50 amp to 30 (dirty power?)

[tbolt2000]

At a campsite and the AC Voltage on my AC line meter I'd reading 116 to 115 voltage. It has jumped from 113 to 116 with AC running. Last night when it was down to 113 we ran the microwave and it dropped down to 111.
The question is if getting a 50 amp to 30 adapter and move to the 50 amp might have better results with the AC Line meter reading?

[Lynnmor]

aepowell wrote:
Does the meter need to be wired to where the power comes into the trailer?

You want to know the voltage that is available to the air conditioner so the best place is the receptacle farthest from the inlet.

[tbolt2000]

Moved it to the 50 amp side with same results. Yesterday as campground became more empty the meter is not dropping below 115 mostly 116 and 117.

[aepowell]

Does the meter need to be wired to where the power comes into the trailer?

[Bumpyroad]

Big Katuna wrote:

Bumpyroad wrote:
I made an adapter with a 50 amp male plug and two 30 amp female pigtails. I could choose the side that had the best current.
bumpy

All Amps are created equal. And if one leg has higher voltage then the other, there is something really wrong.

I added a recep on the bed pedestal wired to a 30' extension cord.
My AC comes into the RV under the bed so it was easy to run the new cord into the power bay. When on 30A I plug it into the extra recep on the CGs pedestal so DW has a place to plug in her hair dryer or the electric water boiler.

there have been posts here where people have noted much better current on one side vs. the other. probably due to the campground taking old 30 amp service and "upgrading" it to 50 amp. there might be a much higher load on one side of the service, eg. a lot of additional sites are located on it than the other side. Are you saying that it is impossible for there to be a difference in current/voltage/power,etc. between the two sides? if so, that differs from what has been posted in the past.
bumpy

[Big_Katuna]

Bumpyroad wrote:
I made an adapter with a 50 amp male plug and two 30 amp female pigtails. I could choose the side that had the best current.
bumpy

All Amps are created equal. And if one leg has higher voltage then the other, there is something really wrong.

I added a recep on the bed pedestal wired to a 30' extension cord.
My AC comes into the RV under the bed so it was easy to run the new cord into the power bay. When on 30A I plug it into the extra recep on the CGs pedestal so DW has a place to plug in her hair dryer or the electric water boiler.

[tbolt2000]

Golden_HVAC wrote:

Don't worry about it so much. Only worry about it dropping below 108 volts while running the A/C then keep an eye on it.
Fred.

Thanks I remember reading somewhere here about if volt drop to low with at on it could damage the car. Just did not what the lower limit was.

I also have the digital meter type, easy to read.

[tbolt2000]

Bumpyroad wrote:
I made an adapter with a 50 amp male plug and two 30 amp female pigtails. I could choose the side that had the best current.
bumpy

I would be intrested in how to do this.

[dadmomh]

We did this recently on an especially hot day with lots of big rigs all around us. We were getting too close to the red area on the little monitor, so swapped to the 50 amp and we were much better. Suggest if you can't get a 50 amp, if you have to use the micro, hair dryer, coffee maker, etc, shut off the air just long enough to do that and then back on. Sometimes that little extra is like the straw and the camel.

[Lynnmor]

tbolt2000 wrote:
At a campsite and the AC Voltage on my AC line meter I'd reading 116 to 115 voltage. It has jumped from 113 to 116 with AC running. Last night when it was down to 113 we ran the microwave and it dropped down to 111.
The question is if getting a 50 amp to 30 adapter and move to the 50 amp might have better results with the AC Line meter reading?

Pretty much normal. I doubt that you will see any change with the adapter.

[Bumpyroad]

I made an adapter with a 50 amp male plug and two 30 amp female pigtails. I could choose the side that had the best current.
bumpy

[Golden_HVAC]

A 2 or 3 volt change while running a 15 amp appliance is not that unusual. When I was parked on a ranch, I would go from 120 volts to 108 when I ran the microwave. In the summer I needed a voltage booster to run the A/C in hot weather.

Don't worry about it so much. Only worry about it dropping below 108 volts while running the A/C then keep an eye on it. At 105 or less, I would recommend shutting off the A/C until it gets warmer or you buy a Hughes Autoformer, that will automatically boost the voltage if it falls below 110 volts by 12 volts.

Fred.

[punomatic]

RoyB wrote:
I do this all time when connecting up my 30AMP trailer. If I see alot of ware and tare on the 30AMP Service I will use my 50A-30A adapter and use that side.

However just a couple of VOLTS DROP is not a whole of VOLTAGE DROP when you kick in something high wattage like the Microwave.

What you don't want to see is the AC Voltage going below the 110VAC level... Some users will accept 105VAC as minimum level to use... I have seen the 30A service in the low 90s at times.

Most campers are the smaller size and only use 30AMP Service so you can imagine what happens to campground grid when most of the users are 30AMP service.

I use one of the RV 120VAC PLUG-IN meter in both my 30A trailers. This is neat because it has the SAFE ZONE painted in GREEN on the scale.


Roy Ken

I got one of these and hardwired it in a place where I can see it easily. It is so much easier for these old eyes to see than the analog meter (which I used for years with good results.)

[RoyB]

I do this all time when connecting up my 30AMP trailer. If I see alot of ware and tare on the 30AMP Service I will use my 50A-30A adapter and use that side.

However just a couple of VOLTS DROP is not a whole of VOLTAGE DROP when you kick in something high wattage like the Microwave.

What you don't want to see is the AC Voltage going below the 110VAC level... Some users will accept 105VAC as minimum level to use... I have seen the 30A service in the low 90s at times.

Most campers are the smaller size and only use 30AMP Service so you can imagine what happens to campground grid when most of the users are 30AMP service...

I use one of the RV 120VAC PLUG-IN meter in both my 30A trailers. This is neat because it has the SAFE ZONE painted in GREEN on the scale.


Roy Ken

[tbolt2000]

Mandalay Parr wrote:
It may or may not. You can try it. Normally 50 amp connections are not as worn as 30.
You may also have some line loss within your rig.

Thanks One reason I ask was when I connected power and noticed the low voltage I went back to the supply and seemed very easy to plug in. So my thought was move to to 50 amp and might be a tighter connection.

Last camping trip the voltage from meter was good. I have one plugged in camper all the time so I can watch it. Normly it goes from 117 to 118. I can sit here and watch it and see in a 5 min period it goes from 114 to. 116.