Will batteries charge without 50amp?

[garysjayco382]

50-amp is going to be 240 volts. I keep mine plugged into a 30-amp 110 volt plug and it keeps the batteries charged fine.
I'm curious if your 110 volt appliances still work? Pumping 110 to the neutral and the line at the same time should have made some noise.

Thanks for all your time and responding. I guess I would be curious as to why you could run 50 amp 4 prong but not a 30 amp 4 prong? Has never made any noise ,tripped breakers or blown fuses. Dealer had it for a couple of weeks before we took possession stating there was some electrical issues. I’m wondering if the converter ever worked as it has never charged on any type of voltage or outlet refrigerator works but I believe it’s running off the inverter and batteries as we have a great solar system on it. We have six large lithium batteries.

 

[Learjet]

Thanks for all your time and responding. I guess I would be curious as to why you could run 50 amp 4 prong but not a 30 amp 4 prong? Has never made any noise ,tripped breakers or blown fuses. Dealer had it for a couple of weeks before we took possession stating there was some electrical issues. I’m wondering if the converter ever worked as it has never charged on any type of voltage or outlet refrigerator works but I believe it’s running off the inverter and batteries as we have a great solar system on it. We have six large lithium batteries.

If wired properly in theory you could, may not be to code though. Did you have a Nema 14-50 outlet on a 30 amp double pole breaker? Or did you have some sort of adapter from a Nema 14-50 to 14-30 outlet?

 

[Travln2]

I would do two things-
1) stop listening to random people on the internet, like me.
2) Have a licensed electrician look at your setup. But first, ask the electrician if they are familiar with RV wiring.
3) Get yourself a multimeter and a plug-in power management/surge protector. A good one hopefully won't let you screw up your rig wiring. Know how much voltage you're dealing with before you plug in.
4) If someone is telling you that it's ok to plug an RV into a 30 amp welder/dryer outlet, see #1 and #2 above.
5) Read at least 10 articles on RV electricity. Use common sense, and gradually you will be able to get a basic understanding of RV electricity, and you'll be able to discern between good advice and knucklehead advice.
6) Watch you tube videos- again, lot's of knuckleheads out there, so the more you watch, the better you'll be able to filter through them.
7) I guess that's more than two things-
8) You should know the difference between 30 amp 50 amp, and 20 amp service, and how to connect them to your rig BEFORE you plug in. We have 50 amp service on our rig. With an adapter, we can plug into 30 amp or 20 amp 120v service. At home we use an extension cord and a 20 amp adapter to keep the batteries charged. Of course with the 20 amp, we're not running a/c, electric water heater, or microwave.

 

[Route 66 Traveler]

Currently three prong, they are suggesting four prong 50 amp 240v We have a 50 amp to 30 amp adapter. I called Jayco customer service yesterday and the lady stated that it is only recommended to plug my trailer into 50 amp. Not sure how I would ever get my battery trickle charged at my house, refrigerator cold, slides closed to go on a trip if the batteries went low? Not everyone has 50 amps. Probably going to add a 50 amp service. Would this 50A be 120 V or 240 V?

You are getting a lot of bad advice, especially from Camping World! Even if you trailer does in fact use 50 Amp service, it will work just fine plugged into a 30 amp or less 120 Volt circuit

Is your power cord permanently attached to your RV, or does it plug into an RV socket? The plug on a 50 amp cord has 3 prongs, and on the side of the plug is the 4th connection to ground.

It would help greatly if you could post photo of your cord and the socket on your RV. There is no RV made that uses 240 volts to power appliances.

 

[Frosty22]

For reference: The one on the left is a 3-prong 110 volt 30-amp and the one on the right is a 4-prong 240 volt 50-amp.

 

[OnTheGo]

I THINK what CW is telling him is that he should use a four prong plug and receptacle for a total of 240v. IF that's the case it would be easier to understand if it was explained as two 120v legs and how the trailer receives it. If it was explained right, the buyer would know that when they plugged into an AC outlet they would be using 120v. And that's what the converter would be getting as well.

 

[garysjayco382]

I would do two things-
1) stop listening to random people on the internet, like me.
2) Have a licensed electrician look at your setup. But first, ask the electrician if they are familiar with RV wiring.
3) Get yourself a multimeter and a plug-in power management/surge protector. A good one hopefully won't let you screw up your rig wiring. Know how much voltage you're dealing with before you plug in.
4) If someone is telling you that it's ok to plug an RV into a 30 amp welder/dryer outlet, see #1 and #2 above.
5) Read at least 10 articles on RV electricity. Use common sense, and gradually you will be able to get a basic understanding of RV electricity, and you'll be able to discern between good advice and knucklehead advice.
6) Watch you tube videos- again, lot's of knuckleheads out there, so the more you watch, the better you'll be able to filter through them.
7) I guess that's more than two things-
8) You should know the difference between 30 amp 50 amp, and 20 amp service, and how to connect them to your rig BEFORE you plug in. We have 50 amp service on our rig. With an adapter, we can plug into 30 amp or 20 amp 120v service. At home we use an extension cord and a 20 amp adapter to keep the batteries charged. Of course with the 20 amp, we're not running a/c, electric water heater, or microwave.

Thanks again for taking the time. I have an electrical specialist coming out on Tuesday to troubleshoot the system.

 

[garysjayco382]

For reference: The one on the left is a 3-prong 110 volt 30-amp and the one on the right is a 4-prong 240 volt 50-amp.View attachment 1112644

OK, thank you again for all the info. I will upload some photos this evening when I get home from work.

 

[piperinv]

Jumping in late to the conversation to try to help you, and maybe others, understand how a 50-amp system works in an RV. A 50-amp RV service provides two different circuits (or legs) of 120 volts into your RV alternating current (AC) circuit breaker box. Within your circuit breaker box, half of the breakers are connected to one leg and half are connected to another leg. Each leg can run up to 50 amps before tripping a main breaker. (You only get 240 volts by using both legs of power, but I don't know of any RV system that does that. Only home systems like AC or dryers.) A 30-amp system, in contrast, only provides one powered leg to the RV. This difference is important when connecting a 50-amp system to a 30-amp plug. To get 120V power to everything in the RV, you need to connect the ONE power leg of the 30-amp plug to the two Power legs in the 50-amp outlet. If you are only connected to one leg, you only power half of the AC circuits in your RV. Like stated before, you can connect a 50-amp service to a 30-amp service because they are both at 120v, BUT you need to do it correctly and limit how much current you are using (current is amps)

With that said, why are you having issues? It could be a bad charger. You could have the breaker to the charger is off or tripped. I could be that the 30 to 50-amp converter is only powering one leg, and it is the powered leg is not connected to the charger. Unfortunately, I don't think the people who looked at it before thoroughly explained how the system worked to you. I hope this helps you figure out how your AC power works in your RV.

 

[garysjayco382]

Jumping in late to the conversation to try to help you, and maybe others, understand how a 50-amp system works in an RV. A 50-amp RV service provides two different circuits (or legs) of 120 volts into your RV alternating current (AC) circuit breaker box. Within your circuit breaker box, half of the breakers are connected to one leg and half are connected to another leg. Each leg can run up to 50 amps before tripping a main breaker. (You only get 240 volts by using both legs of power, but I don't know of any RV system that does that. Only home systems like AC or dryers.) A 30-amp system, in contrast, only provides one powered leg to the RV. This difference is important when connecting a 50-amp system to a 30-amp plug. To get 120V power to everything in the RV, you need to connect the ONE power leg of the 30-amp plug to the two Power legs in the 50-amp outlet. If you are only connected to one leg, you only power half of the AC circuits in your RV. Like stated before, you can connect a 50-amp service to a 30-amp service because they are both at 120v, BUT you need to do it correctly and limit how much current you are using (current is amps)

With that said, why are you having issues? It could be a bad charger. You could have the breaker to the charger is off or tripped. I could be that the 30 to 50-amp converter is only powering one leg, and it is the powered leg is not connected to the charger. Unfortunately, I don't think the people who looked at it before thoroughly explained how the system worked to you. I hope this helps you figure out how your AC power works in your RV.

Thank you for the response and that helps clarify. We have a 30 amp RV receptacle. Trailer has 50 amp plug which we have an adapter plug to a 30 amp which plugs into the 30amp receptacle. During the day the voltage climbs to over 14 V (solar panels) but drops overnight to 12-13v with nothing on but the refrigerator. Seems as if nothing is being charged By shore power. Don’t know if this matters but if we turn off the inverter, then nothing in the trailer works. I would think at 30 A we would be at least charging the batteries and be able to run one AC unit? How much

 

[Route 66 Traveler]

Lots of info here: RV Electric

 

[piperinv]

Thank you for the response and that helps clarify. We have a 30 amp RV receptacle. Trailer has 50 amp plug which we have an adapter plug to a 30 amp which plugs into the 30amp receptacle. During the day the voltage climbs to over 14 V (solar panels) but drops overnight to 12-13v with nothing on but the refrigerator. Seems as if nothing is being charged By shore power. Don’t know if this matters but if we turn off the inverter, then nothing in the trailer works. I would think at 30 A we would be at least charging the batteries and be able to run one AC unit? How much

Here are a couple of things to figure out. Does your adaptor plug provide 120 Volts to both legs of the 50-amp plug? Remember, 30-amp plugs have one power leg, and 50-amp plugs have two. Have you confirmed the breaker that powers your shore power charger is on and working? If both are true, it is possible that you have a bad charging unit or that something is not connected correctly. When the electrical specialist comes out, let us know what they find.

 

[Learjet]

Just saying 30 amps is not totally precise...there are 30amp 120 RV plugs and there are 30amp 240v Dryer outlets both three and four prong versions. If you use the Nema number, then there is no confusion. See chart NEMA Plug and Outlet chart

 

[Russc25]

Lots of info here: RV Electric

This link is what I was going to post.

CW calling it 240v is BAD because while yes, if you run hot to hot you should have 240v, campers only ever use 120v and can have both hots on the same phase without issue. (Not great because you might be overloading the neutral but just saying it won't over-voltage and blow anything). They're not technically wrong but it's bad to refer to it that way in the context of campers. That's why we got a little worried at the start of the thread: 240 to pretty much anything in the camper will fry it but two 120 legs that are opposite to each other (which is what 240 is) is fine and how 50a plugs are wired: 120-N-120.

Yes, check that your 30a-50a adapter powers both legs.

Batteries should charge even on just a 15a regular household plug.

 

[Kevin Cooper]

To be very clear, a 30 amp RV has 120 volts only. A 50 amp RV has 120/240 volts. Unless you have a $million + RV there is nothing in your RV that uses 240 volts. Every appliance is 120 volt.

 

[Skyline]

If you look for a campground with 15 30 or 50 amp 240 VOLTS on their sites you won’t find any. All are 120 volts.

 

[Thrallster]

I am sure you have already done this but make sure the dip switch on your converter is on lithium.

I recently traded in my Jayco toy hauler for a Brinkley and installed (2) 460AH batteries and they do the same thing. Solar goes to 14.4 and hooked up to house at night 13.2. Lithium is selected but that’s how mine floats I guess.

 

[Skyline]

To be very clear, a 30 amp RV has 120 volts only. A 50 amp RV has 120/240 volts. Unless you have a $million + RV there is nothing in your RV that uses 240 volts. Every appliance is 120 volt.

I stand corrected 50 amp is 240 volts. No equipment in any RV or boat I’ve ever owned used 240 volts.

 

[COCJ]

Go to RV Tech Association of America website to find a certified tech in your area.

rvtaa.org