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Old 11-20-2017, 11:08 AM   #1
drjjj
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what won't run on 30 amp?

A question for you more experienced campers:
So far our camping has all been in warmer temperatures so we always made sure that we had 50 amp service to run both A/C's. We are considering a fall/winter trip not too far from home and some of the parks we are considering have full hookups except that the electrical is only 30 amp. I know that both A/C's need 50 amp to run, but except for that, what will or will not run simultaneously while on only 30 amp service? TIA.
 
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Old 11-20-2017, 11:14 AM   #2
Ram Montana High Country
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I'll be interested in that answer - thanks for asking
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Old 11-20-2017, 11:44 AM   #3
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You can run everything but the two AC units. BUT caution must be taken to ensure that only ONE heavy usage item, microwave, hair dryer, electric heater, etc. is on at any given time or you will pop the breaker. It won't take you long to learn how to control your usage once you make several trips to the pedestal to reset the breaker.
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Old 11-20-2017, 01:13 PM   #4
rohrmann
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When we are connected to a 30 amp pedestal, I turn the fridge and water heater to gas only. When we are using an air conditioner, we turn it off to use a microwave, or the wife's hair dryer. Like was said, you will learn pretty quick what you can run and can't when only having less than 1/3 of the power available when connected to a 50 amp service.
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Old 11-20-2017, 01:54 PM   #5
bigred715
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Don't use the hair dryer and the fireplace at the same time. The only time I use the 50amp is when we were down in Arizona for the winter staying 3 months.
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Old 11-20-2017, 01:57 PM   #6
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I have a High Country with 50 amp service and never even bother to take the 50 amp cord with us.
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Old 11-20-2017, 03:25 PM   #7
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Any heater will use 11-12 Amps. Microwave is about 11-12 also. So usually fine. However, the converter can use 8-10 amp at times. I have a surge protector and noticed that for each 12V light I turn on, the amps go up about 2. So if you turn on 3 or 4 lights things could go 'pop' in the night!!!!! As others said, just use one at a time.
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Old 11-20-2017, 06:07 PM   #8
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The electric use with conventional light bulbs is a good reason to upgrade to LED bulbs. When we still had regular bulbs, with most of them turned on, the fan in the converter would start almost immediately, and since replacing all of them with LED's, the fan rarely runs. That's a pretty good indication of how much load regular bulbs draw.
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Old 11-20-2017, 07:36 PM   #9
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Running the heat pump draws quite a bit also. You can do pretty much all you need on 30 amps just need to manage your use.
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Old 11-20-2017, 08:36 PM   #10
Ram Montana High Country
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Watch LED's - small quantities are ok, large are not. LED have a little published trait called in RUSH CURRENT. Some Controls companies de-rate controls by 50% - kinda of like an A/C - pulls heavy current to start it
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Old 11-21-2017, 04:58 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ram Montana High Country View Post
Watch LED's - small quantities are ok, large are not. LED have a little published trait called in RUSH CURRENT. Some Controls companies de-rate controls by 50% - kinda of like an A/C - pulls heavy current to start it
Hmmmmmmm? Our new 2018 is all LED.
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Old 11-21-2017, 05:09 AM   #12
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Our previous trailers were all 30 amp. I had no trouble running the regular stuff like fridge and water heater, etc. The only thing I found was I couldn't use my Dyson canister vacuum while the a/c was running. Now that we have a trailer with 50 amp, wouldn't you know I am no longer bringing the canister vacuum but instead have a smaller (Shark) vacuum for in the trailer. I only brought the Dyson when we wintered in Florida. Since we only have one a/c unit in the Monty, I don't think we will have a problem anywhere we go.
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Old 11-21-2017, 06:53 AM   #13
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I have a older Montana 03 and never had a problem hooking to 30 amps. I run the air and microwave without any problems so far.
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Old 11-21-2017, 08:02 AM   #14
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We spent some time one summer with 30amps and were fine unless the AC and the fridge came on with the microwave or another high draw item. Never had trouble with the AC, frig and hot water heater until something else was added to the mix.
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Old 11-21-2017, 08:18 AM   #15
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These Montana's use a lot of power they are 50 amps per leg for a reason . When in Oklahoma last summer with temps of 107 plus we saw 32 amps on leg one and 28 amps on leg 2.
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Old 11-21-2017, 10:00 AM   #16
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The In-Rush should not be an issue with the standard set quantity of factory installed fixtures. The de-rating would work this way, generally happen to dimmers and motion devices in a circuit. If a dimmer was rated @ 1000 watts incandescent load, the manufacturer would rate the same dimmer for only 500 watts input from lead. Generally, 5ers should be OK, but if a gremlin shows up in some system and there a lot of LEDs - might be a point to investigate. This problem should up after construction start moving to high quantities of LED and big control systems.
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Old 11-22-2017, 12:16 PM   #17
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At the rally in Goshen, the progressive dynamics rep. Said to remember that there are two 50 amp breakers,one for the left side of the breaker box and one for the right so in effect we have 100 amp. service. I think the same is true for the 30 amp service and thereforer in effect you have 60 amp service, as long as you divide the power usage between the two sides of the service box.
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Old 11-22-2017, 05:43 PM   #18
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Sorry wrong on the 30 amp service. With the RV 30 amp service there is only one hot leg and only one 30 amp main breaker in the distribution panel, thus 30 amps max.
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Old 11-23-2017, 01:56 PM   #19
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Originally Posted by Ram Montana High Country View Post
Watch LED's - small quantities are ok, large are not. LED have a little published trait called in RUSH CURRENT. Some Controls companies de-rate controls by 50% - kinda of like an A/C - pulls heavy current to start it
Me thinks in-rush current for an LED is for grid powered LEDs, ie 120-240V AC.

In our trailers we don't have 120V LED nor enough to cause a problem with in-rush current.
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Old 11-23-2017, 04:38 PM   #20
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Changed all the lites in our '10 Montana to LEDs, then all the lites in our SOB, and our current SOB came with all LEDs and never a problem with any of them, other than I never hear the cooling fan in the converter kick on with LED lights on.
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