30/30 pigtail

[camp104]

I have a spliter that has 2 30 amp plugs that are wired to a 50 amp plug so I can plug into my motor home I was told that if I plug into 2 30 amp plug that I would get 50 amp to the RV? Has anyone ever done this? TOM

[camp104]

Thank you everyone that has responded to my question I have learned alot. I have my Y hooked to 2 30 amp separate plugs and things are good. TOM

[wa8yxm]

rgatijnet1 wrote:

wa8yxm wrote:
You will not get full 50 amp service, and they only work when you have outlets that are NOT GFCI protected.. I have two places I can use mine, rest of the time it's a dust collector.

I think that you are thinking of the 30/20 amp adapters since the 30 amp outlets are not GFI protected.

No, I typed exactly what I meant.. I have been in 1.5 places where the 30 amp outlets are GFCI protected.. one was a Forest Service campground and the other (half) is a moose lodge.. At the lodge I pick two side by side outlets that are NOT GFCI and it works, but half the breakers are GFCI.. all the 30 amp breakers at the Forest Service place were GFCI.

[Bill_Satellite]

camp104 wrote:
I have a spliter that has 2 30 amp plugs that are wired to a 50 amp plug so I can plug into my motor home I was told that if I plug into 2 30 amp plug that I would get 50 amp to the RV? Has anyone ever done this? TOM

A direct answer to your question is that if you have a 50 amp coach then you have 50 amps of service available on each leg for a total of 100 amps.
The "cheater boxes) allow you to connect 2 30 amp plugs from a Y-connector and this will provide 30 amps one each leg for a total of 60 amps. So, if you have 2 30 amp plugs on separate circuits you will have much more power than would be available from a single 30 amp plug but not quite as much power as you would have if you were plugged into a 50 amp circuit.
As mentioned, neither plug can be connected to a GFCI circuit as this will cause the circuit to trip immediately. I have never seen a 30 amp plug with a GFCI circuit so if they are truly 2 separate 30 amp plugs you are good to go.

[map40]

I have a 30-15 amp pigtail that feeds to the 50 AMP motorhome plug. It works as long as you don't have a GFCI outlet on the 15

[rgatijnet1]

wa8yxm wrote:
You will not get full 50 amp service, and they only work when you have outlets that are NOT GFCI protected.. I have two places I can use mine, rest of the time it's a dust collector.

I think that you are thinking of the 30/20 amp adapters since the 30 amp outlets are not GFI protected.

[laurencestarr]

I just left Fort Yargo state park in Georgia. My pedestal only had two (separate breakers)30 amp sockets (no 50 amp socket) and two 15 amp sockets. I had the "Y" you are talking about and used the two 30 amp sockets. I ran everything in my RV as I would if connected to a 50 amp ckt. Everything worked fine.
You can only use 1 30 amp ckt if your pedestal is used by 2 different campsites as one is for you to use and the other is for the other campsite.

[wa8yxm]

You will not get full 50 amp service, and they only work when you have outlets that are NOT GFCI protected.. I have two places I can use mine, rest of the time it's a dust collector.

[ScottG]

camp104 wrote:
Each 30 amp has its own circuit breaker.I can not use the other breaker if another RV pulls in I plugged in and my gen set says I am on 50 amp?

That means the two 30A's were on opposite sides of the panel just like 50A is and 220V was seen by your RV. It only knows it see's 220V and thus, assumes 50A. It doesn't really know how much current is available.

[camp104]

Each 30 amp has its own circuit breaker.I can not use the other breaker if another RV pulls in I plugged in and my gen set says I am on 50 amp?

[BB_TX]

Two 30 amp outlets connected via the Y adapter are well described above. But I have not stayed at any RV park that has had two 30 amp outlets specifically for one site. Maybe two 30 amp outlets on one pedestal to be shared between the two adjacent sites, in which case you could use both if no one was next to you. Don't expect that to be a common option.

More commonly the park pedestal will have a 30 amp outlet and a 20 amp outlet. The Y could use the 30 amp outlet and the 20 amp outlet (with a 30/20 adapter) to get a combined 50 amps, IF, and only IF, the 20 amp outlet is a non GFCI outlet. But codes now require the 20 amp outlet to be GFCI. So you are not likely to find a non GFCI 20 amp outlet except in an older park that has not upgraded.

[ScottG]

rgatijnet1 wrote:
Depends on how things are wired as to what you get at your MH. If there are only 2-30 amp plugs on the pedestal, I would suspect that it is wired for 120 volts and NOT the 240 volts that a normal 50 amp outlet would have. With 50 amps pedestal plug you have 2-50 amp legs that are out of phase with each other and you will have a total of 100 amps available at your main electrical panel.
If the 2-30 amp plugs are in phase and are both tied to one 120 amp supply line, the most you will have available to your main electrical panel is 60 amps or 30 amps on each hot leg of the 50 amp plug.
Now if the pedestal is wired with a 240 volt feed, and both hot lines are split and connected to 2-30 amp pedestal plugs, then you would still only have 60 amps total available at your MH since each leg is limited by the 30 amp circuit breaker.

Technically, the two legs are not out of phase with each other and are considered a single phase. They are split phase and utilize a center tap of the transformer to get the 240V. They are essentially a continuation of the same phase to each other.
Split phase power

Sorry for the Cliff Clavin moment. :B

[rgatijnet1]

Depends on how things are wired as to what you get at your MH. If there are only 2-30 amp plugs on the pedestal, I would suspect that it is wired for 120 volts and NOT the 240 volts that a normal 50 amp outlet would have. With 50 amps pedestal plug you have 2-50 amp legs that are out of phase with each other and you will have a total of 100 amps available at your main electrical panel.
If the 2-30 amp plugs are in phase and are both tied to one 120 amp supply line, the most you will have available to your main electrical panel is 60 amps or 30 amps on each hot leg of the 50 amp plug.
Now if the pedestal is wired with a 240 volt feed, and both hot lines are split and connected to 2-30 amp pedestal plugs, then you would still only have 60 amps total available at your MH since each leg is limited by the 30 amp circuit breaker.

[ScottG]

camp104 wrote:
my MH is wired for 50 amp The lodge that I'm staying @ has 2 30 amp outlets and if none parks next to me I can use both plugs.

Keep in mind your 50A is 50A X 2 120V "sides" (really split phases). So a 50A is in reality 100A.
Two 30A plugs do not do the same thing. You would at best have 50~55 amps of capacity (the 30A is derated) which is still much lower than the 100A your 50A rig is capable of.

[DrewE]

If you have a splitter with a 50A male plug and two 30A female sockets, you can use it to plug two 30A RVs into a single 50A outlet, and both will have ample power available (assuming decent campground infrastructure).

If you have a combiner with a single 50A female socket and two 30A male plugs, in theory you can plug it into two 30A sockets and get more power than with a single 30A to 50A adapter. I personally would throw the Y cable out, however, as there are a number of potential problems inherent in the setup. It will not work if either of the sockets you're plugging into has a ground fault interrupter as it by design creates a ground fault. If one of the sockets has a poor or broken neutral connection and both are on the same phase you could have a substantially overloaded neutral connection on the other one. If one of the sockets is badly miswired with swapped neutral and hot leads, plugging it in will create a short circuit that (one hopes) trips the breaker on the power pedestal. There likely are other fault modes that could be dangerous.