electrical question - Montana Owners Club

Phil Eyler · 06-03-2009, 02:10 PM

I have an electrical question. I want to hook up a 30 amp conection for my 3400 at my house. I understand 30 amps but is that 110 or 220 volts. Has anyone run your own line to hook to your camper. I'd appreciate any information you can give me.

awaywego · 06-03-2009, 02:21 PM

110 volts. Hot wire Neutral and ground.

H. John Kohl · 06-03-2009, 02:23 PM

It is 110. There are some others with soild electrical background that should be able to help answer you questions. I ran 30 amp to the pedestal and use a 30 to 50 adapter to power our monty.

racerjoe · 06-03-2009, 02:52 PM

I am not trying to be sarcastic here, but it sounds with your electrical experience, you may be better to off to call a electrician, purely for the safety of your connections. It is one of those sayings, if you have to ask .............

Waynem · 06-03-2009, 03:48 PM

No offense to any electricians, but RV electrical wiring (that's what I would search on) is different than what most electricians work with.

Here is one site RV Electric that may help.

When I had my 50Amp service installed at the stick house I printed out the circuitry. The job is finished and I metered all possible combinations and was satisfied. As afterthought I need to ask him some questions when I get back home regarding the neutral return and his use of a single throw 50 amp circuit breaker. I need that changed to two 50 amp double throw. The neutral return is a definite discussion I'll have with him.

It is definitely something to be cautious about.

NCFischers · 06-03-2009, 03:52 PM

You need a 110 volt 30 amp circuit as stated. Purchase a 30 amp RV outlet and a single pole 30 amp circuit breaker. The outlets are different than 240 volt 30 amp outlets that your dryer uses. This way, you can't plug the wrong thing into it. The wiring will have 3 wires in it, black. white and green or bare. If any of this is foreign to you, be smart and get help. If you don't know how to do it, you can do serious damage to the trailer or yourself. Electricity is nothing to guess about, it can be dangerous.

beakyfudd · 06-04-2009, 07:02 AM

Soooo, as long as I'm using an adapter from the rv 30a to a regular 3-prong plug, I'm ok(well, maybe not me, but the 5er)? Jim

NCFischers · 06-04-2009, 08:58 AM

A regular (3 prong) outlet like a dryer outlet has two hot (120 volt) legs on different phases. If you try to adapt it to a single hot leg RV cord, you will cause a dead short and can seriously hurt yourself or the trailer. Again, I'll say, if you don't understand electricity, get help from someone who does. Electricity can be very dangerous!!! A 30 amp RV circuit from the circuit breaker panel has one hot leg, one neutral leg and one ground leg. The 30 amp RV outlet is different from a dryer outlet so you can not accidently plug in the wrong thing. I don't want to sound preachy but I don't want to see anyone get hurt.

jwedell · 06-04-2009, 02:19 PM

I strongly agree with NCFISCHERS. Unless you are ABSOLUTELY sure of what you are doing seek experienced help. The 115 volt wiring in your trailer is just like the wiring in your house. If not done safely a spark or short could be deadly.

PS As an afterthough I've been working on electric since 1969. The power centers for RVs, Boats and Houses are wired the same. The only difference is the voltage and amperage.

HughM · 06-04-2009, 03:21 PM

Agreed with NCFISCHES and JWEDELL, unless you are familar with electrity and how it words you may end with smoke and fire. You'll risk getting the nickname of "SPARKY" which you don't want.

azleflyer · 06-05-2009, 07:17 AM

NCFishers is correct.

Art-n-Marge · 06-09-2009, 09:09 PM

There are 3 common 110v connector types (15 amp, 20 amp and 30 amp) so using RV adapters for each one is "allowed" just don't exceed the demand of the supplied circuit. The 15 amp connector type is a three prong small connecter like what is provided in your stick house - two blades and a round ground pin. A 20 amp is very similar except one of the blades may be horizontal because a device that REQUIRES 20 amp must be plugged into one of these and not accidentally into a 15 amp. A 30 amp connector uses a circular concentric three prong connector to ensure only the larger gauge wire is used for it. An RV starting with a 50 amp connector can be used with an adapter for each the 30 amp, or 15 amp connector but you can still only use the number of amps supplied where you connect. All of these support 110-120 volt AC power.

A 50 amp RV connector has four pins (either 4 blade style or a circular concentric 4 blade style) and supports 220/240 volts. But when the 30 amp or 15 amp adapter is used only 3 of the 4 pins are used and this is how the RV gets down to 110 volts. The fourth pin supplies another 110 volts to get to the 220-240 volts and is only used when plugged into a 50 amp power source. Your trailer will automatically sense the incoming power voltage and make adjustments depending on the supplied voltage

The reason I am saying all this is because there are many ways to connect (and get yourself into trouble). I use adapters at my house to connect my trailer to a 15 amp connector at my garage. But this means I cannot use many things concurrently because besides my trailer I could have things in the garage which can reduce the number of things I turn on in the trailer. I looked into getting a 30 amp dedicated connection to my trailer but my city requires a permit for this and I haven't gotten around to it because of the hassle and cost and I am content with 15 amps for now. It will require a new 30 amp run to the garage by adding a new circuit breaker and power line from my stick house's power panel.

If I ever go through with it I will probably just go ahead and install a 50 amp in case I start adding a second air conditioner, washer/dryer, etc. and want to be able to use the rig fully while parked on home. Then I won't have to share with the garage circuits.

Some things are left to the professionals. Fortunately for me, I have access to a few of them as friends or family and will seek their help when it's time.

NCFischers · 06-10-2009, 01:12 AM

Art,
You stated that "the fourth pin supplies another 110 volts to get to the 220-240 volts and is only used when plugged into a 50 amp power source. Your trailer will automatically sense the incoming power voltage and make adjustments depending on the supplied voltage". The trailer will not sense anything and it will make no adjustments. A proper 30 amp to 50 amp RV adapter provides power from the one power leg on the 30 amp side of the adapter to both the power legs on the 50 amp side. That is how the circuit breaker panel receives full 30 amp power on a 50 amp trailer panel. Both sides of the buss bar is being fed from the same phase so you would have 120 volt 30 amps. That is also the reason that there are no 240 volt circuits in a trailer. A dead short would occur since you do not have true 240 volt power as both sides of the buss bar in the panel is being fed on the same phase. Some people like exnavydiver have installed a 240 volt dryer in their trailers but they need to shut off the circuit breaker to the dryer before using 30 amp shore power or they will blow up the dryer.

Phil Eyler · 06-10-2009, 11:57 AM

Thanks for all your advice. I do plan to check with experts before I do the work.

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