if you try this and you damage something.
I just provide it as an option that may or may not be suitable for you.

You can not do this to make a 50 amp RV outlet because you can not use the ground wire as a Neutral which is required for a 50 amp RV type socket.

[Ddubya]

I just built a new house and a metal building to house my RV. I ask the electrician to install a 30 amp RV box ( which I supplied). I decided to check it before I plugged in and found that it was wired for 30 amp 220v. One should not assume that all electricians know how a RV outlet should be wired.


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[Witch Doctor]

This might help you understand it a little better. also check out the myth about ice to clean yout tank

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_F3osluGL9E#t=43

..

[Stg1]

Thank's everyone for your help. The information was great. At least I will know what to look for and what to do to get my TT plugged in. It will be a couple of weeks before I can let you know how it worked.

[proggod]

Originally Posted by Ddubya

I just built a new house and a metal building to house my RV. I ask the electrician to install a 30 amp RV box ( which I supplied). I decided to check it before I plugged in and found that it was wired for 30 amp 220v. One should not assume that all electricians know how a RV outlet should be wired.


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Technically it should be wired that way. It should be 4 wires in total, 2 hot, 1 neutral and 1 ground. Your rv plug should not pull the each leg separate for 2 110v legs with the neutral. However if something wanted to pull 220v they would just use the two hots together. Thats why the 50a plugs have 4 wires. I wired my outlets w/ only 3 wires and are now regretting it. Since i can't use the welder and the rv in the same outlet. When I get some time, i'll move them to 4 wire plugs..

[Witch Doctor]

Originally Posted by proggod

Technically it should be wired that way. It should be 4 wires in total, 2 hot, 1 neutral and 1 ground. Your rv plug should not pull the each leg separate for 2 110v legs with the neutral. However if something wanted to pull 220v they would just use the two hots together. Thats why the 50a plugs have 4 wires. I wired my outlets w/ only 3 wires and are now regretting it. Since i can't use the welder and the rv in the same outlet. When I get some time, i'll move them to 4 wire plugs..

That is true for 50 amp, but if you use a double 30 amp and wire it to a 30 amp plug you got 220 volt at that 30 amp plug. I guess that is how it was wired, 30 amp plug should be 1 hot 1 neutral 1 ground only, he had a 30 amp wired in by the electrician is what I read not 50 amp as you quoted. or did I miss something. I'm talking about Ddubya post.

[Joe_GA]

Originally Posted by proggod

Technically it should be wired that way. It should be 4 wires in total, 2 hot, 1 neutral and 1 ground. Your rv plug should not pull the each leg separate for 2 110v legs with the neutral. However if something wanted to pull 220v they would just use the two hots together. Thats why the 50a plugs have 4 wires. I wired my outlets w/ only 3 wires and are now regretting it. Since i can't use the welder and the rv in the same outlet. When I get some time, i'll move them to 4 wire plugs..

Huh? A 30 amp RV receptacle should be 3 wires, not 4. There should be one ground, one neutral and one hot (120 VAC) wire. In fact, there are only 3 connections to be made to a 30 amp RV receptacle. Now, if there are 4 wires in your installation, you could change the 30 amp receptacle to a 50 amp receptacle and use a 50 to 30 amp adapter. That way, when you trade your 30 amp RV in for a larger RV with 50 amp service, you'll be ready. I say this because I originally wired my RV shelter for 30 amps and had to later add a 50 amp circuit when I got my current RV. Plan big!

[proggod]

If it was me I'd just use a 4 wire plug with 3 wire adapter. Then the outlet has multiple uses

Even thought they call them 30amp or 50amp that's not the type of plug. So that's why the confusion from electrician. Most people if you ask for 30amp expect 220v. These rvs are just weird