pluging in to 110 v when parked

[lrash]

Hello all. I am new to Class A motorhomes. Have had travel trailers and 5th wheels. Here is my question: My buddy keeps his Class A plugged in to 50 amp all the time, even when parked at home. I do not have 50 amp service where I park my 2008 Cross Country 383 FWS but do have 110. Would it help to keep batteries charged or be advisable to plug in to 110 when parked at home? Thank you for your help

[hershey]

I think we have covered every possible problem you will run into and now to answer your question: yes, go ahead and keep it plugged in. 🙂 🙂 🙂
Now as to determine which end of the extension cord you should plug into the wall outlet??? That leave a lot of room for much more discussion. 🙂 I suggest the pointy end.

[rgatijnet1]

Since the OP was asking about keeping his batteries charged, the answer is YES it is advisable to keep his coach plugged in to a shore power outlet.
That being said some inverter/chargers will not charge BOTH the house and chassis batteries when plugged in to shore power. He may need an additional battery charger to take care of his chassis batteries.
When the coach is sitting there are several parasitic items that will drain your house and chassis batteries, depending on how they are wired. You will have the CO detector, the propane detector, the smoke detector, the radio memory, satellite boxes, etc.
Keeping your batteries fully charged is the best way to prevent them from freezing during the Winter, unless you want to remove them and put them in a warm location.

[BBFD]

RoyB wrote:
The 50A to 20/15A Adapters are hard to find - may not even exist.. What I would do here if I had a 50AMP Trailer would be to use the standard RV50A to 30A long adapter and then plug-in a RV30A-15A long adapter to be able to plug in the extension cord back to the garage/house 120VAC receptacle..

Roy Ken

I got my 50>15amp from Amazon for $45 last year. It's a great option as then I can just easily string a 12ga extension cord out to the TH when I have it home to load or am working on it. I only need power to move slides, run the fridge and LED lights so there is plenty of juice.

[jlrobison2]

Check out Northern Tool + Eq. Trickle Battery Charger . $19.99 . Other are listed . Might find at Auto Zone . Will not keep up with Frig .

[Effy]

Echoing most of what has been said, just be mindful what you run. I know running my AC on 20A while doing trip prep, the cord can get pretty warm. Trying to pull more AMPS than what a source is rated is where things get touchy.

[RoyB]

The 50A to 20/15A Adapters are hard to find - may not even exist.. What I would do here if I had a 50AMP Trailer would be to use the standard RV50A to 30A long adapter and then plug-in a RV30A-15A long adapter to be able to plug in the extension cord back to the garage/house 120VAC receptacle..

Just be aware that by plugging into a 20A/15A house receptacle will only have limited current to run your high wattage appliances. You have to watch what is turned on at the same time.

I plug my 30A trailers into the garage 20AMP receptacles all the time here at my house and can run everything inside the trailer including Air Conditioner. I just just can't run two high wattage appliance at the same time otherwise it will trip the house circuit breaker.

I use a HD 10 gauge (10-3) Contractor type 50-foot extension for my 30AMP Trailer. I have used a 12-gauge (12-3) Extension cord but did notice some voltage drop on the trailer side.

I don't think I would even consider using a 14GA or 16GA Extension cord like you see available from WALMART (the red color ones) etc..

I also use a RV 120VAC plug-in AC VOLTMETER inside my 30AMP trailer which has the SAFE ZONE printed on the meter scale that I can check before turning on a high wattage appliance item.



Just feel your connections and make sure they are not getting over heated on you.

Once you have the RV 50A and 30A long Adapters you will find other uses for these in your trailer trips.

Great for visiting the kids and then you can sleep in your RV sitting in their driveway.

Roy Ken

[wa8yxm]

First: 110 is no longer used,

You have 120 volts, possibly at 15, 20 or if previously installed for a smaller RV 30 amps. Speaking of the voltage is not really proper.

Assuming you wish to plug into either 15 or 20 amps (Some home "Duplex" receptacles are 15 or 20 amps (Plug's choice) (So are some of the outlets in this RV).

Yes, You may do that, no problem,, I used to run this rig on 20 amps (or less) at home.

Just remember, you can not run a lot of stuff.. ONE A/C. or the water heater OR the microwave OR a space heater,, but not two of the above and on 15 amps not even one of the above with the fridge. (On 20 you can run one and the fridge).

[Dale_Traveling]

Up sides and down to having constant power. First you will need to check your AC/DC converter charger to insure it has multistage capability. Most do but some do not. A constant high charge rate can boil the batteries dry

If you only have 15 or 20 amp power available just be mindful of what systems you might run from time to time. With the fridge on electric power up an air conditioner and you could trip the breaker for the outlet powering the coach.

And finally, most building codes require outlets that could get wet to be protected with a GFI device. Sometimes a GFI and a coach will not get along and the GFI will trip.

I was able to run a 30 amp circuit to my driveway and the coach is always powered. During the summer fridge is always on keeping the items we leave cold. Starting our fifth year with the rig and have not run into any problems with constant power.

[donn0128]

Sure! Makes no difference what type of RV it is. Reason for leaving it plugged in is battery charge.