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dad4papa2's avatar
dad4papa2
Explorer
Jun 15, 2013

Electrical question please.

Ok I will admit it. I have had my MH for 5 years and have gotten along great with it. My question is that it is a 1996 Damon Intruder and it is 50 amp. Now is it 50 amp 110 volt or 50 amp 240 volt? The tag at the outside of the plug say 120/240 I think. So what volt would it be?? Thanks in advance Dad

20 Replies

  • wa8yxm's avatar
    wa8yxm
    Explorer III
    It is 50 amps at 120/240 volt, Same exactly (Save for the amprage) as your house.

    You have a 4 wire plug, the "Odd" pin is safety ground, we will ignore that for this presentation

    The other 3 are L-1, Neutral and L-2 L to Neutral is 120 volt, L1-L2 is 240.

    NOTHING in your RV should need 240 volts unless you have an Energery Management System, which uses the 240 volt to detect "50 amp service"

    If you are hooking to a 30 amp park via a dobbone, Do not worry about it the dog takes care of it.

    By the way, for 30 amp users (3-wire 120 volt) using a dogbone to hook to a 50 amp site.. Same thing, the dog takes care of it.
  • In other words, don't stick it in a dryer outlet. LOL


    Simply use anything from a standard wall outlet with conversions, all the way up to the large 120V 50 amp outlet. (Standard wall outlet at home is okay for just running the fridge & charging house batteries. Othewise you'll blow a breaker in your house.)
  • Thanks for the info all. I appreciate it. I did read the link and that tells the story. Thanks again Dad.
    Guess I can tear up this powerball ticket now .
  • Yes, Dad, you are plugging into 220 volts.
    BUT, nothing on your R V connect across
    those 220 volts......everything in your
    R V connects across 'half' of the 220 volts,
    seeing 110 volts.
  • Ok so if I don't read the link will I win the power ball? Thanks for the link I will check it out.
  • DAD4PAPA2,

    Read the following information and all your questions will be answered and you will not be the next big powerball winner.

    120/240
  • So if I am at a rv park and plug into the 50 amp box it will be 220 volts?
  • Which also means you in fact have 100 amps available as opposed to only 30 when plugged in to a 30 amp plug
  • The bottom line is that each of the two electrical legs is 50 amps @ 120 volts. The other two legs are a ground and neutral.
  • If it is a '50 Ampere' R V

    There are FOUR wires from the receptacle to the R V
    One of these is a GROUND, and is not normally in use
    (only in case of fault......trouble)

    One of the others is a NEUTRAL, which is a return path
    for the current supplied by the TWO HOT wires I will describe next
    (Yes, the current reverses 60 times per second but that
    can be ignored in this discussion)
    The OTHER TWO WIRES are HOTS......you can measure
    220 Volts between them.....but, your R V probably
    does not use 220 volts,

    You can measure 110 volts
    between EITHER of the two HOTS
    and NEUTRAL. Your R V uses these.....the loads are connected
    between either ONE of the two HOTS and the NEUTRAL. To get technical,
    the voltages are out of phase and only the difference in current between
    the two HOTS is 'returned' by the neutral.

    So, you plug into 220 volts, but USE only the 110 volts
    between one of the two HOTS and the NEUTRAL.