the electric pole question

[avalen]

don't believe this has ever been brought up but here goes....
the electric pole where I plug in has 3 outlets on it, a 50 amp, a 30 amp and a regular plug in say for an extension cord.
My fifthwheel is 30 amp so of course I use that one but if I plug an extension cord into that regular outlet is it drawing
off my 30 amps of electricity, or is that 30 amps just for the rv and the regular socket draws off its own amps. I'm
thinking it draws off its own amps and wouldn't interfere with my 30 amps allocated for the fifthwheel. Is this common
sense or am I over thinking? The maintenance guy is coming by sometime this week to fix it cause it doesn't work but
thought I'd throw this question out there to see what ya'll thought.

[Bethers]

No, it should not be drawing off your 30 amp outlet. However, recently I was at a park where they had a notice not to use both 50 amp and 30 amp from the same pole - that their gauge of how much draw could be done meant only one of either of those could be used at a time (I'm sure that was figured based on a full park). You should be able to safely use the receptacle.

[Deeann]

There is one large cable that brings the power into the box. Then they adjust the wiring inside the box to hook it up correctly to each receptacle. Some wires may not be used depending on the outlet. Anything you plug into any outlet in the box is pulling off the same power. That's why you can't plug into all three outlets at once and use them. So if you're plugged into the 30 amp outlet and you plug an extension cable into the regular receptacle, you are drawing from the same source.

I think what you're asking is this: Am I starving my rv of power by using the 110v outlet? The answer is that you shouldn't be. But it's possible to trip a breaker in the box if the 30amp is pulling heavily and you plug a heavy load into the 110v outlet.

[retiredhappy]

I've also noticed that often when a park fills up (like at Huntington SP recently) the power to my rig drops especially around high usage times such as dinner, etc. I keep a monitor plugged inside my rig at all times so I know if it drops below 110 which can cause a brown out and damage your AC, etc. I also use the same monitor (with a 30amp adapter) to check out the electric post BEFORE I plug my rig in. There have been several times when the power at the post is below 110 which means even less inside rig.

[avalen]

There is one large cable that brings the power into the box. Then they adjust the wiring inside the box to hook it up correctly to each receptacle. Some wires may not be used depending on the outlet. Anything you plug into any outlet in the box is pulling off the same power. That's why you can't plug into all three outlets at once and use them. So if you're plugged into the 30 amp outlet and you plug an extension cable into the regular receptacle, you are drawing from the same source.

I think what you're asking is this: Am I starving my rv of power by using the 110v outlet? The answer is that you shouldn't be. But it's possible to trip a breaker in the box if the 30amp is pulling heavily and you plug a heavy load into the 110v outlet.

but if the pole is rated for 50 and I'm only using 30, I think its safe to say I should be able to use the 110 receptacle without reducing the 30 thats going into my fifthwheel.
Karen, I'm gonna have to get one of those things your talking about

[sharon]

The 50A has 2 110 lines hooked up to it, the 30 only has 1 110 line. So the extra 110 line is going only to the 50A and you're not getting any of that extra juice to use. You should, if the park has a big enough main line coming in, be able to use the 30A and the 15A together with no problems. But you know where you live and that every trailer/rv in there is gonna be using every bit of their AC trying to stay cool, so all bets are off as to whether you can use it or not once summer really hits. Of course, depends on what you're gonna use it for, too. Something that's only pulling a couple of amps you should be good to go. Something that is pulling 10-15 amps, prolly not.

[avalen]

will let ya'll know what the outcome is after the electrician fixes it and I can use it. Thanks for your input. I was thinking
of many things to use it for but actually off hand, crock pot in summer on the patio so I don't heat up the house.

[Deeann]

Go ahead and use the crock pot, toaster, electric skillet, etc. outside. Your box should allow you to have enough power for the rv and the other outlet too.

Circuit breakers are designed to protect the wiring. The amount of current (amps) a wire can carry depends on it's size. You really would have to have an understanding of electricity and wiring practices to understand how the box is wired and what you can do with the outlets. My advice is not to worry too much about it. Use the 30amp for the rv, then use the regular outlet for whatever you want to do. If you pull too much current, the circuit breaker in the box will pop open. If that happens, lighten the load on the line (unplug something) then reset the breaker.

It doesn't make any difference where you plug the crock pot in. The power all comes over the same wires in the box. You can plug the crock pot into the outside outlet or one on the kitchen counter. It all comes from the same source. So plug in whatever you want, wherever you want. Don't worry about it.

If a campground has inadequate wiring then the power will sag when everyone turns their a/c on. This is a campground problem. It's like a garden hose that is 1" around. You can run lots of water through a 1" water hose. You can supply plenty of water to two or three users, but if you need to supply water to 25 people the 1" hose isn't big enough to do that so everyone's water pressure and flow drops down if they all turn on the faucet at the same time. To solve the problem you have to buy a bigger water hose. The same is true with electricity. If the campground doesn't have enough capacity, they can't supply the power you need so the current flow (amps) goes down and drags the voltage level with it.

Use the outlet. If you pop a circuit breaker in the box, do what I said above. Also, get a meter and check the voltage in the trailer if you want. If it sags below 110v, quit using the microwave (or whatever) and see if it goes up. If not you can check the voltage at the box. If it's low there too, it's a campground problem. Find another campground. An older campground is more likely to have inadequate power than the newer campgrounds that were wired for 50amp boxes to start with. Lots of campgrounds have problems with capacity because they have added 50amp boxes after the campground was built and they didn't do anything to increase their own ability to supply more power. In other words, they added more people to the water hose but didn't buy a bigger hose.

Hope this helps.

[retiredhappy]

Deeann, you actually make electricity make sense and understandable.

[Deeann]

Thank you, Karen. I have worked in maintenance all my life. I'm a retired electronics technician. I worked at one of Tulsa's large water plants for 29 years. I know a bit about electrical, plumbing, mechanical, hydraulics, pneumatics, computer controls, instrumentation, etc. I fix all my own things and did all the work on my TT. I love to work on just about anything but I've gotten to the age where I can't crawl around as well as I used to. Darn it!

[snowball]

hmmm Deeann where did you say you live?
sheila

[Deeann]

hahaha! It's nice to be handy, for sure. I've saved myself tens of thousands of dollars over the years.

[IrishIroamed]

hmmm Deeann where did you say you live? sheila

I was thinking the same thing Afraid when I get something, I'll only drive in it & sleep in it because I'm afraid I'll either blow it up with hooking up to electric, splatter everything when dumping tanks or some of the other horrors I've heard. Maybe I'll start a blog at that time called "What to NOT do in an RV"

[MelissaD]

hmmm Deeann where did you say you live? sheila

I was thinking the same thing Afraid when I get something, I'll only drive in it & sleep in it because I'm afraid I'll either blow it up with hooking up to electric, splatter everything when dumping tanks or some of the other horrors I've heard. Maybe I'll start a blog at that time called "What to NOT do in an RV"

Those experiences make for great campfire stories as we have all been there and all shared the same concerns. As long as no one gets hurt and repairs aren't too bad there's an experience for a story.

Example: I worked in the shipyard for US submarines at one point. They would give out an award at the end of a patrol called the "Golden Flapper". It was not an award you wanted. You see to "dump tanks" on a sub they post a sign not to flush the toilet then pressurize the tank to a couple of hundred pounds with air to overcome sea pressure and squirt the tank overboard using the air pressure in the tank. It would never fail that someone would wake up to use the head (toilet), walk in and hold the sign to remind them not to flush and take care of their business. They would then forget and pull the lever flushing the toilet releasing all that air pressure and black tank stuff straight up out of the toilet . I told it's loud and smelly. Needless to say they are now very awake and in need of a shower after they clean up their mess. The crew presents the individual with his award at the end of the patrol. The newer class of subs use a pump to avoid this issue.

[IrishIroamed]

Well Melissa - if the Navy can screw up dumping tanks I guess it would be OK for me to do it too, but......ewwwww