30 to 50 amp change

[Grandpere]

OK, this is just a thought, and I am not sure I can do it, but here goes. Our current set up in the 87 Southwind MH is 30 amp. It will only run one AC unit at a time, of course. When I had the 5500 KW Onan generator, it would run both AC units.

With that little bit of background, how difficult would it be to change the 30 amp service to 50 amp service so we have more wattage and can run both AC units? I am a shade tree electrician, can do house wiring and 12 volt on automobiles, so please keep responses in simple layman terms.

[Grandpere]

Thank you all for your replies. I now have it figured out how I m going to make the switch. Will post pictures when completed.

[time2roll]

Replacing the load center for 50a is easy although maybe a bit tedious.
Hard part is pulling 6/3 romex from the cord entry to the new 50a panel. Do you have access?

[Retired_JSO]

It would be much easier to run a dedicated 20 amp circuit to one of the A/C units and just use the 20 amp circuit in the pedestal in addition to the 30 amp. We did that for years with a fiver.

[pianotuna]

Since I urbandock a lot, I chose to add two auxiliary shore power cords. I use a system of male and female plugs to break out the water heater and the converter. Each of the added shore power cords have additional outlets that I use for powering heaters in the winter. It would be just as easy to do this with the power feed to a second air conditioner.

If there are enough shore power outlets that gives me access to 45 amps which is ample power.

For RV parks I made a break out box for fifty amp to a 30 amp, and two twenty amps each with their own breaker.

This allows me great flexibility--I can even run the generator to supplement a single 15 amp shore power source.

I can go back to the oem wiring in about 10 seconds.

[WyoTraveler]

Bumpyroad wrote:
get a newer/better EMS for that 87 and it can run both ACs. easiest fix as stated, just drop another cord off that rear AC and plug it in when needed.
bumpy

A lot easier to get to that whole main line than just the A/C.

[Bumpyroad]

get a newer/better EMS for that 87 and it can run both ACs. easiest fix as stated, just drop another cord off that rear AC and plug it in when needed.
bumpy

[WyoTraveler]

I had a 89 Pace Arrow. I made the mod. Very easy to do. Been a long time ago. There is a large switch in a kitchen cupboard to switch from front to rear A/C. I bought anther switch like it. I mounted the new swich near the generator. That was where the power came in. I wired in the switch so you could select generator or shore power. At that time RV parks were 30 amp. The second cord I wired in plugged into 20 amps. It was a very common mod back in 89.

BTW the second wire I wired in had a 30 amp plug so was heavy duty. I used a 30 to 20 adapter on it.

[navegator]

I am not an electrician, what I would do is replace the power supply cable with a "50" hook the panel minus one air conditioner, install a box for a new circuit breaker for the air and hook the the "fourth red" cable to the new box and the second air, this also means that if the RV park only has "30" I loose the second air, that is the only disadvantage.

navegator

[DrewE]

It's not an inherently difficult task, not much different than installing or upgrading a subpanel in a house. You'd have to replace the transfer switch (assuming you have one), the power inlet cord, and the main AC distribution panel with the appropriate upgraded versions. You also would have to think about how you distribute the branch circuits over the two legs.

Note that RV AC systems do not have the neutral and ground bonded together anywhere except at the generator. The transfer switch needs to switch both the line(s) and neutral. In this respect, the RV panel is wired like a subpanel in a house, rather than the main panel.

The 12V systems in the RV don't need to be changed at all from a theoretical standpoint, but if your AC and DC distribution are in the same power center you'll probably have to switch the DC side to a new power center (unless you move the AC wiring to a separate panel). If you have the original converter and it's part of the power center as some are, you probably will also need to replace it—which would be a good upgrade regardless, as they've improved a lot in the past few decades.

While it's not a job that's beyond the reach of a "shadetree electrician," if you have any doubts, I naturally recommend getting help or having your work checked over well by someone knowable since wiring problems can be dangerous and/or cause costly damage.

[jporietis]

30 amp service is 110 volt based
50 amp is 220 volt based.
First you would have to change your power panel to a 220v capable panel. 220 volt comprises two 110v legs. I assume you do not have an auto changeover switch for your generator, if you do that would also have to be changed.
once you have the new panel distribute your electrical runs between the two legs.
The actual wiring in the trailer should need little modification.

[westend]

You do know that whatever level of load center you have in your RV, you'll have to have the power source to supply it? IOW, your Onan may have supplied 50 amps of current but if you've downsized to a Honda 2000, it won't meet the demand.

To upgrade, you'll need to change out the load center, the power inlet and wiring, and buy a 50 amp shore cord. As long as you have everything in long enough wire lengths from each circuit to reach the breakers on the new load center, things could be easy. If you need to lengthen wire runs, then you will need to do some box installation and splicing. The nice thing about going to a 50 amp load center is that you can split off some circuits to another breaker to be better balanced.

An alternative, especially if the upgrade is only to solve a single issue like a second AC unit, would be to just establish another independent 20 amp circuit that is connected to an unused pedestal receptacle. How that would fit in with your generator is unknown 'cuz we don't know what you have.