The black wire on my plug is burnt up...

[groundhogy]

So after the winter, I pulled up and moved.

I was using the 50A socket with the 50-30 adapter.

One of my connections was burnt up and the plastic was melted.
The flat prong was black.

The part that plugs into the pedestal was ok. That part was also shielded from weather.

The 50-30 adapter part is about 12" long.
The 50 side was ok as mentioned above. The problem was on the 30 side, which was in the weather.

The black wire terminal was the one that was burnt up.

Anybody have insight on causes here?

[myredracer]

.

[groundhogy]

The OP obviously doesn’t have much sense.

[bucky]

There is a lot of good info in this thread. Sadly it is being ignored by the OP. Reminds me of a solution looking for a problem. Very early on it was suggested that he should plug a 30 cord with a 30 end into a 30 outlet and see what happens. But nooooooooooooo can't do that.

[DFord]

groundhogy wrote:
Again...
Why wouldn’t you put a 50A plug on your 30A RV?

It would get you more metal contact area.

You'd never need to reset the breaker on the pedestal. Your cord would burn up before the 50amp breaker tripped.

I stayed at a park in Holbrook, AZ in March. The breakers were locked up in a central location. If you tripped the one for your site, there was a $5 charge to reset it. If you tripped it a second time, your stay was terminated right there and then. The message was, if you need more than 30amps, pay the upcharge for a 50amp spot.

[time2roll]

groundhogy wrote:
Again...
Why wouldn’t you put a 50A plug on your 30A RV?

It would get you more metal contact area.

You can if you like.

[cavie]

groundhogy wrote:
Again...
Why wouldn’t you put a 50A plug on your 30A RV?

It would get you more metal contact area.

Please stop over thinking this. Move on.

[groundhogy]

Again...
Why wouldn’t you put a 50A plug on your 30A RV?

It would get you more metal contact area.

[cavie]

Just use a 30 amp service for what it is rated and move on. There are much better things to talk about. Leave this one for the engineers of the world.

[CA_Traveler]

CBs are rated for open air or non enclosure environments. For the common home and RV enclosure the CB rating should be 125% of the continuous load or 1/125% = 80% or 24A for a 30A CB.

[time2roll]

myredracer wrote:

CA Traveler wrote:
Plus the maximum recommended sustained load is 80%. ie 24A for 30A power.

Where does that come from? Except for the condition of the receptacle in a pedestal and your shore power plug, you should be able to draw 30 amps continuously.

NEC has a rule on continuous loads exceeding 3 hours needs to have a supply rating 125% of the load. Load 80% of supply is same thing mathematically. While this rule does not apply to an RV the effect is the same. When running over 80% there is additional heat.

And this is with connections tightened with a screw. An extension connector with just spring tension and questionable flatness and alignment of the conductors can only be worse.

[DFord]

myredracer wrote:

CA Traveler wrote:
Plus the maximum recommended sustained load is 80%. ie 24A for 30A power.

Where does that come from? Except for the condition of the receptacle in a pedestal and your shore power plug, you should be able to draw 30 amps continuously.

There's no way to get away with drawing 30amps for any length of time through a 30amp cord cap or circuit breaker. When the current draw is over 25amps for any sustained period, the breaker will heat up and trip before very long. You might be able to get by for a few seconds but not after a long period of heavy use. The 24amp figure is a good one to go by - any more and you just asking for trouble.

[cavie]

myredracer wrote:

CA Traveler wrote:
Plus the maximum recommended sustained load is 80%. ie 24A for 30A power.

Where does that come from? Except for the condition of the receptacle in a pedestal and your shore power plug, you should be able to draw 30 amps continuously.

that is an NEC design #.

[CA_Traveler]

myredracer wrote:

CA Traveler wrote:
Plus the maximum recommended sustained load is 80%. ie 24A for 30A power.

Where does that come from? Except for the condition of the receptacle in a pedestal and your shore power plug, you should be able to draw 30 amps continuously.

It's an NEC recommendation.

[2oldman]

myredracer wrote:
you should be able to draw 30 amps continuously.

The cord itself, maybe, not necessarily the plugs. I've never seen this actually tested, but as with most ratings, it's very possible it's overrated.

[Boon_Docker]

groundhogy wrote:
Hmmm..
Cavie.. thank you for taking time to read and comment on my post.

:B

He gets a "Thank You" every so often over at the FR Forum too.