50 amp in a 30

Interestingly enough, we are currently at a 30 amp site in LAKE Havasu, Az. It's Hot and I shut down the electric element in the water heater and my extra freezer...but happy to say both airs are running and voltage is still hovering at 120 volts. My amp meters in the mh dont work but breaker is holding and dog bone is not hot. The dogs are happy too!!

ETCrockett wrote:
Our TT ran on 30 amp and we used our AC and electric water heater. We ran everything electric. We would turn off the AC when using the microwave. Now we have a 2016 FW that runs on 50 amp. When 30 amp is all that is available, we only run one AC, the residential fridge and the electric water heater. I don’t know why people are saying don’t run the electric water heater. I have not seen anything in the owner’s manual of either RV I have owned that says you can’t use the electric water heater when on 30 amp shore power. Check your manual to see if your unit has this restriction.

Exactly the same here.

I wonder if some folks who have 50 amp units have ever owned a 30 amp unit. When we had our 30amp 5er we thought that folks only had 50 amps so they could have a 2nd a/c.

Now we have a 50amp 5er with 2 a/cs we still think the same!!

valhalla360 wrote:

BB_TX wrote:
Trial and error. One AC, water heater on gas, limit other high amp devices. If you trip the park 30 amp breaker, no harm done. Just remember what you did and don’t do it again.

Only do this if you check the amperage draw.

30amp is a nominal rating and implies the peak load. Continuous loads are limited to 80% (24amps) per the ratings...and that assumes the park system isn't' wonky.

If you run continuous at or near 30amp and manage not to blow the breaker, you can burn things up and while rare, possibly start a fire.

This is something to watch!
We had a bad 50 amp breaker at a site and ran on the 30 amp for about a day in cold weather before it could be replaced. At the time thought the furnace fan was bad so used a space heater and the fireplace heat to stay warm. We destroyed a poor 50 to 30 amp dog bone! We were drawing about 26 to 28 amps with both heating units running.

pianotuna wrote:
Hi Valhala360,

That's a nice write up on hybrid inverter/chargers.

However, do please realize that it is not "voltage support" (a la autoformer).

It is possible to limit the incoming amperage. Since I'm 30 amp, I limit at 24. If I'm boondocking, I drop that to 12.

If load support is active and the batteries drop too low, then the shore power breaker will trip. DAMHIK.

After this summer, I'll be moving to a 7.2 KWH usable capacity battery bank.

In the days before I had load support, I would do double conversion--plugging in only the converter--and running the RV from a 2500 watt inverter, powered by the
875 amp-hour (3.2 kwh usable) battery bank.

Agreed, things get more complicated in order to really maximize the available power.

Even most inverter/chargers don't do load support and yes, voltage is a separate issue You really need to have a firm understanding of what you are trying to do and how your system operates to maximize the benefits.

With 7.2kwh usable battery (pretty darn large by most standards), drawing off the batteries for extended periods becomes much more practical as long as eventually, there is an opportunity to recharge. You could pull 500w for 14hr to boost for air/con during the day. Assuming it cools off at night and can send 750w of power back into the batteries, it's viable but you would have to be keeping close tabs on things.

Hi Valhala360,

That's a nice write up on hybrid inverter/chargers.

However, do please realize that it is not "voltage support" (a la autoformer).

It is possible to limit the incoming amperage. Since I'm 30 amp, I limit at 24. If I'm boondocking, I drop that to 12.

If load support is active and the batteries drop too low, then the shore power breaker will trip. DAMHIK.

After this summer, I'll be moving to a 7.2 KWH usable capacity battery bank.

In the days before I had load support, I would do double conversion--plugging in only the converter--and running the RV from a 2500 watt inverter, powered by the
875 amp-hour (3.2 kwh usable) battery bank.

philh wrote:

pianotuna wrote:

I use load support from my inverter charger.

What is this?

MOST INVERTERS DO NOT but a few higher end inverters, can see the hertz from the pedestal and match it's output. This allows the electrical system to draw from both the pedestal and inverter simultaneously.

Particularly useful for short term peak loading. Let's say, you are drawing 2700w and want to run the 1000w microwave for 5min. With just shore power, that would put you beyond what a 30amp outlet could theoretically provide. In this case, the inverter could throw a few hundred watts at the problem for 5 min to support the loads. Then once done, it could pump the power back to recharge the battery bank.

This won't work well for high long duration loads. Let's say you are running 3000w for 2 air/con units plus an extra 800w for fridge, TV, lights, etc...on a hot day where the air/con units are running continuously. That would put you at 3800w. Load support might be pulling 800-1000w off the battery bank...unless it's a really big battery bank, it will go dead very quickly.

pianotuna wrote:

I use load support from my inverter charger.

What is this?

BB_TX wrote:
Trial and error. One AC, water heater on gas, limit other high amp devices. If you trip the park 30 amp breaker, no harm done. Just remember what you did and don’t do it again.

Only do this if you check the amperage draw.

30amp is a nominal rating and implies the peak load. Continuous loads are limited to 80% (24amps) per the ratings...and that assumes the park system isn't' wonky.

If you run continuous at or near 30amp and manage not to blow the breaker, you can burn things up and while rare, possibly start a fire.

Let's see.....on 30 amp pedestals I run one 15k air, water heater on electric, residential refrig, separate RV freezer(120 volt), separate small bar refrigerator, inverter/charger plus a couple TV's generally.

On occasion I've run both airs on 30amps as long as they don't start up at the same time. As others have said, trial and error will determine your best use.