50A Idea

[lawnspecialties]

I am by NO means an electrical engineer. I still don't know 100% what the true difference is between amps and watts and volts. But I had a recent idea and I wonder if this would help us out with our Work & Play (30amps).

We've taken the camper out three times so far. The first was to Willow Tree. During the weekend, the breaker at Willow Tree's pole tripped twice. We were on the 30A plug and both times, the AC was running and the water heater was on.

At our recent race, we were on the generator power. My generator puts out gobs of power. 10.5KW rated with 13KW surge watts. The only issue we had was the AC tripped its own breaker one time.

When the water heater is on, the AC is running, the TV is on, and maybe Mama decides to dry her hair or make some toast, we're pulling a lot of power.

So the question. If I start plugging into a 50A outlet with a 30A adapter, would this help us out at all? In other words, would we be getting the same 110 volts but 50amps? I still have a 30A cord so that may reduce it. But does this make sense or will it not help us out at all? As I said, I'm not sure about electrical stuff but I'm hoping this could be a help.

[hershey]

I made my own 50 to 30/20 amp pigtail. I plug my main 30 amp cord into the 30 amp female. I plug a 20 amp, 10 ga second shore cable and run it to my inverter/converter. It has its own breakers. So my big items run off the 30 amp cord and my items that would normally be powered thru the inverter is powered thru the 20 amp cord. If I have to plug into only 30 amp shorepower, I just plug the converter/inverter back into the normal wiring and run everything off of 30 amps.

[lenr]

In our trailer, the amp load from the converter (after at least 5 minutes of charge), the TV, and the fridge on electricity are insignificant enough that we can ignore them and not trip any 30 amp breaker. The big amp hogs are AC, microwave, electric element in the hot water heater, and hair dryer. By limiting to 2 of those at a time, we never trip a 30 amp breaker. Because the switch for the water heater is outside and inconvenient, it stays off and runs on propane. In out experience, there is no need to switch the fridge to propane—ours draws 2.8 amps only when it is cooling. When the OP tripped the pedestal breaker it was likely because those pedestal 30 amp breakers have been tripped many times while the 30 amp main breaker in the trailer is brand new and may never have been tripped. It is usually thought that repeated tripping makes a breaker weaker and more prone to trip. On a quick read I don’t think that anyone mentioned that adapting the cord of a 30 amp trailer to a 50 amp outlet in the pedestal is setting up a 30 amp cord with only 50 amps of protection—you’ll get that cord pretty sticky hot before the 50 amp breaker trips if something goes wrong and the 30 amp breaker in the trailer does not trip. But, yes I’ve used a 50 to 30 converter also.

[MrWizard]

your math is off
you have over 6400 watts total
thats over 53amps at 120v

DownTheAvenue wrote:
A/C = 1400 watts
water heater = 1400 watts
refrigerator = 8 watts
converter (no load) = 4 watts
microwave = 1400 watts
hair drier = 1200 watts
coffee pot = 1000 watts

All of these together equal 42 amps

With the A/C on and just one other high load, a 30 amp breaker will easily trip.

Run the water heater and refrigerator on gas and learn to turn off the A/C when using the microwave.

[MrWizard]

refrigerator = 8 watts

NO NO NO.. totaly wrong

a residetial fridge may draw 8 AMPS * 120v =96watts

an RV absorption fridge on electric will draw over 300+ watts to power the heating element

[2oldman]

DougE wrote:
Lots of weird info being posted here!.

Before you know it I'll have to dig out the 50a wiring diagrams in my library.

[kcmoedoe]

DougE wrote:
Lots of weird info being posted here! A modern pedestal is wired with two 120v conductors, 1 neutral conductor and 1 ground conductor. The campground source is feeding each pedestal from another distribution panel and you are not sharing your individual circuit with another pedestal. The pedestal manufacturer has pre-wired breakers for the 50 amp, 30 amp and 20 amp outlets to the 50 amp source connection. So if you use a 50 amp to 30 amp adapter, yes you will be accessing one leg of the 50 amp outlet and usage will be limited to less than 50 amps only by the breakers in the RV.

Another add to the weird info. Actually most rv pedestals are fed from a main breaker (usually 200amp but can be a 320 amp) by 4 wires. In the 200 amp configuration that is normally 4/0 aluminum for both hots and the neutral (undersized neutral is not acceptable in RV park applications per NEMA) The wires are looped from one pedestal to the next. Code allows 7 standard 50 amp pedestals in a 200 amp loop. So yes, the pedestals actually do share the same circuit, which is a 200 amp circuit with each pedestal providing breaker protection for the 50/30/20amp connections.

[rk911]

lawnspecialties wrote:
Thank you everyone. I get it. 50A plug with adapter helps me none.

well, actually it might. if the 50-amp outlet is mostly unused you may actually get a better connection than on the more often used 30-amp connection. a better connection = better flow of electrons. our MH has 30-amp service but in parks where there are both 30 and 50 amp hookups we will sometimes connect to the 50-amp if we experience low voltage on the 30-amp connection. sometimes that "solves" the problem, sometimes no.

[rk911]

Old-Biscuit wrote:

rk911 wrote:

kennethwooster wrote:
We spend the summer in an old park in Colorado. They have 30s and 120s. We get their early and get a 30. We can use 1A/C, and have learned when to tour off A/C, to run microwave and etc. It's just something you learn. I would not fiddle with the power,just learn what to turn off.

120's???? :h

15/20A receptacle (120's....regular outlet)

okaaaay. the 30s, as well as the 50s are also 120-volts.

[lawnspecialties]

Thank you everyone. I get it. 50A plug with adapter helps me none.

[D___M]

Old-Biscuit wrote:

rk911 wrote:

kennethwooster wrote:
We spend the summer in an old park in Colorado. They have 30s and 120s. We get their early and get a 30. We can use 1A/C, and have learned when to tour off A/C, to run microwave and etc. It's just something you learn. I would not fiddle with the power,just learn what to turn off.

120's???? :h

15/20A receptacle (120's....regular outlet)

Must be a Texas thing. 🙂

[D___M]

Take a look at this website. It explains RV electric systems

Watts

Watts are the standard unit of measurement of electrical power. One watt is one ampere of current flowing at one volt

Volts

Voltage is the potential energy in a circuit before amperage and resistance come into play. The term volts refer to the line electricity runs through, or how fast the electric runs through that line.

Amps

Amperage is what costs you the money on your electric bill. Amperage is the actual current being pulled from the line. Amps is a measure of the wattage divided by the voltage, A=W/V.



Watts = Amps x Volts

Volt = Watts / Amps

Amps = Watts / Volts

[Turtle_n_Peeps]

I know I'm showing my age here but some of these posts remind me of "Green Acres."

Anybody remember the electrical setup they had going on? You can plug in a 2 and a 4 or a 5 and a 1 but you can never go over a 6 total. LOL, that still makes me laugh.

[DougE]

Lots of weird info being posted here! A modern pedestal is wired with two 120v conductors, 1 neutral conductor and 1 ground conductor. The campground source is feeding each pedestal from another distribution panel and you are not sharing your individual circuit with another pedestal. The pedestal manufacturer has pre-wired breakers for the 50 amp, 30 amp and 20 amp outlets to the 50 amp source connection. So if you use a 50 amp to 30 amp adapter, yes you will be accessing one leg of the 50 amp outlet and usage will be limited to less than 50 amps only by the breakers in the RV.

[Kemahsabe]

lawnspecialties wrote:
I am by NO means an electrical engineer. I still don't know 100% what the true difference is between amps and watts and volts.

Here's a simple, yet accurate analogy.

Think of a water pipe. Volts are like the pressure of the water in the pipe. It's a measure of how hard the water/electricity is trying to get out of the pipe/wire.

Amps are like the flow rate of the water. Your breakers limit the flow rate to 30 amps - no matter what the capacity of what you're plugged into. Unlike water, with electricity you damage things and start fires if you find a way to exceed the rated flow/amps.