HI folks,I'm brand spanking new to RVing. The trailer I am attempting to make "usable" is a 1988 Companion Classic. Needs work. My question: when using a 30 amp to 20 amp plug converter does it follow that a portion of the original 220 circuits will not work. Or does the adapter send current to both sides of the 220. I do not have the option of a 30 amp 220 connection. Only 20 amp 110. Some circuits are not working and I want to determine if this is normal or a malfunctioning adapter. Thanks!!!!!Rob

Hi Rob,Welcome to the forums.RV's almost never use 240 volts.There are two legs of 120 volts each on a 50 amp rv serviceWhen using an appropriate adapter both legs will be powered.On a 30 amp RV there is only one leg and it is 120 volts. The adapter simply provides a way to plug into a 'standard' house outlet.NEVER plug a 30 amp RV into 240 volts or you may let out the magic blue smoke.I hope this helps.

PS - The magic blue smoke is NOT desirable! lol Seriously, 50 to 30 and 30 to 20 amp adapters hardly ever go bad with proper use. I’d look elsewhere. Your comment indicates to me you should stop all electrical work on your RV and do a bunch of reading.

30 amp is one leg of 120 volts. No 240 volts in thirty amp rigs.Yes, you can but 30 to 15/20 amp adapter for use in a standard house hold receptacle.Adapter

Just how big is your rig? 35'? 30'?I have a 35' 10-wheel school bus that I manage with a pitiful 15-amp service.If your duplex outlet has 12-gauge wire you can use a different plug. Called a SPECIFICATION GRADE, like it or not I have never had an issue with consuming 17 or even 20-amps through a 15-amp rated spec receptacle AND plug (Look for Hubbell brand. Go to the hardware store and buy a six inch piece of 12 AWG house wire and use it as a guide. By no means try and use a smaller wire in your receptacle box to feed twenty amps. DON'TTry to use a roof air conditionerUse an electric hot water heaterUse more than a single electric heaterUse a microwave in conjunction with say a coffeemaker, or other high wattage applianceYou have to be very frugal with with wattage appliances.You absolutely must get an accurate digital voltage gauge (plug in) and look at it when plugging it or switching on a new load. The maximum load is determined by voltage. When voltage drops to 105 volts that's it. Period. Turn something else off before starting the new load.Life would be a lot easier if you could arrange to have a 50-amp 240 volt service drop installed. If that's impossible you must plan on major concessions by maxing out on 1/4th the power. You also need to use a bridge wire to connect both incoming L1 and L2 phases together. Get a 100 lb cylinder for gas or even a 250 gallon LPG tank set.This is a lot of info packed into a tiny space so please re-read it,

As piano said. When an RV is 50 amps it's does have 240 volts in the power center but they feed two banks of 120. In your house panel you have two strips of 120 but the double pole breaker pulls from both strips giving you 240. The problem with 30 amp RV is that if you run two large draw appliances like the microwave and water heater you are maxing the system out. I have a monitor and see 29 or 30 amps when I'm running the air and the microwave. I don't run two things at a time but have forgotten so I checked the draw. I have run my ac on a 20 amp circuit with an heavy duty extension cord. You want to be sure that the receptacle and plugs and adapter are all clean and snug. Before you go far on fixing those circits you may want to check for a hot skin and be sure the basics are in order. You don't know what the last person may have done. You don't want it to burn so no matter if electrical, propane, grinding or welding have a fire extinguisher on hand. Before using the propane appliances and especially before sleeping in it be sure the detectors are new and working. Welcome to the forum. These old timers in here know everything.

Newbie! 30 amp to 20 amp converter | Good Sam Community

Boomerweps
Explorer
Dec 13, 2018
Enough with the 50 amp discussion. It is a waste of space and off topic/not applicable, at least doubling the posts.
Likely confusing the OP.
time2roll
Nomad
Dec 13, 2018
DutchmenSport wrote:
troubledwaters wrote:
Some people should not be giving electrical advice; they don't know what they're talking about. There definitely is 240V available in a 50A RV; it's just not generally used.

So are you saying, I can plug in a 220 volt appliance into a standard 50 amp outlet at a campground and get 220 volts, yet take a "normal" 50 amp plug for an RV and plug into the same outlet and get 50 amp / 110 volt?
Yes that is true. Both are available. Standard NEMA 14-50 power.

From this common service we can draw 120 or 240 volts.

Even clearly says it right on the connector:
troubledwaters
Explorer III
Dec 13, 2018
DutchmenSport wrote:
troubledwaters wrote:
Some people should not be giving electrical advice; they don't know what they're talking about. There definitely is 240V available in a 50A RV; it's just not generally used.

So are you saying, I can plug in a 220 volt appliance into a standard 50 amp outlet at a campground and get 220 volts, yet take a "normal" 50 amp plug for an RV and plug into the same outlet and get 50 amp / 110 volt?
Yes, that is exactly what I am saying (providing it is wired correctly).
vermilye
Explorer
Dec 13, 2018
Look behind the stove in your household kitchen. Same 50 amp connector as the one at the campground.
maddog348
Explorer
Dec 13, 2018
vermile ~~~ mine is 110 looks nuthin like CG 50A
D_E_Bishop
Explorer
Dec 13, 2018
SoundGuy wrote:
D.E.Bishop wrote:
I tried reading all the replies and got a horrible headache. I didn't see a real answer to your problem and/or question.

I thought I did ;) - plug his trailer's 30 amp male plug into a 30 amp female > 15 amp male dogbone and he can power his trailer just fine off a standard 15 amp or 20 amp receptacle. Since a 30 amp feed is a single circuit that means if some 120 vac circuits in the trailer work while others don't then OBVIOUSLY the problem has to be downstream of the power source, the adapter he's using, and the main service cable that's feeding the trailer. First thing to look for are tripped / faulty breakers protecting the circuits that don't work - perhaps it's as simple as a loose wire connection, either at the converter or somewhere in one of the receptacles.

I'm sorry that I missed your reply. There were so many that went into all sorts of directions. My apologies.
drsteve
Explorer
Dec 13, 2018
healsing wrote:
HI folks,

I'm brand spanking new to RVing.

The trailer I am attempting to make "usable" is a 1988 Companion Classic. Needs work.

My question: when using a 30 amp to 20 amp plug converter does it follow that a portion of the original 220 circuits will not work. Or does the adapter send current to both sides of the 220. I do not have the option of a 30 amp 220 connection. Only 20 amp 110. Some circuits are not working and I want to determine if this is normal or a malfunctioning adapter.

Thanks!!!!!

Rob

There are no 240v circuits in your trailer unless a previous owner added them, which is highly unlikely. Everything is 120v AC, or 12v DC.

If some circuits are not working it has nothing to do with the adaptor. You have a problem either in the trailer's AC power panel or somewhere in a circuit downstream of the branch circuit breakers.
DutchmenSport
Explorer
Dec 13, 2018
maddog348 wrote:
vermile ~~~ mine is 110 looks nuthin like CG 50A

If you do much camping and travel to different locations, you just never know what kind of electric source you may end up with. When we had our 30 amp only travel trailers, I purchased a 50 amp (male) to 30 amp (female) dogbone, so I could hook up my 30 amp trailer to a 50 amp outlet. I used it only twice in almost 20 years, but the twice I used it, it was worth it to have hauled around for years and years.

Now that my 5er is 50 amp, I've recollected all the adapters again to go the other way, to start with a 20 amp household plug and end up with the 50 amp RV plug. Just in case ... you never know, especially if visiting relatives at their homes.

If I'm confused over all this 50 amp stuff, I can't imagine what the OP is thinking.

Reason I'm so concerned is because I want to get a 50 amp RV outlet installed at home (I have 2 different 30 amps I put in myself), but this 50 amp is just confusing the stuffings out of me. And yes... I do have the phone number for an electrician that can and will do the work... I'm not tackling this one alone! I'm waiting on weather to get a bit warmer, because everything will be done outside where I have a junction splitter box for house and garage.
troubledwaters
Explorer III
Dec 13, 2018
Do you have two 120V hots, a ground and a neutral in your splitter box? If not, you got a problem right out of the gate. Your 30A only required one 120V hot. Now you need two.
Secondly, is the wire sized correctly for 50A? Your 30A required smaller wire, the 50A requires a larger gauge wire.
Conduit size may also be an issue (if the wire is run in conduit).
Many issues to consider, it's not straightforward.
drsteve
Explorer
Dec 13, 2018
DutchmenSport wrote:

Reason I'm so concerned is because I want to get a 50 amp RV outlet installed at home (I have 2 different 30 amps I put in myself), but this 50 amp is just confusing the stuffings out of me. And yes... I do have the phone number for an electrician that can and will do the work... I'm not tackling this one alone! I'm waiting on weather to get a bit warmer, because everything will be done outside where I have a junction splitter box for house and garage.

Your 50A outlet will require 6/3 gauge wire with ground at a minimum. But since you did your own wiring for the 30A you should have no problem with the 50A. The only difference is the extra hot wire and the double pole breaker. Neutral is still the white wire, and ground is the bare conductor.