Converted from 30 Amp to 50

[cavalrymedic]

This was a little bit more complicated a mod than I had attempted before, but I accomplished it in a day. My first concern was that I had a 30 Amp hardwired inlet and so I needed to switch to a 50 Amp detachable inlet. ParkPower makes a kit, but it's too pricey for my blood, so I bought the 50 Amp twist lock inlet on Ebay, then I made an adapter plate myself out of an ABS plastic cutting board to make up the difference in the size of the hole in the RV wall.

My second biggest issue was switching the romex wire that ran from the inlet to the power center. The RV had 10-2, and I decided to go with 8/3. 6/3 would have been best but 8/3 is perfectly fine for a 15 foot run. I opened up the floor pan and accessed the basement both below the power inlet and again below the power center. I used the existing 10/2 wire by tying one end to the new wire and then from the power center side, pulling the new wire into place. I then had to fish the wire back up through the floor and into the space behind the power center.

Of course, I did all of this only after having completely unhooking the batteries and A/C power.

Once I had the new wire in place, I had to upgrade the old power center with a new 50 Amp power center. I used this one which I got for about $220 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002UC8PN0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 .This is the single hardest part. I had to carefully label each A/C wire that came out of the old center and each of the 12V wires so that I could match them with appropriate fuses in the new power center. Once I had done this I began removing each A/C leg from the old center and then each 12V wire. What I hadn't anticipated was that the 12V neg (ground) for each 12V circuit was linked to a ground bus OUTSIDE of the power center, screwed to the floor behind the power center. I also had to disconnect the 12V pos and 12V neg wires which fed the power center from the batteries. Once all of that was done, I began installing the wires into the new power center. A/C wires first. I bought new circuit breakers at ACE, using Square D HOM style breakers, including the dual 50AMP breaker. The romex 12/2 wires were a tad short so it was challenging routing them inside the power center. The stretch between the neutral bar, the ground bar, and then the breaker was took a little bit of time to get right. Then I just pulled in and connected the 12V circuits, which was very straight forward, being careful to label each circuit appropriately on the power center cover. I reconnected the battery mains and tested the unit out which worked perfectly.

The new power center turned out to be about an inch wider than the old one so I had to to a little bit of cutting to the cabinet, but that was not terribly difficult.

So now, I can use the microwave and A/C and water heater at the same time. No more power worries when hooked up to 50Amp service.

[pianotuna]

Since open neutral is an issue for 50 amp service, I suggest adding a power management system from Progressive Industries.

I took a different route and simply added 2 auxiliary shore power cords. So I have the OEM 30, a 20, and a 15. That lets me run the microwave, water heater, and room air all at the same time. It also allows me to use multiple shore power connections in places such as parking lots, or Churches.