Help me understand 50amp

[wmtire]

As Scott stated, the current is shuttling between the L1 and L2. The neutral only carries the imbalance.

It's explained in the link I previously posted in post #8.

It's this load balancing between the L1 and L2, along with the shared neutral which confuses most.

It does take a little reading, but it will soak in.

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by cavie

WMTIRE, correct me if I'm wrong. The panel in the blue background is not correct. The 50 amp main would have to be in the middle feeding a split buss panel L1 to the left and L2 to the right as shown in the photo below it. In the example in blue, you could indeed use 240 volts in your trailer. A 30 amp service panel would be a single buss feed and the 30 amp main single pole breaker could go anywhere. In the example in blue the 30 amp is only feeding 1/2 of the panel.

Cavie, the electrical panel in blue would be like your house panel or the campgrounds main panel, and it's feeding the OUTLET that you plug your RV's shore power cord into. It shows as such in the pic, and this would be the feed from the electric company to the outlet. (aka shore power). It shows the shore power feeds to a 50 amp and 30 amp outlet/receptacle.

The second pic is the feed from the outlet via the shore power cord, into the RV's electrical distribution panel as I hopefully explained above the pic..

[cavie]

Originally Posted by wmtire

Cavie, the electrical panel in blue would be like your house panel or the campgrounds main panel, and it's feeding the OUTLET that you plug your RV's shore power cord into. It shows as such in the pic, and this would be the feed from the electric company to the outlet. (aka shore power)

The second pic is the feed from the outlet via the shore power cord, into the RV's electrical distribution panel as I hopefully explained above the pic..

I just realized you were showing the pedestal panel. not the RV panel

[dphorton]

Just like the Clothes Dryer in your house, just 110-120 per Leg.

[cavie]

The differance being is your house uses line 1 and 2 at the same time to get 240 volts. Your Rv can't do that. 120 volts only.

[dphorton]

Well from L1 to Neutral it is 110-120. From L2 to Neutral it is also 110-120. So it is the same. You just have L1, L2, Neutral and Ground with a 50 Amp Hookup. Taking 110-120 from each Leg at max 50 Amp per Leg.

[RVBuff]

Originally Posted by elind

The RV 50 amp service is two 50 amps 120 volt circuits. Nothing runs on 240 volts in the RV. That way when you use a 30 to 50 amp dog leg adapter you only get 30 amps because both hot lines are tied together. In a 30 amp cable you 3-10 gauge wires feeding the RV and in a 50 amp cable there is 4-6 gauge wires (2 hot wires).

wmtire...Please clarify this--Are the two 50 amp legs tied together in a dogbone?

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by RVBuff

wmtire...Please clarify this--Are the two 50 amp legs tied together in a dogbone?

If you are talking about a 50 amp female to 30 amp male adapter, that allows you to use a 50 amp rv, on a 30 amp outlet... Then yes the 30 amp L1(which is all a 30 amp has) is shared/jumped to both the L1 and L2 legs of the 50 amp cord.

This allows both the L1 and L2 inside the RV to have power, so half of your stuff wouldn't work otherwise.

Just remember, a 30 amp outlet ONLY had one leg at 120 volts, so sharing this one leg, is still only 120 volts.

It's just now you are limited to 30 amps inside your 50 amp RV when using this adapter.

I'm currently on the road or I would provide schematics of how the L1 and L2 share the only L1 of a 30 amp outlet. I've posted these many times. Maybe somebody can share such.

This link will show it.

http://www.dmbruss.com/zFullTimeLife...alAdapters.htm

[bubbles]

Actually it's probably better to look at it as being limited to 30 amps total on your 100 amps total rv. Makes you think about usage limit adjustments. Just a thought.

[formerFR]

I'll simplify this '50amp RV electrical' answer even more:

no matter 'how much' electrical power you are connected to, either 50amp(100amps total), 30amp, 20amp, 15amp, or anything in between... the individual circuit breaker for each outlet(s) or device is the limiting factor.


travel, enjoy! ...and plug in!

[RVBuff]

OK...I get it that you are talking about the 30-amp current as it enters your 50-amp RV. Obviously you would want to feed both legs inside the unit. I misunderstood, thinking he was referring to the L1 and L2 pins on the female receptacle at the pedestal. If you tied those together, I would expect some fireworks.

[BigRockr]

Just quick nod to electricians. Those diagrams look exactly like what an electrician would wire up for you and what I would expect them to wire up. It's the standard. Nothing different for an RV. If you didn't get exactly that, you need a better electrician.