30 amp to 50 amp conversion?
This has probably been covered, but in my cursory search I didn't see much. I have a Sprinter 311BHS and it has 30A service. I have to do a lot of power management not to trip the breaker. What all...
Forum Discussion
Installing a new power inlet and plugging into the 15/20 amp GFCI recept. on a pedestal is a good option and much cheaper than upgrading to 50 amps. You could perhaps use the 20 amp pedestal recept. for a dedicated connection to the water heater. Then if the 20A isn't available on a pedestal, you can convert to propane for the duration of the stay at the CG.
You could also buy a commercially available load shedding unit but these aren't cheap.
What I would do is make your own load shedder . A coffee pot, toaster or microwave are on for only minutes, whereas the water heater can run for much long periods on electric to adequately heat up the water. You could dump the heater when an appliance is plugged in by using a simple current sensing relay setup. A CR Magnetics CR4395-EH-120-330-X-CD-ELR-I would work well. Available on Amazon here: current sensing relay This model has instantaneous operation of the control contacts. There are several versions of this relay so make sure you order the right one.
Mount this relay in a suitably sized box behind the converter/panel and run the hot wire for the kitchen counter plug circuit through it before it goes into the panel. Connect the heater circuit to the output contacts and then back into the panel. The relay is adjustable and would probably be set at 15 amps. Total material cost should be under $150.
When thinking about and calculating max. loads, something to note about the 30 amp pedestal breaker or the one in your panel is that they do not trip the instant they exceed 30 amps. There is an inverse time-current characteristic as shown in the generic graph. The higher the overload, the faster the breaker trips. The graph is hard to read, but say at 35 amps, the breaker would trip after something like 5-6 minutes. At 40 amps,, it would trip in 2-3 min. However, the pedestal breaker could possibly trip earlier due to use and abuse and years of being outdoors. Point is, don't panic if you think the load will go a few amps over the 30 amp rating for short periods.
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You could also buy a commercially available load shedding unit but these aren't cheap.
What I would do is make your own load shedder . A coffee pot, toaster or microwave are on for only minutes, whereas the water heater can run for much long periods on electric to adequately heat up the water. You could dump the heater when an appliance is plugged in by using a simple current sensing relay setup. A CR Magnetics CR4395-EH-120-330-X-CD-ELR-I would work well. Available on Amazon here: current sensing relay This model has instantaneous operation of the control contacts. There are several versions of this relay so make sure you order the right one.
Mount this relay in a suitably sized box behind the converter/panel and run the hot wire for the kitchen counter plug circuit through it before it goes into the panel. Connect the heater circuit to the output contacts and then back into the panel. The relay is adjustable and would probably be set at 15 amps. Total material cost should be under $150.
When thinking about and calculating max. loads, something to note about the 30 amp pedestal breaker or the one in your panel is that they do not trip the instant they exceed 30 amps. There is an inverse time-current characteristic as shown in the generic graph. The higher the overload, the faster the breaker trips. The graph is hard to read, but say at 35 amps, the breaker would trip after something like 5-6 minutes. At 40 amps,, it would trip in 2-3 min. However, the pedestal breaker could possibly trip earlier due to use and abuse and years of being outdoors. Point is, don't panic if you think the load will go a few amps over the 30 amp rating for short periods.
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