Electrical Dog Bones? Which ones

[travelingjw]

Am a newbie. What dog bones do you carry in your trailers. I noted that there is a 50 amp to a 30 amp but it is unclear if there is a built in reduction. Thanks

[LiftedAWDAstro]

I carry a 50 to 30 and a 30 to 15 amp. There is no built in reduction in the 50 to 30. 30 amp RV's only use one hot leg for power. 50 amp Rv's use 2 - 120 volt hot legs for power. They still do not use 240 volts. Therefore the 30 amp side of a 50 to 30 dog bone only grabs one hot leg.

[Hohenwald48]

Originally Posted by travelingjw

Am a newbie. What dog bones do you carry in your trailers. I noted that there is a 50 amp to a 30 amp but it is unclear if there is a built in reduction. Thanks

There's really not anything to "reduce". Amps are not forced into the trailer but are drawn by whatever loads you happen to turn on. You could hook up to a 1,000 amp service and it wouldn't matter as your trailer mains are still whatever they are (50 or 30).


Volts are a whole different matter. But dog bone adapters don't change the volts.

[Edd505]

If the unit has 30 amp service you may want a 30 -20amp, a standard house plug. If your units 50amp you'll want a 50-30amp as not all camp grounds have 50amp service and the 50 amp cord will need reduced. My unit is 50 amp and I have both as I keep the 5W plugged in at the house to a 20amp service, keeps batteries up & frig cold.

[travelingjw]

Thank you. I was afraid that if I didn't ask I would hook it up and it would blow my trailer system.

[travelingjw]

Thanks, my brother who is in electronics would be rolling on the floor at my ignorance.

[Doug]

I carry a 50 to 30. The 30 amp plugs get a lot more use. So if I see the 30 amp plug looking a little questionable, I can choose to just plug into the 50.

[JFlightRisk]

Assuming the power cord you have on your rig is a 30 amp,definitely a 50 male to 30 female. Also a 20 male to 30 female, if you end up somewhere there's not 30 amp service available, still have power, just not for the A/C.

[Paintinfool3]

I had a 50 to 30 and a 50 to thirty with a 20 plug also on it and it didnt work at all with my unit

[Hohenwald48]

Originally Posted by Paintinfool3

I had a 50 to 30 and a 50 to thirty with a 20 plug also on it and it didnt work at all with my unit

I'm not sure what kind of adapter you're talking about. Maybe if you described which plug/recep was male and which was female plus what the rating of your trailer is it might help.

[norty1]

I carry every adapter known to man. The one you don't have is the one you will need.

[edatlanta]

Originally Posted by norty1

I carry every adapter known to man. The one you don't have is the one you will need.

I agree. And if you don't need one there will be a camper that does. I have loaned several of mine through the years and sold a couple of them to a camper that didn't want to borrow anything, but really wanted to buy it.

[shrpshtr]

My TT uses 50a service (2 ACs). I keep a 50a-to-30a MTF and a 30a-to-15a MTF in mine. I also carry a 30a (TT-30a) to 30a (L5-30p) FTM adapter to hook up to a generator. I agree with Norty1 though, the one you don't have is the one you'll need so if i encounter anywhere that has a different requirement (even once), I'll add it to the container.

shrp

[Paulmc]

Originally Posted by Hohenwald48

There's really not anything to "reduce". Amps are not forced into the trailer but are drawn by whatever loads you happen to turn on. You could hook up to a 1,000 amp service and it wouldn't matter as your trailer mains are still whatever they are (50 or 30).


Volts are a whole different matter. But dog bone adapters don't change the volts.

The problem is if you have a short circuit in your trailer the higher the amperage your plugged into the longer it will take to trip.

[hoppers4]

Originally Posted by Paulmc

The problem is if you have a short circuit in your trailer the higher the amperage your plugged into the longer it will take to trip.

Your 30 amp internal breaker will trip just as quickly whether you're using a dog bone and 50 amp service or straight 30 amp service. That statement would hold true if the electrical defect was prior to the internal breaker or the internal breaker was defective.

[Hohenwald48]

Originally Posted by Paulmc

The problem is if you have a short circuit in your trailer the higher the amperage your plugged into the longer it will take to trip.

The 30amp breaker in your main panel is still a 30amp breaker and will trip with the same speed regardless of the rating of the feed coming into that main breaker.

[wags999]

Originally Posted by Paintinfool3

I had a 50 to 30 and a 50 to thirty with a 20 plug also on it and it didnt work at all with my unit

A dual plug adapter is used when you only have a 30 amp plug and typically use a 50 amp. You plug into the 30 amp which will supply one leg of your RV service, then you plug the 20 amp (standard plug) into the 20 amp plug on the pedestal. This will give you 30 amps on one leg and 20 amps on another leg. Depending on your RV it may allow 2 A/C's to be run at one time, But, you have to understand you will have only 1/2 the power available on your standard 50 amp service.

Works well if the pedestal is phased properly. IE 20 and 30 amp outlets are wired on different phases.

Most useful in my opinion is the adapter to allow you to use a standard 20 amp receptacle. Then the one that allows you to use the opposite of what your RV typically is.. 50 to 30 or 30 to 50.

Good Luck, and happy camping .

[norty1]

Here is my collection:




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[Paintinfool3]

the one I was talking about that didn't work was a 50 amp that had one 30 amp male and one 20 amp male on it. I had heard it wouldn't work if the 20 amp plug was gfci so that could have been the problem but my roof air wouldn't work with it so I went to my standard 50 to 30 adaptor and it worked fine.

[norty1]

Originally Posted by Paintinfool3

the one I was talking about that didn't work was a 50 amp that had one 30 amp male and one 20 amp male on it. I had heard it wouldn't work if the 20 amp plug was gfci so that could have been the problem but my roof air wouldn't work with it so I went to my standard 50 to 30 adaptor and it worked fine.

The black home made adapter with the 2- 30a inputs is what you had. Correct, they won't work with a GFCI outlet but work great in some parks that have 2 -30a sources in the same box.