newbie question

[tomasball]

I just acquired a 2000 Four Winds Class C. I observe that in the electrical compartment where the shoreline is, there is a female 50 amp outlet. I find no mention of this in the manual. Stupid question: what is this?

[enblethen]

The photo that Iamichabod posted is a 30 amp 120 volt setup.
Be carefull! 30 amp rigs are 120 volts 3 wire. A 50 amp rig is 120/240 volts 4 wire.

[Rick_Jay]

tomasball,

Welcome to the Forums!!!

It looks like you have this figured out. I'd just like to clarify as to the amperage/voltage of your rig. I'm guessing it's a 30A connection, not a 50A, correct?

As stated above, a 50A connection will have FOUR wires and prongs (2 HOTS, a NEUTRAL and a GROUND) on the plug. If it only has 3 (1 HOT, a NEUTRAL and a GROUND), then it is a 30A RV connection, as shown by IAMICHABOD.

This is important to know when you're looking for a campsite. If your rig is only 30A, you need not pay extra for a site with a 50A hookup if you don't need it. There might be advantages to doing so, but we'll leave that for another thread. 🙂

I don't know if Four Winds made 50A Class C's in that era, but if your rig IS 50A, then there can be a great advantage in hooking up to 50A service. In a nutshell, 30A RV hookup is 30 amps of 120VAC. A 50A RV hookup is two 50A connections of 120VAC (total of 240VAC across the two hots). The difference in available power from each is considerable. The 30A connection is good up to about 3,600 Watts, the 50A connection is good up to about 12,000 Watts.

But if your rig is 30A, then there's generally no need for you to look for a 50A hookup. Hope this helps clear up some things too! Feel free to ask questions. We were all newbies at one time or another!

Again, welcome!

~Rick

[tomasball]

Thanks for the help. I'm struggling to learn all the ins and outs of this machine.

[bobndot]

tomasball wrote:
I just acquired a 2000 Four Winds Class C. I observe that in the electrical compartment where the shoreline is, there is a female 50 amp outlet. I find no mention of this in the manual. Stupid question: what is this?

4 prong is 50amp, 3 prong is 30amp ,

the generator when running, feeds its power to that outlet.
I leave my power cord plugged into it. When I stop driving and need 120v power, all I need to do is fire up the genny, its already plugged in with no need to go outside.
It also allows you to run the coach AC while driving if you need to.

When you are parked at home or at a campsite and need shore power, you unplug your power cord from that outlet and connect it to your shore power.

Doing it this way is a manual way to switch the power supply from shore to generator without the need for a transfer switch. A transfer switch which is sometimes optional equipment on some rvs. It does make it a little easier but they can burn out and would need to be replaced. The way yours is set up now, is manual with nothing to break.

[IAMICHABOD]

tomasball wrote:
That's interesting. How could I tell if that was the case?

Your RV may not have an auto Transfer switch.

The older style RVs usually had a plug (female receptacle) When you plug into shore power, the plug goes to the receptacle on the pedestal.

When you need the generator to power up the A/C and other outlets, the plug goes into the receptacle in the storage bay. If you don't plug the cord into the receptacle, the generator will run but will not connect (power up) This is how you test it.


Look in your electric bay or one of the others see if you can find something like this


Plug your shore cord into it to power the RV from the generator

[tomasball]

That's interesting. How could I tell if that was the case?

[enblethen]

Some rigs require the shore power cord to be plugged into a receptacle that is fed from the genset. A poor man's transfer switch!