Newbie! 30 amp to 20 amp converter

[healsing]

HI folks,

I'm brand spanking new to RVing.

The trailer I am attempting to make "usable" is a 1988 Companion Classic. Needs work.

My question: when using a 30 amp to 20 amp plug converter does it follow that a portion of the original 220 circuits will not work. Or does the adapter send current to both sides of the 220. I do not have the option of a 30 amp 220 connection. Only 20 amp 110. Some circuits are not working and I want to determine if this is normal or a malfunctioning adapter.

Thanks!!!!!

Rob

[red31]

Hi healsing, I had an issue that some outlets did not work, another on the same circuit did. Just about to pull the power center when I noticed beneath the sink a GFCI outlet with white buttons on white cover plate. Reset, viola.

[drsteve]

DutchmenSport wrote:

Reason I'm so concerned is because I want to get a 50 amp RV outlet installed at home (I have 2 different 30 amps I put in myself), but this 50 amp is just confusing the stuffings out of me. And yes... I do have the phone number for an electrician that can and will do the work... I'm not tackling this one alone! I'm waiting on weather to get a bit warmer, because everything will be done outside where I have a junction splitter box for house and garage.

Your 50A outlet will require 6/3 gauge wire with ground at a minimum. But since you did your own wiring for the 30A you should have no problem with the 50A. The only difference is the extra hot wire and the double pole breaker. Neutral is still the white wire, and ground is the bare conductor.

[troubledwaters]

Do you have two 120V hots, a ground and a neutral in your splitter box? If not, you got a problem right out of the gate. Your 30A only required one 120V hot. Now you need two.
Secondly, is the wire sized correctly for 50A? Your 30A required smaller wire, the 50A requires a larger gauge wire.
Conduit size may also be an issue (if the wire is run in conduit).
Many issues to consider, it's not straightforward.

[DutchmenSport]

maddog348 wrote:
vermile ~~~ mine is 110 looks nuthin like CG 50A

If you do much camping and travel to different locations, you just never know what kind of electric source you may end up with. When we had our 30 amp only travel trailers, I purchased a 50 amp (male) to 30 amp (female) dogbone, so I could hook up my 30 amp trailer to a 50 amp outlet. I used it only twice in almost 20 years, but the twice I used it, it was worth it to have hauled around for years and years.

Now that my 5er is 50 amp, I've recollected all the adapters again to go the other way, to start with a 20 amp household plug and end up with the 50 amp RV plug. Just in case ... you never know, especially if visiting relatives at their homes.

If I'm confused over all this 50 amp stuff, I can't imagine what the OP is thinking.

Reason I'm so concerned is because I want to get a 50 amp RV outlet installed at home (I have 2 different 30 amps I put in myself), but this 50 amp is just confusing the stuffings out of me. And yes... I do have the phone number for an electrician that can and will do the work... I'm not tackling this one alone! I'm waiting on weather to get a bit warmer, because everything will be done outside where I have a junction splitter box for house and garage.

[drsteve]

healsing wrote:
HI folks,

I'm brand spanking new to RVing.

The trailer I am attempting to make "usable" is a 1988 Companion Classic. Needs work.

My question: when using a 30 amp to 20 amp plug converter does it follow that a portion of the original 220 circuits will not work. Or does the adapter send current to both sides of the 220. I do not have the option of a 30 amp 220 connection. Only 20 amp 110. Some circuits are not working and I want to determine if this is normal or a malfunctioning adapter.

Thanks!!!!!

Rob

There are no 240v circuits in your trailer unless a previous owner added them, which is highly unlikely. Everything is 120v AC, or 12v DC.

If some circuits are not working it has nothing to do with the adaptor. You have a problem either in the trailer's AC power panel or somewhere in a circuit downstream of the branch circuit breakers.

[D_E_Bishop]

SoundGuy wrote:

D.E.Bishop wrote:
I tried reading all the replies and got a horrible headache. I didn't see a real answer to your problem and/or question.

I thought I did 😉 - plug his trailer's 30 amp male plug into a 30 amp female > 15 amp male dogbone and he can power his trailer just fine off a standard 15 amp or 20 amp receptacle. Since a 30 amp feed is a single circuit that means if some 120 vac circuits in the trailer work while others don't then OBVIOUSLY the problem has to be downstream of the power source, the adapter he's using, and the main service cable that's feeding the trailer. First thing to look for are tripped / faulty breakers protecting the circuits that don't work - perhaps it's as simple as a loose wire connection, either at the converter or somewhere in one of the receptacles.

I'm sorry that I missed your reply. There were so many that went into all sorts of directions. My apologies.

[maddog348]

vermile ~~~ mine is 110 looks nuthin like CG 50A

[vermilye]

Look behind the stove in your household kitchen. Same 50 amp connector as the one at the campground.

[troubledwaters]

DutchmenSport wrote:

troubledwaters wrote:
Some people should not be giving electrical advice; they don't know what they're talking about. There definitely is 240V available in a 50A RV; it's just not generally used.

So are you saying, I can plug in a 220 volt appliance into a standard 50 amp outlet at a campground and get 220 volts, yet take a "normal" 50 amp plug for an RV and plug into the same outlet and get 50 amp / 110 volt?

Yes, that is exactly what I am saying (providing it is wired correctly).

[time2roll]

DutchmenSport wrote:

troubledwaters wrote:
Some people should not be giving electrical advice; they don't know what they're talking about. There definitely is 240V available in a 50A RV; it's just not generally used.

So are you saying, I can plug in a 220 volt appliance into a standard 50 amp outlet at a campground and get 220 volts, yet take a "normal" 50 amp plug for an RV and plug into the same outlet and get 50 amp / 110 volt?

Yes that is true. Both are available. Standard NEMA 14-50 power.

From this common service we can draw 120 or 240 volts.

Even clearly says it right on the connector:

[Boomerweps]

Enough with the 50 amp discussion. It is a waste of space and off topic/not applicable, at least doubling the posts.
Likely confusing the OP.

[DrewE]

DutchmenSport wrote:

troubledwaters wrote:
Some people should not be giving electrical advice; they don't know what they're talking about. There definitely is 240V available in a 50A RV; it's just not generally used.

So are you saying, I can plug in a 220 volt appliance into a standard 50 amp outlet at a campground and get 220 volts, yet take a "normal" 50 amp plug for an RV and plug into the same outlet and get 50 amp / 110 volt?

Yes, you can.

There is 240V leg to leg. If you need 240V at up to 50A, you (or your appliance) uses those connections and doesn't connect to the neutral.

There is 120V from each leg to the neutral. If you need 120V at up to 50A, you connect between one of the legs and the neutral. You can do that twice, once on each leg, to run two 50A 120V loads simultaneously. You cannot, however, run a single 100A 120V device directly so this is not a 100A 120V service, no matter how much some people here like to call it that.

The voltages of the two legs with respect to neutral are 180 degrees out of phase with each other, which is how this is possible.

[SoundGuy]

D.E.Bishop wrote:
I tried reading all the replies and got a horrible headache. I didn't see a real answer to your problem and/or question.

I thought I did 😉 - plug his trailer's 30 amp male plug into a 30 amp female > 15 amp male dogbone and he can power his trailer just fine off a standard 15 amp or 20 amp receptacle. Since a 30 amp feed is a single circuit that means if some 120 vac circuits in the trailer work while others don't then OBVIOUSLY the problem has to be downstream of the power source, the adapter he's using, and the main service cable that's feeding the trailer. First thing to look for are tripped / faulty breakers protecting the circuits that don't work - perhaps it's as simple as a loose wire connection, either at the converter or somewhere in one of the receptacles.

[D_E_Bishop]

Hi Rob and welcome to the funny farm. I tried reading all the replies and got a horrible headache. I didn't see a real answer to your problem and/or question.

You have a 1988 Trailer and back then they didn't utilize 50 amp(240 vac) in travel trailers. Don't look for it don't do anything weird, if some circuits don't work you can have one or more causes. We need a little more info.

Standard procedure when asking for help is to give the year(1988), make, model and symptoms of the problem. With nothing more than the year and that it is a travel trailer(my assumption), you have a bad fuse or a bad circuit breaker.

Standard troubleshooting procedures should be employed. If you don't know them, they are pretty easy to learn and you can get some good help here.,

There are several articles on RV wiring and I really think that you need to start there. Off hand I don't know the names of the articles on 120vac in RVs but there is, The 12 Volt Side of Life, for all things battery powered in your trailer.

In my opinion, if resetting the breakers doesn't help and after you have read up some on RV electrical systems, start a new post stating year, make, model etc. What you are hooked up to and what you have tried in order to restore power. At that point you will get a lot more good and logical suggestions.

RVs are just tiny houses with the big advantage of having wheels. Good luck and come back with the solution.

Okay, so I went back and reread your original post. You did give the model but I think from what Google had to say, you have a Companion Classic built by KIT. Give us the length and a little description of layout and features, number of axles and stuff like that. Now more than ever I am sure that unles someone radically changed the wiring, you DO NOT have a 240 volt service.