50 amp RV on a 30 amp box

[MtnGuy]

Calling people stupid or something similar is considered an inflammatory remark, and is not allowed on the forum. I have had to clean up some posts, so lets leave name calling out of the thread. There are more tactful ways to approach dangerous situations.

[doc73]

Originally Posted by Herk7769

A bit a hijack. So for any further discussion on autotransformers please check the reviews of the Frank's Autotransformer in the product review forum.

If you need more info please start a specific thread.

Will do!

[Rick_Geneseo]

My 30 amp adapter runs two legs down the 50 amp cord. So all i can get is 30 amp. However, it feeds both side of the power box, so i have power to both A/C units and the HWH, but dont use them at the same time. So far I' ve no problems.

[doc73]

That is how they are supposed to work and leaves it up to you to moderate your power. I guess they could over draw a pole and heat things up. If the breaker throws great, but if it is a slight overload this could cause the issues from above of burning things??

I think the heat came over ones that have 2 male plugs, one 30amp male and one 15 / 20 amp male and having exposed prongs on a plug in the CG power pole.

[ScottBrownstein]

Wow. I vote for leaving the PC somewhere else. Those of us who have made and used double male cords know how dangerous they are...that was the original intent of my post. I would never encourage a non technical person to use one and I would not make them one. However, they are used.

[Iwannacamp]

I don't understand why you don't mount something like this??? Safety first.




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[ScottBrownstein]

Of course you could do that as that is what male receptacles are for. However, if there is another cord, presumably a 30 or 50 amp plug, when that is used if there is no separate disconnect on the male receptacle...it become hot which is equally dangerous and a code violation. If there is a disconnect on the receptacle, all you have to do is forget to trip it and...suicide receptacle!

[clutchd]

Outlets fail quicker no matter what amperage rating they are by being plugged in and unplugged time after time. The connections get loose and this causes heat which then can cause the plug to melt

[pmsherman]

An RV's 50A plug provides 50A of power on each leg of a 220/240V circuit. A third wire is the neutral while the fourth wire is the safety ground. There's around 120 V between EACH of the hot legs and the neutral wire. The AC distribution panel has breakers on individual 120V circuits which, hopefully, the manufacturer balanced out so that around half of the RV's electrical load appears on each leg of the input power. At 120V, the 50A plug provides 100A of power. If you look in your circuit breaker box, you should see that there's one 50A double breaker whose trip switches are tied together so that if one leg is overloaded, both breakers trip, shutting off all power. The only device installed in your RV that could possibly be wired to 220V should be an electric clothes drier. (This rule may not apply to RV's in the $1,000,000+ price class - I'll take a donation of one to verify this.)

A (commercial) 30 to 50A adapter takes the single 120V 30A circuit and ties it to both of the hot legs of the 50A plug. This will give your RV a maximum of 30A, less than 1/3 what you'd get from a 50A outlet. There's no way that any "smart" outlet can determine that this is what's being done unless the RV manufacturers are installing devices in the RV that can communicate with matching devices located in the outlet.

The other caution is that a circuit breaker, while capable of supplying its rated power, is actually intended to continuously supply 80% of its rated current. This means that your 30A breaker shouldn't have a continuous load of over 24A.

My 2011 Georgetown is wired with a 50A plug. I carry 30A to 50A and 15A to 30A adapters at all times. When available, I use 50A outlets but frequently end up using the 30 to 50A adapter in parks without the heavier duty outlets. I also spend at least four weeks a year running the RV on a 20A household outlet. Of course, when only 20A service is available, I'm limited to running the converter, laptop computers, and a single small television. I haven't measured my current load on the 20A outlet but I suspect that it's under 5A.

Phil

[wmtire]

There is a diagram in this thread/post that shows how the adapter shares (aka jumps) the L1 leg from a 30 amp service over to the L2 leg for the 50 amp RV's, as Phil explained above. Sometimes seeing it, helps more than verbalizing it.

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...tml#post676243

and this link explains the 50 and 30 amp service along with how the the adapter works too.

http://www.rvtechmag.com/electrical/chapter3.php

[uhduh camping]

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[Rockwoodjoe]

Thanks to everyone for the info. This forum is great. I did not realize all the feedback I would get in one day.

[Steelhorzz]

We've now been out now for a couple of weeks along the Oregon coast. I really was surprised to find so many parks that only offer 30 amp service. So I plug in the adapter and finish my hookups. Thankfully due to the weather, (40s and 50s during the day), we haven't used either of our ACs. But we have gone thru a tank of propane using the furnace. 😁

[doc73]

This time of year a space heater is your friend!

As for 50 I rarely see it here unless you pay an extra 2 - 10 a night for it.