Dumb Questions (Electrical)

[Redwahine]

The campground I just stayed at only had 30 at my site. That was a first for me. The lady that checked me in was discussing which sites had 30 and which had 50 with someone that worked there. Maybe the 50 amp sites only had 50. Most have boxes with all three.

Martha

Yes, and that campground charged me an extra $2 to use the 50 amp. The pole had 15, 30 & 50. Most of the ones I've seen have at least 15 & 30. Not all have 50.

[Cudedog]

Deeann, up until a year or so ago I'd agree about the parks without the 15 amp connection, but I'm seeing more and more of them now ... probably as more upgrade to 50 amp.

Thank you Beth and Deeann.

I do have some basic understanding of electricity (with my set up I need to be aware of - and calculate - the amps/volts/watts of my devices so as to not "go over" the rating of my extension cord) , although not much regarding RV hookups, and this discussion is being extremely helpful.

Another question:

Say I am at a site that has hookups for both 15 amps and 30 amps on the pole. Say I put an adapter on the 30 amp receptacle to step it down to 15 amps, and then plug into both the 15 amp and stepped-down 30 amp receptacle. Can I then safely pull 15 amps from each receptacle (volts and watts also being in the acceptable range) at the same time?

Not sure I am asking this correctly, but responses appreciated.

Thank you!

Anne

[Deeann]

I don't understand why they wouldn't leave a 15 amp outlet on the pole even if they upgrade to 50 amps. All they have to do is tap off of the 50 amp outlet. They don't have to run separate wiring from their main electric box. Sure seems to me like they're shooting themselves in the foot by eliminating the 15 amp outlet, but I guess that's what they're doing. And now they're having to buy and loan their campers all sorts of adapters and pig tails so that they can plug into the only outlet they provided. Doesn't make sense to this ole gal! lol

[Bethers]

The 50, 30, and 15 should not be linked or one tapped off the other. If they are wired correctly, each should be able to be used at the same time.

[Liz]

I don't think I have ever seen a hookup with 50 amps that did not also have 30 and 20.

I have encountered that once and was able to move to a different site that had 30 amp. After that I bought a 50/30 adapter. But it is rare that I need it.

[Deeann]

The 50, 30, and 15 should not be linked or one tapped off the other. If they are wired correctly, each should be able to be used at the same time.

I'll have to beg to differ with you on this. They don't run 3 separate cables all the way from their main electrical box to each individual site to accomodate the 15, 30 and 50 amp connections. They run one large cable to each site and then tap off of it to wire in their various receptacles. I've had to rewire a box at a campsite once because my 30 amp outlet was dead. I also had trouble with a campground in Missouri. They had the black and white wires reversed to their outlets! YIKES! I've worked in the electrical/electronics industry since 1975 and I have a pretty good idea how they do things. They bring the wires into the site box, hook them to the largest receptacle, then tie on to that receptacle to wire the others. I've seen it done a zillion times. It's not against the electrical code to do this. It's common practice. That's the way a house is wired too. It's called daisy-chaining. You loop from one outlet to the next, you don't run separate romex to each outlet or switch.

[Bethers]

I'm not arguing that. My meaning is that all three should be able to be used without any problem.

[Deeann]

Oh yes. You're absolutely correct about that. You should be able to use any of the outlets at your site.

[judi]

Deeann, I like your explanation.
I've only seen one camp with a 15 hookup, and that was in a camp near Lake Shasta City. Usually I see 30 and 50.

[Cudedog]

The 50, 30, and 15 should not be linked or one tapped off the other. If they are wired correctly, each should be able to be used at the same time.

Thank you very much, Beth!

This is really a load off of my mind. With this information, most - but perhaps not all - campgrounds should be workable for me.

Is there a 50 down to 30 adapter that you would recommend? A 30 down to 15 as well. This would give me a lot of flexibility.

Thank you.

Anne

[Deeann]

Deeann, up until a year or so ago I'd agree about the parks without the 15 amp connection, but I'm seeing more and more of them now ... probably as more upgrade to 50 amp.

Thank you Beth and Deeann.

I do have some basic understanding of electricity (with my set up I need to be aware of - and calculate - the amps/volts/watts of my devices so as to not "go over" the rating of my extension cord) , although not much regarding RV hookups, and this discussion is being extremely helpful.

Another question:

Say I am at a site that has hookups for both 15 amps and 30 amps on the pole. Say I put an adapter on the 30 amp receptacle to step it down to 15 amps, and then plug into both the 15 amp and stepped-down 30 amp receptacle. Can I then safely pull 15 amps from each receptacle (volts and watts also being in the acceptable range) at the same time?

Not sure I am asking this correctly, but responses appreciated.

Thank you!

Anne

To answer your question above: Yes. You should be able to do this. Just go ahead and plug into both outlets. If you pull too much current the circuit breaker on the pole will trip then you'll have to shut something off in your van. Then reset the breaker and you should be fine.

Now, you might ask this: If your cable is rated for 15 amps and you plug into a 15 amp outlet, the circuit breaker at the pole will trip if you try to pull more than 15 amps. This is good. This is what you want to happen. The circuit breaker is protecting your cable and your converter. BUT, when you put an adapter on your 15 amp cable so that you can plug it into a 30 amp outlet, that breaker won't trip until you try to pull more than 30 amps through it. Now you have a problem because the outlet is letting you pull 30 amps over your 15 amp cable!!! YOWZA! Your cable won't handle 30 amps so it will melt and possibly start a fire! How do you prevent this? You have a 15 amp breaker in your power converter. That's how. Your onboard breaker will protect your cable and your converter regardless of which outlet you are plugged into.

So, you can plug into either outlet, 15 or 30 amp, and you can use both at the same time.

An example: It's cold. You have a space heater on in the van. It pulls around 14 amps. You want to use your electric grill. If you plug the grill into the rv, you'll pop the breaker because you're trying to pull more than 15 amps through your converter. So go plug the grill in at the pole. Problem solved..

TIP: If you want to use a small space heater, buy one that has a low, medium and high setting. If you use the high setting you'll be pulling around 14 amps and you'll be close to your limit. If you turn anything else on the breaker will likely trip. But if you use the medium setting you will be pulling less current and you'll be able to turn on a light or your tv, etc. while the heater is running. Hence, you can have some heat and still use some other things in your van.

Has this answered your question? I know electricity is confusing. I could explain it so much better if I was there with you. Hope my answers aren't confusing you or any of the other gals.

[MelissaD]

Most common power adapters http://www.campingworld.com/search/index.cfm?Ntt=power+grip+&N=0&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=primary&Nty=1&Ntpc=1&Ns=p_sort_default
If you had a 50 amp (male) to 30 amp (female) and a 30 amp (male) to 15 amp (female) you should be able to plug in anywhere.

You are correct that 50 amp service is actually two 50 amp 120 vac lines and thus much more than the single 30 amp 120 vac line. The adapters are all prewired so you should not have to worry about it. Sounds like you did it correct when you wired your van. If you are concerned about the A/C unit tripping your breaker you might get an electrician to put in a 30 amp box.

30 amps is more than sufficient for most campers. When you start adding the 2nd A/C unit is when most get into trouble and need the 50 amp service.

Energy Management Systems are actually more than surge protectors and check things like polarity, voltage, current and can even tell if the post is wired incorrectly. Camping stores sell them in 30 amp and 50 amp. Since you don't need that much, a simple surge protector from Walmart will probably be sufficient.