Newbie question-using 50a-30a adapter

[sandinista72]

Hi there,
Newbie here. We've got reservations at a campground with 50 amp service but we have a 30A 17RK Hummingbird. is it safe to use a 50A-30A adapter? I saw a few things on youtube that scared the bejeezuz out of me and wanted to see if anyone has had problems with the adapters.

Thanks!!!

Sandy

[John7349]

WELCOME TO THE SITE!


An RV 50amp Male to 30amp female is a must when traveling. Very common to use. Buy a factory made one and you will be good to go. Camping World, Amazon or your local trailer store will have a ton of them.
Most parks will have 50amp along with 30amp service, BUT NOT ALWAYS. Enjoy!

[wiscampsin]

Welcome from Wisconsin. Using a 50A -> 30A adapter should pose no problems.

[Midnightmoon]

Welcome to the forum. As others have mentioned, it is very common to use a 50 to 30 amp adapter. In fact, I often run across 30 amp plugs at campgrounds that are well worn and don't offer a secure connection. Usually, the 50 amp plugs are in much better shape and we use those instead.

[RogerR]

If you buy a 50 to 30 adapter make sure you get a "dog bone" model that has a few inches of wire. This way the lid of the box won't put pressure on your cord and adapter.

I like this one, but there are a lot of good ones out there.
I saw a Epicord 50 male to 30 female for $9.49 on Amazon, nicer than the one I have as it has little handles to make pulling easier. Now that I think of it, I am going to order one for myself.


If you don't have one a 120 volt standard outlet to 30 amp converter is also very handy. If you have a window air like I do you can run off any outlet with it. In any case it will let you plug into any outlet to keep your battery charged and some minimal items like a microwave, toaster, coffee pot one at a time.

[sandinista72]

Appreciate all the help. Being new to the RV world is a little intimidating, definitely a steep learning curve! Glad to have this resource.

[John7349]

Originally Posted by sandinista72

Appreciate all the help. Being new to the RV world is a little intimidating, definitely a steep learning curve! Glad to have this resource.

We have all been there...

[Chet & Marie]

Originally Posted by Midnightmoon

Welcome to the forum. As others have mentioned, it is very common to use a 50 to 30 amp adapter. In fact, I often run across 30 amp plugs at campgrounds that are well worn and don't offer a secure connection. Usually, the 50 amp plugs are in much better shape and we use those instead.

Ditto

[JFlightRisk]

Originally Posted by sandinista72

Hi there,
Newbie here. We've got reservations at a campground with 50 amp service but we have a 30A 17RK Hummingbird. is it safe to use a 50A-30A adapter? I saw a few things on youtube that scared the bejeezuz out of me and wanted to see if anyone has had problems with the adapters.

Thanks!!!

Sandy

Welcome from Western NY state! We also always carry a dog bone adapter, just in case. We've seen a few campground websites that state they have 50 amp service, but that was in addition to the 30 amp and 20 amp outlets on the sites. Sometimes they advertise it that way so folks with larger rigs that require it know they can plug into 50 amp service during their stay.

[rkresge]

Using a 50-amp to 30-amp dogbone right now. Glad to have it along, actually using it for the first time since I bought it 3 years ago. The 30-amp outlet in our site's pedestal was pretty badly burned and partially melted, so I hesitated to use it. FWIW, the park replaced it the next day, but I never bothered to change. Works fine.


Roger

[wags999]

Yes you can safely use it. You will only draw the power your RV breaker will allow, in your case 30 amps. The second leg of the 50 amp receptacle is not used.

[us71na]

The only down side is that the 50 amp breaker in the pedestal will not protect your trailer as well as the 30 amp breaker will.