30A and 50A electric

[bill18163]

When you plug in your 50A or 30A electric at a campground are you plugging into a double pole 240V receptacle or 120V single pole receptacle? My wife and I bought our first trailer and I want to mount a receptacle on the outside of our garage to plug into for electric.

[pennysmom09]

camperdave wrote:
Fwiw, my air conditioning works just fine on a 20a outlet with a dogbone style adapter.

X2

[DutchmenSport]

BarabooBob wrote:
... If you don't know the difference between an RV 30 and a 3 prong 240 volt outlet, don't do the work yourself, hire someone. ...

With this, I could not agree any more.

When I ran an outside receptacle for my 30 amp trailer, I found out what kind of wire I needed based on the length I was running. I then did all the pre-wiring. In other words, I ran the wire from the electric panel in the Garage to the opposite side of the garage, in wall, via conduit and everything. I purchased an exterior 30 amp RV outlet box and even mounted it myself.

I then called an electrician who actually did the wire hook-ups at both ends, and he provided the 30 amp breaker for my main breaker box. Total cost for the electrician, including the breaker was less than $100. Of course, I paid for the materials separate and set everything upu myself. I just felt better doing it this way.

Fast forward about 4 more years and I decided to add a second 30 amp receptacle at a different location. 30 amp is 30 amp. I used the existing wiring pattern that different line ran, which actually went to a basketball goal that had been removed, but still had an active plug right there. I got the heavier wire, and was able to kill the power to the junction (yes, junction box), and just swapped out the wires from the old basket ball plug to the new RV wires. The new RV wires only had to run about 18 inches where I mounted the receptacle. Total cost for that work was about $120, which included the breaker inside the RV receptacle box and about 3 feet of wire from Lowe's.

My suggestion is, run the wire yourself. If that mean feeding it through the walls or burying it under ground, string the wire yourself. Then hire an electrician to do the final hook-ups. Just make sure you start with the wire you need for 50 amp or 30 amp. But, If I could have done it over, knowing what I know now, I would have just gone ahead and installed 50 amps and used the 50-30 adaptor on my 30 amp trailer. We keep talking about getting a front living room (new) 5er, which will be 50 amp, and we use the camper all summer at home. We'd need the 50 amp service.

[LarryJM]

Jay Coe wrote:

camperdave wrote:
Fwiw, my air conditioning works just fine on a 20a outlet with a dogbone style adapter.

Mine too...

X3

Larry

[Jay_Coe]

camperdave wrote:
Fwiw, my air conditioning works just fine on a 20a outlet with a dogbone style adapter.

Mine too...

[Sam_Spade]

bill18163 wrote:
and I want to mount a receptacle on the outside of our garage to plug into for electric.

Asking the question the way you did probably means that you should NOT be doing this yourself. Hire an electrician.

So, which is it that your unit is equipped for, 30 or 50 ?
It can't be both.

30 is single phase, 120V with 30 amp total capacity.

50 is two phase, 240 service, with two 50 amp 120 V legs for a total of 100 amp service.

[time2roll]

bill18163 wrote:
When you plug in your 50A or 30A electric at a campground are you plugging into a double pole 240V receptacle or 120V single pole receptacle? My wife and I bought our first trailer and I want to mount a receptacle on the outside of our garage to plug into for electric.

Do you have a 30 amp or 50 amp trailer?

30 amp = single pole 120v 30 amp service to a NEMA TT-30 connector

50 amp = double pole 120v/240v 50 amp service to a NEMA 14-50 connector

Unless you have special considerations... install what matches the trailer.

[Lwiddis]

Check the experience the electrician you hire regarding an RV plug at home. RVs are not a stove or clothes dryer.

[camperdave]

Fwiw, my air conditioning works just fine on a 20a outlet with a dogbone style adapter.

[2naEagle]

RV Electric Service


You need to get a EMS also (not just a surge protector). It will protect your RV from you and anyone else that might make a mistake with the power going to your RV.

[azrving]

I have a 30 amp rig but installed a 50 amp RV box and use an adapter. If I ever go to a 50 amp rig Im all set.

[BB_TX]

Every thing you need to know at myrv.us/electric. Make sure you fully understand it.

[sparkydave]

Ditto to what donn0128 said. If you don't need to have the air conditioning, a 20 amp outlet will be fine.

If you hire an electrician to install a 30 amp outlet at home, make sure they know it's a NEMA TT-30 connector and it's 120 volt. To the uninitiated they bear a strong resemblance to the old style 240 volt 3-prong outlet used for electric dryers. Many have had the misfortune of having an electrician wire them for 240 volt, not knowing the difference, and then they zap most of the electrical system when they plug in their RV.

[BarabooBob]

The 30 amp outlet uses the same type wiring as a regular 20 amp outlet except that you have to use 10 gauge wire for a short run and 8 gauge if 50 ft or beyond. If you don't know the difference between an RV 30 and a 3 prong 240 volt outlet, don't do the work yourself, hire someone. If you wire it incorrectly, you will severely damage your RV.

[donn0128]

Unless you think you absolutely must have AC at home a simple 20A receptacle will power the trailer and refer.
30A is a single 120VAC circuit,
50A has two 120VAC circuits on one plug. In your breaker box you will want two 120VAC breakers. There are RV receptacle wiring schematics all over the internet you can look up and print out.