Autoformers - Montana Owners Club

rickfox · 12-02-2007, 12:32 PM

As has happend to most of us, from time to time we end up at an RV park that has only 30A service available. In those cases, I pull out the 50A-30A cable adapter, plug it between the power pedestal and the 50A coach power cable, and limp along as best I can making sure I don't have too many appliances on at the same time.

My quesition is, has anyone out there connected their 50A autoformer up in this manner. The objective would be to still utilize the surge protection, and perhaps the voltage boosting capabilities while connected to the 30A service. Does is work OK, not at all, or perhaps has it blown something up?

I have emailed this question to PowerMaster, but have as yet not received any reply.

Mrs. CountryGuy · 12-02-2007, 12:59 PM

If I understand the question correctly, yes

We have the 50 AMP auto former, hardwired in.

We frequently use the 50 AMP cord, the 50 AMP cord with step down to 30 AMP adapter and even a 30 AMP cord (that Al has the 50 AMP part that goes to the trailer, you guys know what I mean, humor me, I am tired, and he is not here to ask!

)

We also have a whole house Intermatic Surge Protector.

I think Glenn has a few pages on this subject where some of us showed our hookups. Sorry Glenn, I cannot seem to locate those tonight. Must be the frozen brain matter, sighhhhhhhh.

As both the autoformer and Intermatic are hard wired in, yaaaa, we use em all the time. To date we have not had any problems with the set up, and are comfortable with it.

8.1al · 12-02-2007, 01:39 PM

As Carol said the 50 amp autoformer works just fine with the 30 amp adapter.

stiles watson · 12-02-2007, 01:43 PM

Carol, I think you and hubby should come on down to Texas and help me hard wire my Autoformer and Intermetic Surge Suppressor into this new Monty I got. It sure would be warmer and electronics confuse me.

noneck · 12-02-2007, 01:52 PM

So...autoformer, surge protector...in of themselves do nothing to draw more current as they are "load" sensing/slave devices.
Autoformer attempts to modulate the current to maintain constant voltage and the surge protector provides a "lockout" when it detects sudden transient voltage/current spikes of a particular magnitude.
You will continue to have to manage the number of things you run when connected to 30amp service and if I said something out of place...others will correct me...love this forum for that! Keeps us all on our toes.

ols1932 · 12-02-2007, 02:06 PM

Yes, the 50-amp autoformer works well on 30-amp power as well as 20-amp power. I don't have mine hard-wired, it is portable and I do fine. I usually place it in back of the wheels under the living room slide and then cable lock it to one of the axles.

Orv

Mrs. CountryGuy · 12-03-2007, 12:50 AM

Stiles,

I am organizing, preparing to pack, praying for Mother Nature to take her brats and go for a vacation for a few days,

but, in the meantime, are you sure you cannot do that work, we know all about your shackles/axle/bushings/ expertise!

Here, does this help??

http://www.geocities.com/genieyorks/autoformer

Glenn and Lorraine · 12-03-2007, 02:49 AM

As others have already said "it will work on 30 AMP" and no it does not boost the load capabilities. The Autoformer boost "voltage" only and only when the park has a voltage drop. For example, if the park is only providing 110 Volts the Autoformer will boost that 110V by 10% or 11V giving you 120+V. And contrary to a lot of beliefs "it is not taking additional electric from the park. The Autoformer is merely a transformer which transforms low voltage by 10%.
Mine was hardwired in by the dealer but it is not a difficult job so long as you know the basics of electrical wiring. If you are not sure of what you are doing it would be best to have someone that understands electrical wiring do it for you.

Here's the MOC Show and Tell page... http://www.montanaowners.com/ShowandTell
There are a couple Autoformer installations.

SlickWillie · 12-03-2007, 03:20 AM

I don't have a autoformer, but you guys (and gals)got my interest up. I found the following. It is a copy and paste.

Hughes Autoformers are designed to increase voltage to your RV and help eliminate low voltage damage to your appliances. Unlike a 'boost transformer', the 'sense circuit' in the Autoformer will adjust the output based on the load demand. For this reason you can run additional appliances on a 30 amp input.
I.e.: coffee pot & microwave each draw 1200 watts, total 2400 watts. Add wattage for the converter & refrigerator - about 800 additional watts - & you have 3200 watt demand. If you are only getting 100 volts from the supply, the maximum wattage would be 3000 watts. The Autoformer will boost voltage to give you 3600 watts to your RV!

Found that interesting. I may have to put that on the wish list!

Mrs. CountryGuy · 12-03-2007, 04:22 AM

Will,

Our primary interest was to enable us to run the A/C in campsites where we had questionable service, the yorks, and all that.

We still run major appliances on a limited basis, not all at the same time when we are on 30 AMP. We run, lights, the frig, the computers, and electric heater. But, if I want to make coffee or run the toaster, I usually turn off the heater. Saves runnning all over and resetting breakers here and there.

Plus Al wanted to protect the electronics as much as possible. What a pain to replace that stuff after a spike.

8.1al · 12-03-2007, 04:47 AM

Stiles,
If you hardwire the Autoformer and surge protector provide a way to bypass them if you want to use a generator, otherwise you will fry the Autoformer. Been there, done that.

noneck · 12-03-2007, 11:26 AM

BTW...the Autoformer is not magic, to get that 11% gain in voltage it does draw more current as ohms law prevails. When on 30 amp service and you run too much stuff it will trip the CB.

Imp · 12-03-2007, 01:00 PM

We have been in two campgrounds now that ban autoformers. The last one said if you run one, you will be asked to leave the park. We asked them why, and they said they tested it and it does draw power from the park, etc. We weren't going to get in a debate, so we left it alone. We made sure that we had our surge guard on. It had older wiring in this park and only 30 amp. We didn't need the ac, but I will be sure not to stay there again. Ours is not hard wired in so could hardly hide it. The park is Delta Shores at Isleton in Calif.

virgil47 · 12-03-2007, 10:51 PM

"We have been in two campgrounds now that ban autoformers."
Another solid reason to hard wire an Autoformer.

Glenn and Lorraine · 12-03-2007, 11:36 PM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by virgil47

"We have been in two campgrounds now that ban autoformers."
Another solid reason to hard wire an Autoformer.

That is precisely why I had this one hardwired. Way too many campground owners that don't have a clue and if they did we wouldn't need an Autoformer as they would have corrected their own power problem.

I should also note that there is another brand out there that sells for less than the original Autoformer but I wouldn't touch if it was 75% less. The SOB is a poor copy of the Autoformer. It is marketed by an individual that worked for Autoformer for many years. Once he had all the specs and even though he had a non-compete clause in his contract he went out and built a sorry copy anyway.
His sales pitch is nothing more than knocking down the original and very little about the quality of his own AND yes there is a lawsuit going on. I should also note that if he loses the lawsuit he will be out of business and with that his warranty and repairs also goes away.

rickfox · 12-04-2007, 04:38 AM

Glenn, is the product Powermaster?

sreigle · 12-14-2007, 02:03 PM

Like others, we just use adapters to use our 50 amp autoformer with 30 amp service at the post and our cord. I asked this question of the owner of Autoformer and he said the 30 amp would use just one leg of the autoformer and it would still boost as needed. And it seems to work for us.

sreigle · 12-19-2007, 01:52 PM

The manual with my autoformer says it will not boost voltage until voltage drops to 108 or below. So it doesn't really boost when the park's voltage is 110v. My conclusion from this is it will allow a higher amperage draw when it is boosting than you could get without the autoformer. However, at 110v park voltage, or above, it is not boosting and therefore buys you nothing. It's those low voltage situations where it earns its weight and cost to me. And we've had quite a few times when the autoformer is boosting, both when connected to 50 amp and to 30 amp with our 50 amp autoformer.

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