50 AMP Service question

[Parrothead]

I've checked mine out. I agree with Gruffy. I have two 50 amp on the "main" - hooked together. It doesn't make any sense to have amps you would never use if you didn't have the 2nd AC or the washer/dryer.

[sreigle]

Wordsmith, yes, you can use the adapter to connect the 50amp cord to the 30amp extension. I've done that when we needed the extra length. Normally I use a pigtail adapter at the coach end to reduce to 30amp and use my extension cord from there. That saves handling that heavy 50 amp cord. I use the pigtail from Camping World, the one that costs around $75. Sure is worth the cost to me, though.

Our 50amp service is of the earlier variety. We have 20 amps to the second a/c unit prep. We have the prep but not the second a/c so this 20 amps never gets used. We have 30 amps to the rest of the coach. This is what is called 50amp service on ours. Several of us complained here and the systems were upgraded/better starting with the late 2003 models. We're still stuck with the old system, though. However, we can run the washer/dryer and the a/c unit at one time but if we want to run another high draw appliance, such as the microwave, we have to turn off something first.

I'm way behind after a month away from MOC and just very quickly skimmed earlier posts on this thread so please forgive if I've just repeated what someone else already said.

[harleyrider]

Mmmm with all this talk on the 50 amp servive.I think I might have the work around as Gruffy states.A little disappointing.I might be having a problem after the fire place install.The fire place will be pluged in to where the living room TV is.I also have had just installed the washer/dryer.I believe the fire place draws 15 amps on high heat.I`am still going to go ahead with the fire place install and hope for the best.If I trip a breaker I will need to turn some thing off I guess while using the fire place.

[Wordsmith]

I had an interesting shock when I went to hook up at Unicoi SP here in Georgia last week. I already had the 50 to 30 amp adaptor set to plug in, but when I opened the box, lo and behold, but it had 30 and 50 amp receptacles! I trotted over to the site between ours and the campground host’s and it only had two 30 amp receptacles. During the ten days I was there, I made it a point to look at many of the boxes in our section to check and only found one other that had the 50 amp receptacle. Very strange…

[Montana_1240]

Sorry to disappoint some of you, but I've been working with lots of electrical circuits, and know a Single Phase from a Double Phase.

A 30Amp Service is a Single Phase, 30Amp, 120Volt Circuit.

A 50Amp Service is a Double Phase, 50Amp, 120Volt Circuit.

In your brick and stick homes, (as opposed to our RVs,) there would likely be a double phase circuit for an electric stove. What the two phases allow is to let the stove's heating elements effectively attain a 240Volt, (two-phase,) circuit, by crossing the 120Volt leads across each other, netting 240Volts. Older homes may not even be wired with 240Volt service, so it's not the case in those homes.

In our RVs, it supplies our power panel, (via the heavy 50Amp power cable,) with two distinct and differently phased 120Volt Circuits. And since each one is 50Amps, the larger air conditioners will run, and you might even be able to nuke a hot dog while remaining cool.

From what I understand while touring Keystone’s Montana factory, the power panel is arbitrarily split between the two phases, pretty much splitting the load so that one phase won’t be using a lot of Amps, while the other phase is almost unused.

When I had to install a plug for the Fiver, after we purchased it, I only used a 30Amp, Single Phase receptacle, because I didn't want to have to buy a 50Amp extension cord for the RV when we weren't going to be using the AC in Fairbanks, anyway. I used a 30Amp-to-20Amp adapter, so I could run a standard three-prong extension cord to the trailer’s power cable, where I had another adapter to convert the standard three-prong receptacle to the large four-prong 50Amp RV cable. I could have installed the 50Amp, Two Phase receptacle in my garage, and the adapter pigtail that would run it down to a standard 20Amp extension cord that I was using to run to the trailer's and lights, etc, before we left town. But I would have had to have even more adapters.

Adapters, or pigtails, allow you to get power from a low rated outlet to the higher rated cable on the RV, or from a high rated outlet to a lower rated cable on your RV. It does the necessary internal cross-connections that make whatever service your RV requires, the cable will "see" the proper voltage on the proper wires. (30Amp cables having two power leads, and a ground. 50Amp cables with three power leads, and a ground.)

I have a great page for people to see what the RV wiring is all about. http://www.myrv.us/Pgs/RV/50amp.htm Trust me, it will open some eyes. It explains in pictures what I'm stumbling over in words.

Enjoy the page, and share it with anyone in need of wiring anything for an RV.

Steve