I have a question concerning 50 amp wiring in fifth wheel and generators. My idea is that if the two 120 volt lines are separate, meaning no device will use the 2 hot wires, could I run two separate generators. I have a "Y" cable adaptor for the purpose of using 2 power outlets (30 amp & 20 amp). If I run 2 separate generator sources they would be out of phase but would that be an issue considering the two 120 volt legs would remain separate. The only thing the 2 legs would have in common would be the common wire and the ground wire. Would the out of phase generators see each others phase and/or would it effect them in any way? I have 2 Honda 2000 generators that could power 1 leg. I would like to buy 2 more to power the other leg. I'm just wanting make sure this won't be an issue.Thanks for your expert advice.

In theory what you propose will in fact work. An alternative that would be less complex would be buy a 30 (male) to 50 (female) amp adaptor. This adaptor powers up both 50 amp hot lines at the same phase and would only require your current generator set-up. Of course you are now limited to the twin Hondas capacity (3200 watts) so no dual AirCon operation.

In my opinion, it won't work unless you get them perfectly phased. A common neutral is shared.

Ask Honda but I think it is no.But I have read people putting 3+ Hondas in parallel.http://www.amazon.com/Honda-Triple-Parallel-Kit/dp/B0073W5DNW

I think the safest thing to do is buy a bigger generator.

I agree with hmknightnc. In theory it'll work unless you have a 220 load in the 5th wheel. We have a dryer in our MH that runs on 220 so it wouldn't work for us. Your 220 or the difference between the two hots would vary slowly as the frequency of the two gens is slightly different. The voltage would slowly vary from 0 to 220.

50 amp wiring | Good Sam Community

KD4UPL
Explorer
May 28, 2014
hmknightnc wrote:
BB_TX wrote:
hmknightnc wrote:
.....
Folks, he's got a 50 amp service RV which is actually two 120 volt hots at 50 amps each or a total of 100 amps on the common neutral. A 50 amp RV can handle 12,000 watts.
.

Wrong. You need to understand how split phase 240 vac works. Since the two hot legs are 180 out of phase you never have more than 50 amps on the neutral. And it just so happens that if each hot leg is supplying the exact same current then there will be no current thru the neutral.

Hmm..., you are correct on the actual current flow through the neutral for a balanced split phase 220 volt system but I think the required wire sizing guides would require capacity for 100 amps. But then it's been 30 years since I've done any actual electrical engineering, could be recalling wrong

You're recalling wrong.
No RV cord has anything any bigger than a #6 for the neutral.
jtobbe
Explorer
May 25, 2014
If the generators have a gfci it will not work. The load on the neutral will be unbalanced and trip the gfci. The 30/20-50 combines only work if there is no gfci on either plug.

Either get 2 eu2000's, or equivalent, or one bigger generator.
hmknightnc
Explorer
May 25, 2014
BB_TX wrote:
hmknightnc wrote:
.....
Folks, he's got a 50 amp service RV which is actually two 120 volt hots at 50 amps each or a total of 100 amps on the common neutral. A 50 amp RV can handle 12,000 watts.
.

Wrong. You need to understand how split phase 240 vac works. Since the two hot legs are 180 out of phase you never have more than 50 amps on the neutral. And it just so happens that if each hot leg is supplying the exact same current then there will be no current thru the neutral.

Hmm..., you are correct on the actual current flow through the neutral for a balanced split phase 220 volt system but I think the required wire sizing guides would require capacity for 100 amps. But then it's been 30 years since I've done any actual electrical engineering, could be recalling wrong
BB_TX
Nomad
May 25, 2014
hmknightnc wrote:
.....
Folks, he's got a 50 amp service RV which is actually two 120 volt hots at 50 amps each or a total of 100 amps on the common neutral. A 50 amp RV can handle 12,000 watts.
.

Wrong. You need to understand how split phase 240 vac works. Since the two hot legs are 180 out of phase you never have more than 50 amps on the neutral. And it just so happens that if each hot leg is supplying the exact same current then there will be no current thru the neutral.
lfd311
Explorer
May 24, 2014
If you used THIS, why wouldn't this work?? This is the same concept for what you're asking about...right??
hmknightnc
Explorer
May 24, 2014
KD4UPL wrote:
Even if you hooked up what your proposing and didn't burn up a generator you still have the possibility of overloading the neutral wire. If you've got 4 2 kW gen. hooked up that's 8,000 watts potentially. At 120v that's almost 67 amps. That's way too much current for the neutral.

Folks, he's got a 50 amp service RV which is actually two 120 volt hots at 50 amps each or a total of 100 amps on the common neutral. A 50 amp RV can handle 12,000 watts.

I personally wouldn't do what he is proposing due to the potential of a hell of a short generator to generator if something fails but it is truly in theory possible to do.
john_bet
Explorer II
May 24, 2014
nylyon wrote:
Well, all I know is the transfer switch on my house cuts the HOT only. When I test my generator it *ties* the neutral to the power grid (a lot more than another generator I'll tell ya that) with my generator and the test is successful every time.

I don't see where this is any different, if there's no circuit's using both legs of the 50A service.
More than likely your gens neutral is tied to the utility neutral some where besides the transfer sw. contact points. Probable straight to the neutral bar. I have install many gens and transfer sw.s
ChooChooMan74
Explorer
May 24, 2014
Here is some info I found about paralleling generators. Although this is about doing so in a power plant, what you are doingis making a little power plant.

http://nuclearpowertraining.tpub.com/h1011v3/css/h1011v3_110.htm
nylyon
Explorer
May 24, 2014
Well, all I know is the transfer switch on my house cuts the HOT only. When I test my generator it *ties* the neutral to the power grid (a lot more than another generator I'll tell ya that) with my generator and the test is successful every time.

I don't see where this is any different, if there's no circuit's using both legs of the 50A service.
KD4UPL
Explorer
May 24, 2014
Even if you hooked up what your proposing and didn't burn up a generator you still have the possibility of overloading the neutral wire. If you've got 4 2 kW gen. hooked up that's 8,000 watts potentially. At 120v that's almost 67 amps. That's way too much current for the neutral.

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