Should I carry a dogbone adapter?
We're heading out in Sept for a week in Utah (Zion and Bryce). We're spending the first night in Las Vegas (KOA) and then onto the parks from there. My trailer has a 30amp service. Is it wise to ca...
Forum Discussion
Never leave home without one.
As noted above, 30 amp pedestals can be in really bad shape. Recepts. can be loose and have bad contact and even need to be held in place. The inside contact surfaces can be badly pitted and dirty from users not turning the breaker off before plugging in. Poor contact between plug and recept. can lead to heat and a meltdown.
30 amp breakers can also be in poor condition and not able to carry their rated current. While perfectly okay by code, pedestal breakers are in an outside environment and can be exposed to high humidity and temp. extremes, year after year.
Occasionally CG pedestals won't have a 30 amp recept. available. We were just in an older CG that had one pedestal per two sites. Oddly, every one had a 30 amp recept. and the other was 50 amps. Caused a lot of confusion for new arrivals trying to figure out what to plug into and some were even plugging into the wrong pedestal meant for another pair of sites. I used our 50-30 amp adapter because someone was already using the 30 amp recept.
Since 2005, the NEC has required min. 20% of a CG to have 50 amp recepts. and min. 70% to be 30 amps. Prior to that, only 5% had to be 50 amps. Older CGs can have no 50 amp recepts. A 50 amp pedestal can be very hard to find in a CG, esp. in the high season and when there are lots of larger RVs. If you are at a site with both 50 & 30 amps, if the 30 amps looks to be, or clearly is in bad shape, plug into the 50 amp recept. If that is no good either, you may need to find another site.
One good reason to look for a 50 amp pedestal in a CG is that the voltage is more likely to have better voltage due to heavier underground wiring to the pedestal. If a 30 or 50 amp pedestal has low voltage, you may need to find another site or even CG. Having a Hughes autoformer is another good "tool" to have for times when the voltage is low and you have no other choice. We're at a CG right now where I had to pull out our autoformer.
We also have a 30 amp to 30 amp Camco pigtail adapter so that if we absolutely have to plug into a bad 30 amp pedestal and have no other option, should the plug to pedestal connection overheat, only the adapter will get damaged. If you run into a similar situation, you should also cut your loads down to a min.
A spare 30 amp shore power cord is another good thing to have tucked away somewhere. We have a spare one with twistlock connector on it and also have a 30 amp generator adapter. This way we can have two cords plugged in together for 50' or if the cord we usually use gets damaged or stolen, we have a backup shore power cord.
A voltmeter permanently mounted inside is another thing that should be a must have. Low voltage is very common, esp. in older CGs and it can damage AC units and cause some appliances to under-perform. Oh, and a PI EMS is a highly recommended preventative device to have.
As noted above, 30 amp pedestals can be in really bad shape. Recepts. can be loose and have bad contact and even need to be held in place. The inside contact surfaces can be badly pitted and dirty from users not turning the breaker off before plugging in. Poor contact between plug and recept. can lead to heat and a meltdown.
30 amp breakers can also be in poor condition and not able to carry their rated current. While perfectly okay by code, pedestal breakers are in an outside environment and can be exposed to high humidity and temp. extremes, year after year.
Occasionally CG pedestals won't have a 30 amp recept. available. We were just in an older CG that had one pedestal per two sites. Oddly, every one had a 30 amp recept. and the other was 50 amps. Caused a lot of confusion for new arrivals trying to figure out what to plug into and some were even plugging into the wrong pedestal meant for another pair of sites. I used our 50-30 amp adapter because someone was already using the 30 amp recept.
Since 2005, the NEC has required min. 20% of a CG to have 50 amp recepts. and min. 70% to be 30 amps. Prior to that, only 5% had to be 50 amps. Older CGs can have no 50 amp recepts. A 50 amp pedestal can be very hard to find in a CG, esp. in the high season and when there are lots of larger RVs. If you are at a site with both 50 & 30 amps, if the 30 amps looks to be, or clearly is in bad shape, plug into the 50 amp recept. If that is no good either, you may need to find another site.
One good reason to look for a 50 amp pedestal in a CG is that the voltage is more likely to have better voltage due to heavier underground wiring to the pedestal. If a 30 or 50 amp pedestal has low voltage, you may need to find another site or even CG. Having a Hughes autoformer is another good "tool" to have for times when the voltage is low and you have no other choice. We're at a CG right now where I had to pull out our autoformer.
We also have a 30 amp to 30 amp Camco pigtail adapter so that if we absolutely have to plug into a bad 30 amp pedestal and have no other option, should the plug to pedestal connection overheat, only the adapter will get damaged. If you run into a similar situation, you should also cut your loads down to a min.
A spare 30 amp shore power cord is another good thing to have tucked away somewhere. We have a spare one with twistlock connector on it and also have a 30 amp generator adapter. This way we can have two cords plugged in together for 50' or if the cord we usually use gets damaged or stolen, we have a backup shore power cord.
A voltmeter permanently mounted inside is another thing that should be a must have. Low voltage is very common, esp. in older CGs and it can damage AC units and cause some appliances to under-perform. Oh, and a PI EMS is a highly recommended preventative device to have.
