Electric Pigtails
New RV'er with a Class A motor home. It uses a 30 amp power. Can someone please explain going "down" from a 50a, and "up" from a 15a. I understand I can use a pigtail, 50a to my 30a with no problem...
Forum Discussion
Old-Biscuit wrote:Sam Spade wrote:Bill.Satellite wrote:
If you want to plug your 30 amp coach into a lesser circuit like a home 15 amp plug you use the same type adapter but in this case the home circuit breaker will limit the draw and the home breaker will trip if you try to exceed the limit of the plug.
While this is technically true it is NOT a good thing to do.
If the A/C gets real close to a 15 amp draw, cords and connections tend to overheat BEFORE the breaker will trip. The old weathered outlet at the pole will likely be the first thing to go.
I tried that at home and it did not work out. The breaker tripped after a few minutes and the outlet was hot.
I think you should avoid campgrounds that provide only a 15 amp circuit or run your generator when you need A/C.
Lived in our 5th wheel along side of house while it was on market (house empty) using the 15A outlet in garage (nothing else being used in that circuit) for converter AND 15K A/C Unit.
None of the dogleg adapters used (15A/30A and then 30A/50A) got hot and only tripped house 15A CB ONCE when microwave was turned in and A/C was still on. Otherwise one or other and no problems for the 2 months.
I agree. I have lived in my 50 amp coach using a 15 amp circuit many times. It's not a lot of fun as you have to be very careful about what's running but otherwise I have never had an issue with hot wires or outlets. Now, if you were trying to run a long extension cord from a household outlet to the RV and then trying to run max amps I could see where this could be an issue (so don't do that!).
