Any ideas???
Hi All, We've had our travel trailer on a seasonal site for almost 4 years. A couple years ago I did a power plug conversion on the cord. Over the last 6 months we have had drops in our 110v syste...
Forum Discussion
mkirsch wrote:
Are all the circuits (20A, 30A, 50A) serviced by the same line in a typical RV power pedestal? In other words, one line comes into the pedestal, and it's split out into the 20A, 30A, and 50A plugs. Or, is each one a separate circuit from the central power distribution?
If they share a common feed, you could just plug in a lamp to the 20A outlet and not have to figure out any additional adapters.
Though, a 30A plug to 20A socket adapter would be handy to have to quickly plug something in at the pedestal when the power goes out next time.
Yes and no. There is only one main feed to the pedestal typically for all the circuits, but (assuming there's a 50A connection) it is a split-phase feed with two legs. Often, but probably not always, the 30A and 20A connections are made on opposite legs of the incoming power feed.
If you're losing both legs at the same time because of difficulties farther upstream in the electrical system, such as because the incoming single-phase utility power is having trouble, then these details don't really matter. If you're losing one of the two legs on the campground loop, then it can make a difference.
(As an aside, it's permitted--as of the 2008 NEC apparently--to wire 50A receptacles for RVs with two phases of a 120/208 three phase supply, rather than a 120/240 split single phase. In a park wired like that, it's possible that a utility problem on one or two of the three phases upstream from the RV park would still cause half of a pedestal to lose power. The differences are completely academic for what's being discussed here.)
