15/30/50 SHORE POWER PLUG IN ?

stevenal wrote:


Sparkydave,

My profession as well, registered in the state I reside in. I won't be stamping the design proposed. In your appliance example, you are plugging your UL listed #18 wire device into a NEMA 5-15 or 5-20 receptacle without an adapter, else you would be violating its listing.

https://rvnerds.com/2017/06/12/power-adapter-101/

True, it's not really up to code, but do the math. Shore power cord "burning up"? Horrors! Pardon me, but that sounds a little like worrying about the fire department getting your carpets wet if your house is on fire.

These seemingly unlikely faults that somehow draw exactly 50 amps and happen to occur between the dogbone and the circuit breakers must be a genuine concern and cause shore power cords to burn up all the time. I should get rid of my 50 amp to 30 amp dogbone right away, because if I'm plugged into a 50 amp pedestal with my 30 amp RV, I can't be violating UL and have my shore power cord rating possibly being exceeded while my RV is burning to the ground.:R Circuit breakers can and do fail, so plugging a 30 amp into a 30 amp pedestal must be dangerous too. If these faults that can cause a 50 amp fault to happen between the pedestal and the breakers, then it must be equally likely you could have a 30 amp fault in the same place while plugged into a 30 amp pedestal, but we can breathe easy because we won't be exceeding the shore power cord rating and having it "burn up". The RV will only have a 3560 watt problem inside it instead a 5900 watt problem, so the fire in the RV won't be as big :B

Now do you see what I'm getting at? Focusing on a minor issue instead of the much bigger issue in an unlikely occurrence.

Nah, I think I'll worry more about the condition of the wires and the outlets in the pedestal. I'd also worry more about the chuckleheads who wire RVs such as mine; I had all the ground wires from the 12 volt side jammed under one wire nut. Even the rat's nest of electrical tape couldn't hold it together.