camperkilgore wrote:
We live in Florida, and also have traveled in severe heat waves(109 degrees in South Dakota comes to mind), and we only had 30 amps and one a/c. For those that say one is enough, I say nay nay. Our camper is a fifth wheel, but a smaller fifth wheel and it also does not have great insulation in the roof. So it is not all that different from a lot of travel trailers.
After that trip I added another a/c. I added a small disconnect type breaker panel and power cord to power that a/c along with one of the outlets in the bedroom. The a/c unit is a low amperage efficient unit that only draws about 10 amps, so we can stay at most 30 amp sites and still run both a/c units. We use an adapter to run that a/c from the 20a outlet at the pedestal, and also use the 30a outlet at the pedestal for the rest of the trailer. No, it does not cause tripping of any of the breakers due to ground fault interupter issues.
I'm sure I'll get a lot of folks warning of dangerous wiring issues. I studied all this thoroughly before doing this project, and followed all NEC guidelines. One of which is unbonded panel for the second breaker box. My power cord for the added line is the same size as the 30a cord that came with the camper. The current draw for the added line does not excede the 20a supply from the pedestal even under worst conditions.
I realize this is the travel trailer forum and ours is a fiver, but the same issues regarding a/c and hot weather still apply. We have been thinking of downsizing to a TT, and we will probably do the same thing to whatever TT we decide to get.
I can agree that there are time when 1 A/C is not enough for a large TT. BTDT in South Carolina heat 1 A/C was not enough.
