30/ 15 adapters

I've been in the same dilemma I'm adding a second ac to my 30 amp system. I am taking the second A/C wiring into a small breaker box and 20 amp breaker like this...breaker box
and a 10 or 12 gauge pigtail with a plug coming out of it. The 20 amp breaker is 8 bucks.
And I am using this at the trailer not at the power pole....adapter and then one of these....50 amp ext cord I,m shortening my 30 amp cord out of the trailer to 2ft and making an ext cord out of it in case I need a 30 amp while making room in my small electrical center. I am also adding an outlet off the other 20 amp breaker from my 5500 gen, its already wired. Additionally I am using two dometic b59530 high efficiancy a/c's that draw 9.9 amps each and put out close to 15k according to Dometic and they can run off a 15 amp breaker.
This way it looks like you are running a 50 amp service (in the case of CG's that don't allow 2 cords) you have the original breakers for the 30 amp and an additional 20 amp breaker just for the A/C. I don't see any danger here on 50 amps except to the 50 amp ext cord if it shorts, the rest of the trailer/rv is protected by the original and added breakers. If on shore power you plug in 30 amp trailer and 20 amp A/C, if on gen you plug in 30 amp to original plug and A/C on the 20 amp load center with it's own breaker........and there you have it.

Busdriver wrote:
No issue some campgrounds don't have 50 amp hookups they have 30 amp plug with a 15 amp beside of it , was told you could buy an adapter that plugs in to the 30 and 15 that makes 45 amps

Not likely in that situation.

For it to work, the 30 circuit and the 15 circuit need to be on different phases (different sides of the 240 service).

If the people who did the original installation were too cheap to actually do a 240 50 amp service, they probably were too cheap to put in the extra wire to get two phases to each pole too.

I have my electrical running exactly like RobB described. Trouble free for years.

No issue some campgrounds don't have 50 amp hookups they have 30 amp plug with a 15 amp beside of it , was told you could buy an adapter that plugs in to the 30 and 15 that makes 45 amps

Busdriver wrote:
Do they work as they say 45 amps

What issue are you trying to resolve?

BTW I used my cheater cord one time - not a cost effective purchase.

I installed an additional independent circuit with 2 interior plugs that can be plugged into a rig plug when on 50A or use an extension to plug into a 20A pedestal plug when using a 30A pedestal plug - ie 30+20A power.

Busdriver wrote:
Do they work as they say 45 amps

Known as a cheater cord. Will trip a GFCI which is a very common 15/20A plug.

For the cheater cord that has 2 30A male plugs it may also overload the neutral depending upon how the 2 pedestal plugs are wired.

There are other potential safety issues and the use of the cheater cord should be avoided.

For various reasons some CG's do not allow it's usage.

If your RV is 50 amp. using one of those adapters you can get (depending on the adapter) 45/2 50/2 or 60/2 amps.. Why do I keep saying /2

Well 50 amp service is 50 amps TIMES Two.. That is two 50 amp legs. Now I can give you the technical reasons for doing this but please just take my word there are good reasons.. that's 12000 watts

The most you can get with a 30/30 adapter is 7200 watts and at that there is risk

Second, as others have said if either outlet is GFCI protected (And I've seen 30 amp outlets so protected) Click of darkness ensues as soon as you plug in the 2nd plug


Finally
the power in a 50 amp RV is "Divided" you actually have two 120 volt systems, we usually call them L-1 and L-2.. ideally for example the Kitchen and one A/C are on one leg (Does not matter which, L stands for Leg by the way) the other A/C and the water heater on the other. remaining outlets are also divided between them

The adapter gives you 30 amps on one leg
And whatever the other plug is connected to on the other leg

DO THEY WORK?

I have one campground where it's all 30 amp outlets. about half of them are GFCI and no it does not work there.. The other half are NOT so I use one of the 30/30 cheater box devices, works great

I have one where there are a couple sites I can do the same thing.. But only a couple of sites

I can run nicely on 30/30 30/20 I have to be very careful but on 30/30 I'm good

I do this all the time at a campground with my 30A Trailer plugged into the 30A service plug and an extension cord running my electric heater in the trailer plugged into the 20A pedestal service.

On the 30A side my trailer can pull up to 30A before tripping the pedestal 30A breaker. On the extension cord side I can draw up to the 20A service before tripping the pedestal 20A breaker.

So I guess you can say I an hooked to a total of 50AMP service here...



Using this type of adapter would not be a good idea being plugged into a 50A Service connector at the site pedestal. The 20A plug used here would be fed by a 50A breaker in the site pedestal...


Doing this at your house using one of these type 30A(M)-20A(M) to 50A(F) adapter may be a different story... You would think one of your 50A zones in your trailer would only get a 30A service and the other 50A zone would get a 20A service using one of these adapters...

The adapters would be very illegal if the HOT side is a MALE PLUG that someone could touch when energized... Using this on a trailer like the Class C where you have an on-board generator might do this to an adapter plugged into the shore power connection. It should be protected from this by using a switchover contactor on the RV side but I would double check using a multi-meter just to be sure...



Roy Ken

Busdriver wrote:
Do they work as they say 45 amps

You are going to have to explain what you mean by "30/15 adapter".

That term is most often used to describe a device with a male 15 amp plug on one side and a female 30 amp connector on the other......to allow you limited service from an under-rated outlet.