Plugging 50A 5er into a 15A Circuit

[Paulie1138]

Actually, none of the connectors are rated for truly wet locations. The cable may be, but the connectors are not. Water is a conductor. You just have to use common sense and be careful. Just try to keep any of your connections out of puddles, shut off the electric at the breaker if having to handle connectors when wet. Hopefully, you shut off the breaker anyway whenever connecting or disconnecting. Makes for good practice and longevity of your stuff!

[itat]

Originally Posted by Tom48

That does not look like a 50 amp RV adapter to me.

The large 50A side is a SS2-50R plug that goes into the port on the wall of the trailer and has the locking ring. It's not designed to plug into the end of the trailer's 50A cord.



There are several others that are in the $20-23 range. At $63 for the Marinco (Park Power) model, you could maybe justify it if it was manufactured in the US or Canada. Still, that's a big difference.

[SailorSam20500]

Originally Posted by Boomerweps

NOOOooooooo! Most Romex is NOT weather exposure rated. Romex is solid core wire that does NOT like bending and rebending for coiling up. Romex is for permanent installation.

My bad, being lazy. I tend to call any heavier wire romex. Correct wire to use is Type SJEOOW Cord, often available in 100' rolls.

[itat]

Originally Posted by davidgle

FWIW I simply use a battery charger with my 15a outlet. I figure as long as the batteries are charged the slides and frig will work...

I want to turn on the refrigerator the day before we leave and I want to run it on electric rather than burning my propane.

[itat]

Originally Posted by Paulie1138

Actually, none of the connectors are rated for truly wet locations. The cable may be, but the connectors are not. Water is a conductor. You just have to use common sense and be careful. Just try to keep any of your connections out of puddles, shut off the electric at the breaker if having to handle connectors when wet. Hopefully, you shut off the breaker anyway whenever connecting or disconnecting. Makes for good practice and longevity of your stuff!

Thanks.

At the farm where I store the trailer I can pull the 15A plug at the receptacle - its dry inside the garage. At Provincial Parks where we camp at least half the time, they have power pedestals shared by adjacent sites and for some reason they don't label which breaker is for which receptacle. The breakers are on the back side of the pedestal. So you have to guess which breaker to shut off when plugging in. You have a 50/50 chance of shutting off the neighbor's power.

[Chuck_S]

Do you throw a circuit beaker at home before you plug anything in? Didn't think so. Why turn off the power at the pole when connecting a camper? Turn the main breaker off inside the camper if you insist, but a tiny amperage draw will not suddenly melt anything.

-- Chuck

[Paulie1138]

I do it for safety reasons. At home, you have plugs in a dry, controlled environment, with 15-20 amp breakers. You know if the device is off. Your camper, 30-50 amps, outdoors, often wet, not knowing if any of the current hogs like the electric heater, air conditioner, etc are running or not. Let alone if the pedestal is wired correctly or has another problem despite showing OK from my plug-in adapter/tester.

Just my choice, knowing what can go bad real fast with electricity.

[itat]

Originally Posted by Chuck_S

Do you throw a circuit beaker at home before you plug anything in? Didn't think so. Why turn off the power at the pole when connecting a camper? Turn the main breaker off inside the camper if you insist, but a tiny amperage draw will not suddenly melt anything.

-- Chuck

I've always been told to turn off the breaker first. I'm not an electrician so I can only assume that that advice is given because of at least these reasons:

1. the potential for wet conditions outside (not present in your home)
2. poor condition of campsite receptacles on the power pedestal
3. improperly wired pedestals are not uncommon
4. dealing with higher amperage - 30A and 50A vs. 15A (typically) at home.
5. RV power cables with oxidized plugs are common

It's rare to get arcing when plugging in at home but its not uncommon to see blackened plugs on your RV power cable.

[cavie]

You turn off the power before plugging in to prevent any arching on the prongs of the cord cap shortening it's lifetime. The arching is just like welding. It will burn and pit the contacts. The same for anything electric you are plugging in. Do you plug in a skill saw when it is on???? It's called safety!

[Chuck_S]

Can't have arcing if there's no load; no current going the wires. Just like plugging in a toaster at home. Get arcing there? I trust you can find the main breaker in your camper if the breaker on the pole is hidden or unmarked and you think a trickle of current is going to cause massive sparks. If you have two air conditioners, the microwave, electric water heater, and a couple of hair dryers connected and turned on you'll get sparking.

The sky is not falling despite the warning of negligible danger.

-- Chuck

[itat]

Chuck, you can believe what you want. Others, including me, have given their differing opinions. Time to move on.

As the OP of this thread I claim the right to declare that its started to go off in another direction.

Please, let’s get back on the topic of how best to connect a 50A trailer to a 15A household receptacle.

[cavie]

Originally Posted by Chuck_S

Can't have arcing if there's no load; no current going the wires. Just like plugging in a toaster at home. Get arcing there? I trust you can find the main breaker in your camper if the breaker on the pole is hidden or unmarked and you think a trickle of current is going to cause massive sparks. If you have two air conditioners, the microwave, electric water heater, and a couple of hair dryers connected and turned on you'll get sparking.

The sky is not falling despite the warning of negligible danger.

-- Chuck

If someone left the WH on and it's calling for electric your gonna see sparks. The sparks are gonna burn your plug blades. Just saying. I'm gonna keep doing it safely and explain it to newbies just as I have done for the last 50 years. The first 17 don't count. Stupid kid.

[cavie]

Originally Posted by Chuck_S

Do you throw a circuit beaker at home before you plug anything in? Didn't think so. Why turn off the power at the pole when connecting a camper? Turn the main breaker off inside the camper if you insist, but a tiny amperage draw will not suddenly melt anything.

-- Chuck

No need to turn off the breaker at home. Most people are smart enough to first turn off what ever they are plugging in before they do. You turn off the power pole because you don't know what got left on inside the trailer. To each his own.

[formerFR]

agreed, in RVing it's best to trip the breaker before you plug in, regardless of whether you have anything 'on' in the RV or not, since it's likely there WILL be something on, most likely the Battery Charger, and sometimes even the Electric Water Heater, etc...amongst the other device chargers, computers, etc...

Will it be a 'shocking' even otherwise? Probably not, but yes, arcing could be had, though probably not a deal breaker.

Of course, this is also why campground breakers get so much use, and probably wear out long before any 'normal' breaker in your home would, as well as the plug outlet itself.


travel, plug in, enjoy! : )

[Paulie1138]

Itat, back to your thread. Determine what adapter you need, determine what you are going to be running in amperage, calculate what gauge wire you need for voltage drop over distance.

I posted that I can get away running the Air, OR the microwave OR the hot water heater on a 10 gauge cord I made up. I am also coming almost right off the breaker box. 20 amp breaker. (Wiring from breaker to outlet is also 10 ga.)

Aside from those big current hogs, you could get away with the fridge, charger, pump, lights and such. I would go with a 14 or 12 gauge cord depending on distance. Harbor Freight has a decent 12 gauge cord on sale. Use a volt meter and if you are over 110v or so when you are running your stuff, you will be fine.

[itat]

Originally Posted by Paulie1138

Itat, back to your thread. Determine what adapter you need, determine what you are going to be running in amperage, calculate what gauge wire you need for voltage drop over distance.

I posted that I can get away running the Air, OR the microwave OR the hot water heater on a 10 gauge cord I made up. I am also coming almost right off the breaker box. 20 amp breaker. (Wiring from breaker to outlet is also 10 ga.)

Aside from those big current hogs, you could get away with the fridge, charger, pump, lights and such. I would go with a 14 or 12 gauge cord depending on distance. Harbor Freight has a decent 12 gauge cord on sale. Use a volt meter and if you are over 110v or so when you are running your stuff, you will be fine.

Thanks. I'll check everything as soon as I can. We don't have HF up here but it looks like I can get a good 100' long 12 ga extension cord at Costco if that's what will work.

[Paulie1138]

The 12 gauge cord should do you fine. You can use it for other stuff as needed as well. You may even find yourself not dragging out the 30 or 50 amp cord and use the 12 gauge at camp. Remember, you will have limits on what you can run with it. You MIGHT be able to use the microwave, but check with the meter when running it.

The key, is to keep an eye on your voltage in the camper as you use the devices until you get an idea what you can run, and with what else. (IE: pump, lights, etc)

Remember, when you first connect after a trip, your battery charger will be wanting more power than usual until the batteries get a full charge. So, watch your voltage there too. Once you get the idea what all you can run, then you can ignore the volt meter.

Remember, playing with electricity can get you the Darwin Award.....LOL!

[TheWolfPaq82]

Originally Posted by itat

We just bought a new 5er that has a 50A service. Where we store it, the only power source is a 15A receptacle in a garage that’s about a 65’ run from the trailer. I just need the power to run the refrigerator overnight before a trip, and when putting the 3 slides in and out, to supplement the cheap dealer Group 24 battery.

So, with this new 50A trailer I have a couple options to connect to the 15A receptacle:

1. Use a 50A to 30A dogbone, a 25’ long 30A extension cord, a 30A to 15A dogbone, and a 25’ long 12ga extension cord.

2. Use a 50A to 15A dogbone and two 25’ long 12ga extension cords.

In both options I’d be using the 25’ long 50A cord that came with the trailer.

Given the load I’m using, does it matter which option I use?

The extra dogbone will introduce an extra connection but the 12ga extension cord would be a smaller gauge wire than the 10ga wire in the 30A extension cord.

I’m getting cabin fever and probably overthinking this.

Go get a 50 to 15A adapter, 100' 12awg power cord, plug it in, you're good to go. Did the same for our old trailer for 10 years and it's fine. Finally wired up a 30A in my garage when we got the new trailer.

[itat]

I have a PI EMS-HW30C to hook up when I get the new 5er home. The only variable I don't know is the voltage at the receptacle. It's an old farm.

[TheWolfPaq82]

Get a hold of a meter, that should answer your question. If you know anyone with electrical experience have then look at the outlet and wiring at the receptacle at the farm.