wiring 50amp connector to 30amp cable question

[Comet_Camper]

I want to connect a 50amp female repair connector to a 3 wire (hot, neutral, ground) 30amp cable. Which lugs do I wire to inside the 50amp connector? (I've used 30amps in my 50amp camper with no problems). Ok, I'll give some justification..lol I had a 30amp camper and my daughter installed a 30am service for me for when I visit. I now have a newer camper (2009 Forest River Cross Creek Silver Back) with 50amp service. I had made up a 50 foot 30amp cable for the old camper and now would like to put a 50amp female receptacle on the end. For home use I bought an adapter that goes between the 30amp cable and the 50amp cable, which works well. However, I prefer not to have to haul both heavy cables with me. Is it just a matter of not wiring to one side of the hot lugs? i.e green to ground, white to neutral, black to one side of the hot lugs and the other unconnected (where the red wire would be). Thanks.

[Mission_Special]

wny_pat wrote:

I don't know what building codes you are familiar with, but the RV industry is required to follow RVIA ANSI-Accredited Standards Developer - RVIA is an accredited standards developer (ASD) by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), New York. RVIA sponsors and is currently accredited to manage the following standards: ANSI/RVIA 12v, Low Voltage Systems in CV & RVs 12V; ANSI/TSIC-1(R2013), Process Control for Assembly of Wheels on Trailers; ANSI/RVIA EGS-1, Engine Generator Sets for RV Safety Requirements; ANSI/UPA-1, Uniform Plan Approval for RVs; ANSI/A119.5, Recreational Park Trailer Standard. RVIA adheres to ANSI approved RVIA STANDARDS DEVELOPMENT OPERATING PROCEDURES and where applicable also complies with the ANSI Essential Requirements: Due process requirements for American National Standards.
To maintain our ANSI accreditation, ANSI performs an audit at least once every five years.
http://www.rvia.org/?ESID=73dZDufQTJoi.

In other words, they don't just throw them together. There are standards that they have to follow. Not saying I agree with all those standards. But they are what they are.

I did not say they just "throw them together". I did not say there are not standards. I am saying I don't agree with the standards and that the industry has better parts available to it that they don't usually use because there are cheaper but inferior parts that are available that meet those poor standards.

[I have often thought about approaching an RV company to see if I could have someone build an empty RV and let me install my own systems and furnishings. Probably not. If I decide to buy something to tow rather than something to drive, I will probably forgo the slides and convert an 8.5 wide x 35 long custom cargo trailer. Expensive but better in most regards except for the missing slides].

Remember, just as the building codes in every jurisdiction are different, the standards that the RV industry must comply with in this country are different than in every other country.

Whose standards are high enough? The answer is singular: your own.

Every year automotive safety requirements are changed. Are they good enough this year? If so, then why will they change them next year?

Why is the PIP (personal injury insurance) lower on some vehicles than on others? They ALL comply with safety requirements yet they are not all equally safe. Nobody would take seriously the safety any car that did not have seat belts, yet less than 50 years ago there was only ONE brand of automobile that offered them as standard equipment. Race cars had to have them, even then, but many believed they were not required for street use.

Standards are a MINIMUM. If you want to be proud of your industry because they meet the minimum, that is fine. My business was built on the idea that I always exceeded the minimum. Of course many businesses make money selling products and services that only meet the minimum because they can offer their products and services cheaper than the ones who exceed the minimums.

In the automotive world you can sell a Yugo and some people will buy it and feel safe. Others are not satisfied without buying a Mercedes or a Maybach. Most of us fall somewhere in between.

Cars are designed [well or poorly] as a complete system. RV's are designed as a conglomeration of standard assemblies and are not designed as a complete system. This creates design flaws and compromises that often would be otherwise unnecessary even within the market segment that particular RV is targeted at.

What is particularly disturbing to me is that many parts in a $250,000 RV THAT MOVES are not as durable as those used in a $75,000 home that never moves. It seems a paradox that an RV can offer granite counter tops and "real cherry" cabinets but use the cheapest possible plumbing fixtures just below those granite counter tops.

So far I like the overall assembly of Newmar better than most, though I may change my mind as I learn more about the brand. It just seems that brand seems better built than most in the places many people never look.

But as an example, I have seen portable generators that you could sit on top of and hardly know they are running. Yet, most RVs rumble with the vibrations of the generator mounted below deck. Same with A/C systems.

Furthermore, many RVs use bigger A/C systems rather than installing better insulation. Better insulation reduces the run time of A/Cs, which extends the life of the A/C, while using less fuel (saving money) and extending dry camping times. When traveling the insulation further reduces interior noise and there are other benefits as well. But it is hard to sell better insulation that you can't see and easier to sell bigger more expensive A/C systems that you can see.

Plumbing and electrical systems are overly complex because components are not designed to work together. I am considering at this point actually manufacturing a new integrated system have designed that would work better, last longer, be less expensive to install and maintain than the hodgepodge of systems common today even in the most expensive RVs.

So forgive me if I am not impressed by the standards that you promote above. I understand these companies all have a limited amount of resources to compete in a very competitive market. I just believe there are better ways of doing things. And when I see a part that cost $45 replace a much better one that cost $70 and I know that when that cheaper part fails it will cost $750 to fix it and the resulting collateral damage, I am not impressed.

Home builders all must meet building codes and standards. Yet builders almost always build their own home better than the ones they sell. WHY? Because standards are not enough.

[Mission_Special]

Alan_Hepburn wrote:


By your reasoning, plugging a 50A rig into a 50A outlet is dangerous - if both breakers malfunction you can draw more than 50A per line.

That is not what I am saying at all. Maybe you should reread my post.

You can count on YOUR circuit breaker. Most likely you know its condition. So when you plug YOUR 30 amp rig into their 50 amp service, you are fine. When you are plugging in YOUR 50 amp rig into their 50 amp service you are still fine because you know the condition of your 50 amp breaker.

However, TWO problems can arise when you plug YOUR 50 amp rig into THEIR 30 amp service.

1) You can count on your 50 amp breaker tripping somewhere around 50 amps, but because POSSIBLY HUNDREDS of other guys before you "adapted" their 50 amp rigs to work on their 30 amp service, many of them pressing the absolute limit of their supply, THEIR breaker may not work as designed. Your rig won't catch fire. But their side may burn.

2) As your demands approach THEIR 30 amp limit, a voltage drop will occur. The limited current capability of THEIR supply could damage YOUR rig if you are close to the limits.

I hope that clarifies the situation for you.

I used to be employed working on aircraft power supplies for our military aircraft. These power supplies cost tens of thousands of dollars and the engineers made some mistakes. Once our company put a diode in a simple rectifying circuit that was just a hair too small. Fortunately, the diode never failed in flight. But on the ground, as the systems were powered up, a counter EMF was produced that would burn out the diode because the PIV spec on the diode was fine for the operating design but was not high enough for the surge that accompanied the power up of adjacent systems. In other words if the system that the power supply supported was turned on it worked fine, but nearby systems could damage this system and thus we had to retrofit hundreds of rectifying diodes to withstand the counter EMF generated by other systems.

That RV park or that 30 amp home service was likely installed by a qualified electrician who followed a code, but who is NOT an engineer. How much more likely is a failure to occur?

Think about it this way: When do most residential electrical fires occur? Answer: Christmas season.

Why? Christmas lights are engineered to be safe. The home is built to meet all local electrical codes. Yet every year many fires occur and many people are killed when perfectly well intentioned people believe that if they plug in too many lights those circuit breakers are going to prevent a fire.

Who are these people? There are people who say things like:

Alan_Hepburn wrote:

Similarly plugging a 30A rig into a 30A outlet can be disastrous. If you go through life with that attitude you need to stay in bed rather than go off driving in an RV.

As I said in my first post. I scuba dive and ride motorcycles too. I also fly airplanes too. But that does not mean I am going to bet someone's safety or risk damage to my equipment by plugging my equipment THAT I KNOW already exceeds the design limits of the supply that I know nothing about.

Would you pull a 35 foot fiver with a Dodge Dakota pickup? If you were just going a few blocks in good weather it could be done. But is that safe? For a short distance you would PROBABLY avoid injury or damage to the tow vehicle if you HAD to go just a short distance and a proper truck was not available for the job.

But doing that is not unlike plugging in a rig that can draw 50 amps into a 30 amp supply. If you carefully monitor your load you CAN do it if 50 amp service is not available.

On the other hand with the cavalier attitude you express above, YOU would probably be better off staying in bed so as not to join the hundreds of people killed and injured every year by simply plugging in too large a load and counting on circuit breakers to protect them from harm.

Remember, as circuit breakers are repeatedly tripped, they fall out of spec. I knew a HAM radio operator that had tripped one circuit in his home so often the breaker would no longer trip at all. He had to install a new breaker to be sure his house would not burn down.

Alan_Hepburn wrote:

There are more important things to watch our for, such as uninformed electricians who install an RV 30A outlet and wire it for 240V!

How does one do that? 240V has two legs and a 30 amp breaker has just one. Unless you are talking about wiring the breaker in series with the two legs but you could not do that from within a standard breaker box. However, even then the breaker would still trip when the current reached roughly 30 amps.

Circuit breakers are tripped when the metal strip inside of them heats up and pushes against the switch. That metal strip can become deformed and fatigued which is why when they are repeatedly tripped they fall out of spec. IF you took the trouble to wire 240 volts into a 30 amp circuit, most likely it would cut the current when tripped because 240 VAC RMS actually produces a peak voltage of about 340 volts on the sine wave and under MOST circumstances that is not enough voltage to arc over the gap of a 120 volt switch.

So why would you concern yourself with such a thing. The risk is relatively small, probably smaller than plugging in a 50 amp load into a 30 amp service. Of course you have no ground leg but you don't really need a ground leg do you? I mean if you have a common then the ground is just redundant, right? Most things will run just fine without a ground. If you make sure the appliance or the rig never becomes hot then nobody will ever know the difference. And while you are at it why don't you just forget all those expensive GFCIs? I mean all you have to do is be sure your appliances don't get wet and be sure you never get close to electric circuits with wet hands, right? It will still work just fine 99% of the time.

You have the brass to talk about "uninformed electricians" - who are not at all uninformed if they are licensed, and then you will tell me I should not get out of bed because I caution the forum on plugging in a load capable of 50 amps into a 30 amp source? WOWEEEE!!!!

Ironically, you will worry about the actions "uninformed electricians" but you will plug your 50 amp rig into a 30 amp source that you know nothing about. Do you open THEIR breaker box to make sure they did not use an "uninformed electrician"? Do you test the functioning of THEIR breakers? Do you inspect THEIR wiring to be sure it will DELIVER the 30 amps YOU plan to use?

What do you know about THEIR supply? And your big concern is "uninformed electricians"?

If you think THAT is your biggest concern, bigger than plugging in a potential 50 amp load into a 30 amp supply then you should NEVER trust an electrical source that is not your own. How do you manage to get out of bed in the morning?

The problem is that we live in a dangerous world and it is not practical to second guess that the 30 amp supply is not properly set up to handle 30 amps. But when you plug in a 50 amp load you KNOW that the circuit you are plugging into is NOT designed for that potential, even if the wiring is perfect, the breaker is brand new and it was installed by the most conscientious, well informed, hardest working electrician in the world. When you do that YOU are playing the role of the "uninformed electrician".

[wny_pat1]

Mission Specialist wrote:

pianotuna wrote:
Hi Steve,

When you buy your rv, plan on replacing all the 120 receptacles. The OEM ones might be fine for say 900 watts. They would never pass code for a house.

I've noticed that. I hate the******they use in these things. Even some of the expensive units seem to use cheap parts for electrical and plumbing as well.

When I look at the Class A mega-dollar rigs I still see shortcuts.

If I thought I could make a good slide out on my own, I think I would just build my own RV.

I don't know what building codes you are familiar with, but the RV industry is required to follow RVIA ANSI-Accredited Standards Developer - RVIA is an accredited standards developer (ASD) by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), New York. RVIA sponsors and is currently accredited to manage the following standards: ANSI/RVIA 12v, Low Voltage Systems in CV & RVs 12V; ANSI/TSIC-1(R2013), Process Control for Assembly of Wheels on Trailers; ANSI/RVIA EGS-1, Engine Generator Sets for RV Safety Requirements; ANSI/UPA-1, Uniform Plan Approval for RVs; ANSI/A119.5, Recreational Park Trailer Standard. RVIA adheres to ANSI approved RVIA STANDARDS DEVELOPMENT OPERATING PROCEDURES and where applicable also complies with the ANSI Essential Requirements: Due process requirements for American National Standards.
To maintain our ANSI accreditation, ANSI performs an audit at least once every five years.
http://www.rvia.org/?ESID=73dZDufQTJoi.

In other words, they don't just throw them together. There are standards that they have to follow. Not saying I agree with all those standards. But they are what they are.

[Alan_Hepburn]

Mission Specialist wrote:


2. Electrical Current Rules You can hook up a 30 amp RV to a 50 amp source without concern. But if you hook a 50 amp RV to a 30 amp source and draw more than 30 amps, there is going to be a problem. Often that problem is burned wiring or damaged motors (like the A/C compressor motor in your RV). Sometimes that problem is a fire.

Don't count on circuit breakers to protect you. They certainly won't protect your A/C. Furthermore, circuit breakers can and do wear out! If your lucky, they will not close. If you are not lucky, they will not open. If you are Haley Joel Osment, you might "see dead people".

I have seen 20 amp breakers pass 50 amps without tripping. The wiring did not look very good afterward.

By your reasoning, plugging a 50A rig into a 50A outlet is dangerous - if both breakers malfunction you can draw more than 50A per line. Similarly plugging a 30A rig into a 30A outlet can be disastrous. If you go through life with that attitude you need to stay in bed rather than go off driving in an RV. There are more important things to watch our for, such as uninformed electricians who install an RV 30A outlet and wire it for 240V!

[Mission_Special]

pianotuna wrote:
Hi Steve,

When you buy your rv, plan on replacing all the 120 receptacles. The OEM ones might be fine for say 900 watts. They would never pass code for a house.

I've noticed that. I hate the******they use in these things. Even some of the expensive units seem to use cheap parts for electrical and plumbing as well.

When I look at the Class A mega-dollar rigs I still see shortcuts.

If I thought I could make a good slide out on my own, I think I would just build my own RV.

[wny_pat1]

pianotuna wrote:
Hi Steve,

When you buy your rv, plan on replacing all the 120 receptacles. The OEM ones might be fine for say 900 watts. They would never pass code for a house.

X-2!

And Steve, I think you completely missed the point of the OP topic. I use a dog bone adaptor all the time to adapt my 50 amp cord down to the 30 amp pedestal at campgrounds. Am not trying to draw more power from the campgrounds service, but just have power. I adapt all the way down to 20 amp at home, just so I can run the built in charger. Just wait til you meet up with some of the guys who carry their own power transformers, i.e. Hughes Autoformers. You best take your blood pressure meds before reading about them!

[wny_pat1]

pianotuna wrote:
Hi Steve,

When you buy your rv, plan on replacing all the 120 receptacles. The OEM ones might be fine for say 900 watts. They would never pass code for a house.

X-2!

And Steve, I think you completely missed the point of the OP topic. I use a dog bone adaptor all the time to adapt my 50 amp cord down to the 30 amp pedestal at campgrounds. Am not trying to draw more power from the campgrounds service, but just have power. Just wait til you meet up with some of the guys who carry their own power transformers, i.e. Hughes Autoformers. You best take your blood pressure meds before reading about them!

[pianotuna]

Hi Steve,

When you buy your rv, plan on replacing all the 120 receptacles. The OEM ones might be fine for say 900 watts. They would never pass code for a house.

[Mission_Special]

This is my first post. I have been lurking for weeks, trying to decide what kind of RV I want and how I want to set it up, so I am not going to pretend to be some kind of RV expert. HOWEVER, there are two subjects I am fairly well versed in, engines and electrical [including electronics].

You folks scare me to death. I won't get on the topic of engines, since your knowledge [or lack of knowledge] of engines will not kill you and this is not an engine thread anyway, but on the subject of electrical I am going to give y'all some fair warnings:

1. Almost water tight is not water tight. Lunchboxes do not a junction box make!! Almost dry is not dry! Damp can bleed current that will actually cost you money in a higher electric bill, but more importantly it can get someone killed.

To make a weatherproof connection between two cables, take a piece of 1/2 inch galvanized pipe about 30 inches long and bolt a small piece of plank to it. You can use wood or a scrap piece of Trex which will be forever rot free. U-bolts work well and don't require that you drill the pipe. Leave a few [2-5] inches of pipe above the plank. Screw an outdoor rated junction box to the plank. You can get one with a screw on cover for a tamper resistant set up or one with a door if you need frequent access. A small one is likely cheaper than the lunchbox described in the post above. Make your connection inside this nice, dry, safe, convenient box.

Now since the box is mounted on 1/2 inch galvanized pipe, you can stick it in the ground where it will not be kicked around, it will be above ground level where it can stay dry in the hardest rain and where it can be seen. It can also be easily moved. When you go to a new location, take a hammer and drive it back into the ground by striking it on that portion of the pipe you left sticking above the plank.

The whole thing weighs a pound or two.

You can get fancier for a price. You can use fiberglass or aluminum yard spikes, but they are not as cheap and take more space to store in your RV.

A 40 cent pipe cap can be used if you don't want any sharp edges and no hammer marks. 1/2" pipe is easier to drive than 3/4" and 1/2" is cheaper, lighter, and plenty strong. [The U-bolts are cheaper too].

If you place it close to where people drive -- or even walk, paint it bright yellow, international orange, lime green or hot pink depending on how obnoxious you want it to look.

2. Electrical Current Rules You can hook up a 30 amp RV to a 50 amp source without concern. But if you hook a 50 amp RV to a 30 amp source and draw more than 30 amps, there is going to be a problem. Often that problem is burned wiring or damaged motors [like the A/C compressor motor in your RV]. Sometimes that problem is a fire.

Don't count on circuit breakers to protect you. They certainly won't protect your A/C. Furthermore, circuit breakers can and do wear out! If your lucky, they will not close. If you are not lucky, they will not open. If you are Haley Joel Osment, you might "see dead people".

I have seen 20 amp breakers pass 50 amps without tripping. The wiring did not look very good afterward.

3. Heavy wires dude. 50 amp cables are thicker than 30 amp cables because?

A) Camping World knows if you have a 50 amp RV you can afford 50 amp cables.

B) Big RV, big tires, big money, gotta match it with big cables. It just looks cool.

C) It is a ploy by the IBEW [International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers] to keep the union workers employed by confusing everyone else with silly electrical codes.

D) A 30 amp cable cannot sustain continuous currents above 30 amps.

The answer is D. In the end it is all about heat. A 30 amp cable can take 50 amps for a very brief time [10-20 seconds?] and maybe even 100 amps for an even briefer time [2-3 seconds?], but the current will create heat. [In fact heat itself creates its own resistance - but that is another topic beyond the scope of this thread]. But the point is that a 50 amp cable is more EFFICIENT than a 30 amp one. When you approach the design limits of a cable you can use more electricity even though you are drawing less current [50 of you will argue this point. Hint: VxIxT=P(total)] and create a voltage drop across the cable [due to the resistance of the cable itself] robbing energy from high demand loads [such as your A/C] and converting electricity into heat across the cable. Is there such a thing as free heat generation? NO. Therefore, you are paying for energy that you are using to heat the cable.

Now some of you will argue that the heat generated on a 30 amp cable is the same as that generated on 50 amp cable but the heat is just spread out more. That is true to some degree, but not in real net terms. The total heat generated is greater.

Ever hear of someone burning up four starters in their car only to find out the starters were burning up because the battery output was too low? Hi resistance in the cable will cause the exact same effect. The current in the case of the starter was limited by low voltage and thus damaged the motor.The current in the cable was limited by the resistance of the cable and thus damage occurs again.

The motor can also suffer local damage. For example the motor can feel cool to the touch but the stator or brushes can be burned locally. So the motor may not seem hot yet it has suffered permanent damage. If you think a starter is expensive, check out the cost of that A/C motor.

Since voltage is a product of current across a resistance and vice versa then if the total impedance (Z) stays the same and the current drops then the voltage must also drop. When there is not enough energy to turn the motor at the proper speed then the motor creates excessive heat and the motor is damaged. Heat further robs the motor of kinetic energy. Again heat is not free.

===Technical===
Impedence Z = the resistance R plus the inductive reactance X(L), in the case of an electric motor.

Now this is all a bit of over-simplification so the average tinkerer can understand the process of risk. Somebody will probably run off and Google it all and try to post a more technically precise explanation that few will understand. The point in doing it simple like this is so that people can understand that the dangers of using lighter cords for the sake of a moment's convenience is not worth it.

For those who want to Google reactance, you can also look up "phase shift" and "power factor" which is often discussed with reactance and you can learn how a few capacitors can perform a phase shift on your motors to make your electrical meter 'see' that you are using less energy. This is perfectly legal. The current leads voltage in a capacitive circuit and trails it in an inductive circuit making your meter think you are using more power than you are. Clue: Match each Henry of inductance with one Farad of capacitance to correct the phase shift. Note that this does not save any REAL energy, so there is no need to do it when you are on a generator. It simply corrects the error causing your meter to tell the power company you are using more power than you actually are. So while it does not save REAL energy, it does save you REAL money. In fact, in an RV it would be very slightly less efficient as the hysteresis loses in the circuit would produce a very slight loss in net efficiency - but it still lowers your electric bill when you are on a meter.
===End Technical===

Why do most appliance circuits in your home have twice the rating of the appliance hooked to it? Just in case you get a bigger one someday? Nope.

I often use extension cords that are MUCH larger than required for my purpose. That is because everything works better on bigger cords. Obviously there are limits to the gain. If I am using a 60 watt bulb [about 1/2 amp draw] a 12 gauge extension cord will not provide any better results than a 14 or even 16 gauge one. But what if I am drawing close to 10 amps? You can bet the heaver cord is what I will use even though the 14 gauge cord is rated for 10 amps.

You want to run your 50 amp RV on a 30 amp cord? Go ahead. You can do it. As long as you are below a 30 amp draw it is "safe", but it is not what is best.

If you are so overwhelmed by the difference in weight of a 50 amp cord vs a 30 amp one, maybe you should consider if you are up to the rigors of RV travel. Seriously.

In all cases, if I HAD to run my 50 amp rig off a 30 amp source, I would:

1. Use a 50 amp cable on a 30 amp plug.
2. Carefully calculate the MAXIMUM load of all the appliances I intended using and assume they were running at the same time.
3. Turn of the breakers off going to any high draw appliances and unneeded circuits so they could not be accidentally switched on.

If the intended purpose is simply to keep the fridge cold and keep the batteries charged, I don't see a problem. Neither draws much current. But living in the RV would require careful calculations. You don't want to damage your equipment and you don't want a fire in your RV, just outside your RV, or at a remote location [such as your home] because it was just too inconvenient to prevent it.

There are reasons each source uses a different plug. I see RVers out on the road cheating safety all the time. Improper load distributions, compromises in visibility, improperly secured loads, hitches and couplers at the wrong height. It is frustrating the same disregard for safety and design exists when RVers are "camping" as well.

[I am also quite frustrated at how many RVs are built. Sure they comply with regulations, but if the builders had always built their products safely then the regulations (which are a minimum at best) would not have been required.]

I scuba dive, ride a motorcycle and have other dangerous hobbies. To enjoy these hobbies there is a need to take calculated risks. Yet I am not going to put myself at risk when there is a safer way to reach my goal. I COULD ride without a helmet in my state. I COULD wear sandals instead of riding boots. I COULD extend my dives by breathing into my air reserves, I COULD cut my decompression times by a few minutes and PROBABLY suffer no ill affects.

Likewise, you CAN run 30 amp cords on a 50 amp rig. Maybe you only will shorten the life of your A/C. Maybe you will harm nothing. Is it worth the risk?

A 50 amp 30 foot cord weighs just 21.1 pounds according to Camping World. A 30 amp cord of the same length weighs 8.1 pounds. That is 13 extra pounds of cable that you have to pull out and reel in ONCE at each stop. Is all that risk to equipment and human safety worth it for 13 pounds?

C'mon folks. There are plenty of dangers to be had to provide excitement for our lives without creating problems that could change your life or end someone else's.

While I have never pulled an RV, my last business used a 50 foot 5th wheel trailer. I logged over half a million miles pulling that trailer through 46 states plus Canada and Mexico and never had a a single insurance claim on my trailer. NOT ONE!

I drove in blizzards, tropical storms, sand storms and hauled that thing through the steepest mountains in the country.

The chain I used was THREE TIMES stronger than the DOT required [and you think that 50 amp power cord weighs a lot]. I had extra lights. I used better tires. I used better brake pads and synthetic brake fluid.

It was still very risky, but I minimized my risks wherever I could.

I understand that sometimes we need to fudge because the fudging option is all that is available. But using lighter cords and lunchbox 'plug protectors' when better, safer options are at hand makes no sense.

If you want to be a football coach, you better have the rule book. If you want to play electrical engineer, then you better understand the rules of the dangerous stuff you are playing with.

Sorry to have stood on my soapbox for so long. I just don't want to see any of you hurt for no good reason.

Best regards,

Steve

[flyinguy68]

Allworth wrote:
Camping World

Tweetys

E-Trailer

PLP

West Marine

Thanks Allworth! Don't know why I couldn't find the 50amp female adapter before but it did find them this time.

Cometcamper maybe this will help you out as well. *Beware for some reason these are much more expensive than the adapters going to other way.

Camping world adapters

[Bobbo]

sljkansas wrote:
OK this thread got me thinking. My 5ver is 50 amp, and I have a 30 amp outlet at home (installed when I had a 30 amp RV) I use my 50amp cable to a 50 to 30 adapter and then use a 25 ft. 30 amp extension cord to the outlet. Question is, If I take a 30 amp extension cord and wire a 50 amp female twist lock plug to it, wired as the the adapter in Roy Ken's post, I could eliminate all adapters and extra cable? If this will work, I would not have to worry about rain/snow getting into the plugs.

That is just making a 25 foot long pigtail.

[Allworth]

Camping World

Tweetys

E-Trailer

PLP

West Marine

[flyinguy68]

RoyB wrote:
This is a good example that we folks should use the added information to our desired descriptions.

A 50A (MALE) to 30A (FEMALE) adapter is a whole lot different than a 50A (FEMALE) to 30A (MALE ) adapter...

This a wiring diagram of the two adapters

RV50A (MALE) to RV30A (FEMALE) Adapter


RV30A (MALE) to RV50A (FEMALE) Adapter


Both of these are considered a RV50A to RV30A adapter but more information added tells a completely different story of what is being discussed.

This is not related to the electrical situation discussed here just bringing up we should be more descriptive in what we are talking about to narrow down all the expected comments from all of us.

I am guilty as the rest of us on here for jumping to conclusions... It does however make for good reading...

Roy Ken

Thanks Roy! But actually neither of those is correct. This is what we were looking for

50 amp female twist lock to 30 amp male

[sljkansas]

Roy, thanks. I do have all the adapters and will keep them. This will be used at home to keep battery up and fridge cold, spare bed room when DD and almost husband come to vist. Also in winter for a space heater.
It just makes plugging in at home easier, and neater.