| Author | Message | ||
| Christopher Goodwin (Cgoodwin)
Rating: N/A |
What power is typically available at parks? 30amp? 50amp? 80amp? 120? 240? | ||
| ChuckMC9 (Chucks)
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Oh MAN, do you have to go asking that quesion? OK John, let's hear it...  PS: I've heard of all except 80. | ||
| Jim Stacy
Rating: N/A |
Most parks have 30 amp @ 120 volts. This is a large three pin connector, two angled flat blades and one round pin. Some parks have 50 amp @ 240 volts. (This is more than three times the power of a 30 amp supply). This is a larger four pin connector, three parallel flat blades and one round pin. Adapters are available to upgrade or downgrade the plugs. There are some concerns in doing this such as adapting a 20 or 30 amp cord to a 50 amp plug. This could leave your 14 gage extension cord "protected" by a 50 amp breaker. There has been a lot of discussion here about the relative merits of service and protection. This will probably cause some more. IHTH. Jim Stacy | ||
| Dale L. Waller (Happycampersrus)
Rating: N/A |
We stay on the east coast, between FL & CONN. so this may not help you. Mostly the campgrounds we stay at have the 50A service. Some of the "one night or overnight campgrounds" that we use are older so they have just the 30A service. I can get by with 30A if we don't run both AC's or the Electric heat. It depends on your needs, But a little planning on the internet and you can find a 50A service for your trips. I'm with Chuck. I've never seen 80A service. Maybe someone will post that has. Dale | ||
| John MC9 Rating: N/A |
OH HOLY ^%*%$@% NOT AGAIN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* Yeah, kiddin' aside, 30@120 at most all - and 50@120, at some new or upgraded parks is the norm. If you ask for 220 or 240 volt hookup, most all will tell you they don't have it even though they supply 50 amps to the 50 amp outlet (and it is technically considered 220 service). Never heard of 80a service.. If you wire for 50 and carry adapters, you'll always be a happy frikkin camper no matter where you go! (btdt) | ||
| R.J.(Bob) Evans (Bobofthenorth)
Rating: N/A |
It really depends where you plan to travel. Most of our travel is to places where 30 amp is big power. When we are in Mexico we consider ourselves lucky to have 8 amps available at 100 volts. If you stay in the concrete slab pull-thru type parks then 50 amp is likely the norm. | ||
| Donald Lee Schwanke (Dontx)
Rating: N/A |
Take a peek at a Woodalls campground directory, it tells you what each rv park has, and how many 50 and how many 30. | ||
| R Jensen
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So, for those who have traveled Mexico, what can you expect to find in the way power. R Jensen | ||
| R Jensen
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That should be, "in the way of power" | ||
| FAST FRED Rating: N/A |
For those that choose to cruise in Canada, and stay in an RV park or Provincial campsite 15A of 120v is about 75% of the places. For folks that wish to get away from the "pull thru" crowd , many older parks will still have the first constructed sections avilable , usually set up now for tent campers. Happily most of these older really scenic sites will hold a 35 ft coach , with lots of piece & quiet , but again only 15A/120v. Set the coach up with automatic Load Shedding and every park , marina and friend's driveway will be a campsite to enjoy. Works for me, FAST FRED | ||
| Steven D. Braud (Steve77amg)
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Hey Fred, what is automatic load shedding? | ||
| Richard Bowyer (Drivingmisslazy)
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John, I really do not believe there is such a thing as 50 amp, 120 volt service at any park. For one thing there is no such animal as a 50 amp, 120 volt outlet or plug that I have ever seen. That is only half of the service. It is really 100 amp at 120 volt with 50 amps being available from each of the two hot legs for a total of 100 amps. That in turn is technically described as 50 amps at 240/120 volts. And you have to use a 240 volt 50 amp outlet/plug to connect to it. Richard | ||
| Ed Jewett (Kristinsgrandpa)
Rating: N/A |
The NEC people are trying to come up with another plug to carry a load bigger than the current 50 amp. service without going to a cannon plug type recpt. (industrial) So far they have a 60 amp plug similar to the 50 amp plugs now in use. But it seem they want something a little bigger. 45'ers with 5 A/C's etc. are becoming more common. Campground owners don't want to rewire and RV owners want more power. I think the looser in this battle is going to be the campers wallet. I'd wire for 50 amps. You can always use less. Ed. | ||
| David Hartley (Drdave)
Rating: N/A |
I wire for 2 - 30 amp services and load accordingly. I make my primary items all work within the 30 amp service range. And can manually turn off stuff that is not necessary if I have less than 30 amp service available. If I am limited to 15 amp service, My inverter is used to provide 30 amp function and the 15 amp service is only used to charge the batteries. I have two panels, One takes the line or generator power and has things like the a/c units and water heater on it. Then I feed my inverter from a breaker in the first panel. The inverter handles the second breaker panel all by itself up to 30 amps or 3000 watts (whichever comes first). I can flip the breaker off that feeds the inverter/charger and cause the inverter to come on and handle the loads. I have a bridged 50 amp plug that provides both hot legs from a 15 or 30 amp rv plug. This way I can put my water heater or one a/c unit on the line service and run everything else from the inverter as needed. I learned a long time ago that if you build a power hungry rig that does not have any flexibility you will be let down just when you need stuff to work. So my power setups are built to live on a primary 30 amp load, with a secondary 20 amp service for the second roof air and/or water heater. For a maximum of 50 amps total. 30+20=50 My 10kw generator puts out 41 to 45 amps per leg @120 volts max.(X2) So if I keep the end circuit loads to 30 amps each I am safe. I won't say that my way is the best, But it works for me. I got the idea originally based on RV's that had a 6.5kw generator that had two outputs and two breakers. One was 30 amps and the second was 20 amps. Many older RV's used the second output only for the rear a/c unit when on generator with everything else running off the 30 amp output. I followed that same design. | ||
| John MC9 Rating: N/A |
Richard- Take that argument to the campground owners that will tell you when asked, that they do not provide 220v, but do have 50 amp service available. This argument is a continual thing here, but it's apples and apples. I know and you know it's 50 @ 220, but since the majority of RVs are not wired for "220" and only have outlets for 110 - and utilize the 50 amp plug and shoreline - it seems a bit odd to continue arguing the point; the technicality of it. The majority of campers, RV dealers and campground owners believe that it is 50 amp service to all 110v appliances, allowing both ACs, the microwave, mom's hair dryer, etc, to be used at the same time. And to tell you the truth, if there are no 220v outlets aboard, all the RV has, is 50 amp 110 service. (Blaptzzaaaaaptt - sound of bronx cheer) | ||
| JR
Rating: N/A |
Isn't it two 50A 110VAC circuits? I wired for 30A, but use the 50A plug whenever it's available. I know, punishment is due. I've considered removing the rear AC from the main panel and installing another for the rear AC only. I could still run either or both on 120 Genset...which I never do anyway. However, both Dometic heat pumps/ACs will run on 30A without issue. As long an nothing else is turned on. I operate my genset on 120V so no problem with worrying about balancing the loads. The concern with planning 50A coach would be to avoid using any 240AC units like range or AC. Some older parks cobble the other leg of the 50A from out of phase sources or even the 20A outlets. If viewed as two 110VAC legs, wiring for 50A, but liveable with 30A, seems reasonable. Without LP (fridge, hot water), it doesn't seem reasonable to expect 30A to operate a coach in hot weather. I'd wire for 50A, with two 110VAC legs. I've almost always found 30A, and all upscale parks offer 50A, however, when the weather's hot, a lot of parks wiring won't support the AC load and you may find 30A outlets with 20A available. You'll need contingincy plan for that day. I've seen parks that recommend turning off the AC if leaving the coach for a while....that's got to be a joke. No one turns off the ACs in hot weather. My dos centavos, JR | ||
| Juan MCIX Rating: N/A |
sí, pero algunos miles más, y usted puede comprar un almuerzo decente. | ||
| FAST FRED Rating: N/A |
The Hubbel folks have 120V 50A sets for boats , but I only see range electrics stuff in most RV parks not marine . If you search the archives for "Living Well in a Dump" (or some equally similar fun title) you will find the basics of automatic load shedding. I will search my own archives for ya , too. FAST FRED |