50 amp question

[wags999]

Typically a voltage drop happens when many people are on the same service, as more power is used, voltage can drop. Such as, a campground is busy, on a warm day, everyone returns at dinner time...5PM say. They all kick the AC on, the voltage can drop drastically. I have seen it go as low as high 90 volts. This can cause issues with electrical appliances, as lower voltage means they have to draw more amps to do the same work. If a toaster needs 1500 watts, it will typically draw 12.5 amps at 120 volts... but if the voltage drops to 110 volts it will pull about 13.65 amps. An EMS Electrical Management System, will monitor over/under voltage, open neutral, surges, improper ground etc, and will turn the power off, if voltage drops below/above approximately 10% of the normal 120 volts...ie 108 and 132 volts will both cause your EMS to shut down till the issue has passed. Thus potentially saving damage to electrical equipment. It will also monitor spikes, say from a lightening strike even miles away.


A 30 amp RV has 3600 watts of power available, having one leg at 120 volts and 30 amps. A 50 amp RV has two legs of 120 volts 50 amps each or 100 amps at 120 volts, supplying 12,000 watts of power at 120 volts. When you plug a 50 amp RV into a 30 amp outlet you will only have 3600 watts of power available, about 1/3 of your normal power. If you plug a 30 amp RV into a 50 amp outlet you will still only have 3600 watts of power available

[KYCAMPER]

Dan:
Couple of good videos. First is a little more info than the average camper needs to know but still good info.

[2edgesword]

Originally Posted by norty1

One of my favorite memories from Basic electronics school at Biloxi AFB was touching the terminals of a charged capacitor.

That's a lesson you never forget!

We had a test lab with multiple stations. The class clown would open the enclosure where the power strip for the test equipment was located, insert the leads a polarity aluminum electrolytic capacitor in an A/C outlet, put the enclosure back on and when a student came in and hit power switch to turn on the test equipment you'd get the loud pop and a lot of laughter.

[KYCAMPER]

TCNashville: The neutral and the ground are the same at the point they are tied together. Their function is to provide a return path of current to the supply transformer. The neutral provides a return path under normal operating conditions. The ground provides a return to the transformer in abnormal or "fault" conditions enabling the circuit breakers to operate. Past the point they are tied together they provide a parallel path back to the transformer.

[Dustdevil]

Originally Posted by norty1

One of my favorite memories from Basic electronics school at Biloxi AFB was touching the terminals of a charged capacitor.

That's a lesson you never forget!

This was my first lesson also. 8th grade electronics class, guys making crystal radios and a whole bunch of other stuff from kits and bashing them for better performance. Some guys made a device from a cap I can best describe as a very small low-capacity cattle prod. Nailed a few people with it before the teacher caught up with them and threatened to call their parents in. That ended that, but the object lesson stuck.

[JohnWedell]

Originally Posted by wags999

Typically a voltage drop happens when many people are on the same service, as more power is used, voltage can drop. Such as, a campground is busy, on a warm day, everyone returns at dinner time...5PM say. They all kick the AC on, the voltage can drop drastically. I have seen it go as low as high 90 volts. This can cause issues with electrical appliances, as lower voltage means they have to draw more amps to do the same work. If a toaster needs 1500 watts, it will typically draw 12.5 amps at 120 volts... but if the voltage drops to 110 volts it will pull about 13.65 amps. An EMS Electrical Management System, will monitor over/under voltage, open neutral, surges, improper ground etc, and will turn the power off, if voltage drops below/above approximately 10% of the normal 120 volts...ie 108 and 132 volts will both cause your EMS to shut down till the issue has passed. Thus potentially saving damage to electrical equipment. It will also monitor spikes, say from a lightening strike even miles away.


A 30 amp RV has 3600 watts of power available, having one leg at 120 volts and 30 amps. A 50 amp RV has two legs of 120 volts 50 amps each or 100 amps at 120 volts, supplying 12,000 watts of power at 120 volts. When you plug a 50 amp RV into a 30 amp outlet you will only have 3600 watts of power available, about 1/3 of your normal power. If you plug a 30 amp RV into a 50 amp outlet you will still only have 3600 watts of power available

Actually a toaster is a resistive load. If the voltage goes down so does the amperage. If the voltage goes down the amperage goes up on an inductive (motor) load.

[schmeed]

Really enjoy this discussion. Thank you to everyone for their information.

Question:
Has anyone ever hooked up their camper (capable of 2 120v legs) to a diesel generator to get 50 or 30amp service?

We are using one of these at a upcoming festival:
https://www.sunbeltrentals.com/equip...sel-generator/

It has a spiderbox with a 30amp twist lock connector. I would like to create a custom connector to create a cable, but need to know if:

(a) will this work ok
(b) what is the correct wiring for the twist lock?

The 30amp twist is a L6-30.

Thanks!

[norty1]

I have never hooked up to a generator with that capacity with my rv, but I did have a smaller generator with a 30a twist lock connector. I made an adapter that worked well. They are not expensive and readily available today.

https://www.etrailer.com/dept-pg-RV_...Male_Plug.aspx

I would do some checking on how many of those are on that generator. I would not give you any advice on the 50a question. I do have a home made adapter that adapts 2- 30a feeds to the 50a input to my trailer that works just fine in a pinch.

[kreid]

Originally Posted by Fr8Train

My 5er is a 50 amp, is it 120 or 240? My plug has 2 blue led sometimes only one is on and other both are on. Am curious as to if the leds are showing one or two legs.

2-120v legs. The reason both leds probably don't light sometimes is most likely due to a loose connection at the shore power pole. Because 50amp plugs tend to be very tight most people tend to wiggle them up and down to get them unplugged sometimes causing a loose connection. As a service advosor in an RV dealership I've had several customers come in with fried converters and ac's, due to the ground or neutrals becoming loose and sending 220 through the electrical grids in the campers. I recommend buying a multimeter and testing each leg against both the ground and neutral to make sure there's only 120 on each one. Not that there would be 240 on one leg,but ro make sure that the ground and neutral are working as they should before you plug in.