Hooking up to a Generator

[tony4pyro]

We are going to a remote location for the fourth of July with a few other families in our travel trailers. My brother, who works for Caterpillar, has offered to bring a large, tow behind generator for us to run our campers on, so we can have air conditioning. Do I have to worry about hooking up to a generator as far as too much voltage/amperage? The last thing I want to do is fry the electrical system in my one year old TT. Any electrical advice out there is appreciated.

[TURBS]

As long as its 110 service.


Your camper 30 or 50 amp ?

[TURBS]

Also regardless I doubt the cat gennie is going to have rv hookups so you'll have to use 15 amp adapter and plugged into a 15 amp circuit limits you severely on what you can use as the a/c alone requires up to 18-19 amps just to start and about 12-13 amps to run

Converter can run up to 8-9 amps but normally runs around 4-5 amps.

See where I'm going?

[garbonz]

A big cat genny may have a variety of outlet BUT you have to make sure you get the wiring right.

[jamesroadking]

You'll have NO problem running ONE A/C, your refrigerator, and your inverter to charge your battery to power your 12 volts lights and water pump on your 30 amp RV cord to a 115 volt pig tail adapter. I do it all the time, just don't turn on the micro wave or run any hair dryers at the same time the A/C is on.

[youroo]

Two things you will have plenty of KWs and DBs. Youroo!!

[lindy]

Most of those big commercial generators have load terminals that what ever is being powered is wired directly to the genny. The ideal situation is to have a licensed elect. wire up a distribution box with RV plugs in it and the pigtails to wire directly to the genny. It will take some who KNOWS what he's doing to set this up. Should not be too costly being a most electrision should have left over scrap wiring to handle this.

[tony4pyro]

Thanks for all the replies everyone. My brother told me to give him the electrical specs of the TT (30 amp, 110 service), and he would make sure that we have the right generator. It is a good point that the generator will not have the right plug ins for an RV. I planned to just use an adapter for a regular 110 plug. I would imagine that being underpowered, and trying to run the a/c would be almost as bad as being overpowered, right? Depending on the weather, we may not need the generator anyway. I can run on battery power for quite a while - just need the generator for a/c if it's really hot.

[Himcules]

if the generator has a NEMA TT-30R receptacle, then you are good to go. If not, you can use an rv dog bone type connector to change your TT-30R plug to a standard household plug (NEMA 5-15P) and have the same service as at any campground. just keep your cords short. if no extension cords other than the dog bone adapter, you'll be fine.

standard household plugs were designed for 15amp loads.

obviously, your trailer is designed for 30amp loads so the cable is thicker to handle the heat from the load. you don't want to run a long extension cord without the proper thickness for heavier amp loads (will burn up).