| Author |
Message |
ron and patti (Hayleyscomet)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - 4:05 pm: | |
Getting ready to wire the bus and wondering how common are 220v 50amp power connections at rv parks? Patti |
Jim Ashworth (Jimnh)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - 5:14 pm: | |
Very common if you go where Fast Fred doesn't go. It is rare for me to stay in a campground that doesn't have 50A service. Not because I am looking only for 50A service, but because they have them anyway.
Definitely wire the bus for 50A especially if you have more than one a/c. You WILL need it. They will only become more and more common as the baby boomers buy the "retirement" coaches. It's incredibly easier to do it right from the beginning and almost impossible to change it over later.
Jim |
Gary McFarland (Gearheadgary)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - 5:36 pm: | |
I agree.
If you setup everything for 50a you can always use dogbone connectors to reduce. circuit planning is an obvious must though.
Gary |
Buswarrior (Buswarrior)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - 7:18 pm: | |
Hello Patti.
I agree too.
Where you find less power available, you just choose when to run what to keep the breaker from tripping.
Only a problem if you have any 220 volt appliances aboard: they won't work if you have less than the 220V.
happy coaching!
buswarrior |
Lin
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - 9:17 pm: | |
There is not much reason to wire for less than 50 amp since the cost is about the same. You can always manage on 30 or 20 if you have to. Since I have no plans of doing anything with 220 though, we wired with only one leg of 50 amp power just to keep the cord lighter. If only hooked to a 30 amp circut, a time staggers the ac's. |
Jayrjay
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - 9:52 pm: | |
For the last ten or twelve years the NEC (Natn'l Elect. Code) has required ALL RV parks and campgrounds to be 50Amp services only. ...JJ |
John that newguy
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - 10:52 pm: | |
After two+ years of "full-timing"....
Near all of the older parks and most of the State and Government
parks are 30 amp (some have 50 amp available). Some newer parks
have installed 50 amp service for the "better" drive-through locations.
Most parks will charge you extra if you request 50 amp service, with
some exceptions. The parks that charge extra are usually the same
parks that charge you extra if you run heat, AC, etc..
I would not be without 50 amp service in the coach, regardless if the
park has it available or not. As already mentioned, you can adapt
your 50 amp coach to utilize the 30 amp service. At several parks,
we ran both ACs, microwave and a coffee pot all at once on a 30
amp service without popping the breaker.
I don't know of any 220 appliances being used in any RV. If anyone's
using them, it certainly isn't well known. The "220" 50 amp service
enters the RV and the circuits split to provide two 30 amp legs.
One usually goes to one AC unit and perhaps another outlet or two.
The other leg goes to the remaining AC, and the rest of the RV.
At no point in most RVs, does 220 appear at an outlet. I'm sure
the provision can be ordered, to operate a washer/dryer in some
of the high end RVs, but most do not provide the provision and
the washer/dryer is 110v.
Converting a 30 amp coach to enable 50 amp service is not difficult.
Many RVers have done so by simply rewiring the shoreline plug,
and/or the front/rear AC switch to accept a second shoreline plug,
or a 50 amp RV type plug.
To use shore power in most RVs, you unplug from the coach/generator
outlet and plug into the shore power outlet. Since the genset supplies
50 amp service, allowing both ACs to run, the ability to run 50 amp
park service via the same (genset) circuits is made possible. There
are many web sites that show how to make those modifications.
The bottom line? If I were building the system, I'd build it for 50 amp
and use the adapters for 30 or 15 when needed. Although you can
upgrade later, why not do it now and save work later. |
MCI Larry (Eurof3)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, November 24, 2004 - 12:34 am: | |
We all agree. do it 50 and you can adapter it down to less if needed. Most any Rv store has these 50/30 amp adapter plugs/cords.
Its easy. Larry |
FAST FRED
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, November 24, 2004 - 5:23 am: | |
Don't be suprised if many of the 50A sockets are simply hooked to (2) 30 year old 15a wiring, at many older pretty campsites.
They want to put 50A in the guide books but forgo the huge $$$$$$ to rewire the place .
Caviat Emptor ,
If you learn to live happily with a 15a plug (no air cond land) , you will never have to bother with blown campground fuses , poped breakers etc.
Automatic priority load shedding is the simplest solution. About $60.
The Trace works wonders for powerhogs ,
even runs an air cond from 15 a or two from 30a, BUT not 24/7.
FAST FRED |
Richard Bowyer (Drivingmisslazy)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, November 24, 2004 - 10:34 am: | |
My experience is that most of the "many older pretty campsites" that FF seems to prefer do not have space or facilities for a 35 or 40 ft. conversion.
snip "If you learn to live happily with a 15a plug"
If I had to live with only 15 amps, then I do not think I would ever visit that campground, regardless of how pretty or how cheap. I would at least like to have my coffee pot on and be able to use another appliance such as a toaster or microwave or a hair dryer. Different strokes for different folks, but it seems that FF is the only one on any of the boards that is of this opinion.
Richard |
Lin
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, November 24, 2004 - 12:14 pm: | |
I like it both ways. Wire for 50 amp and be comfortable with less. Nothing like the joy of extra capacity! |
Jock Fugitt (Busjock)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, November 24, 2004 - 8:02 pm: | |
ron & Patti,
It so much depends on how you are going to use your coach. I would put the 50 amp in, but I would not go to a lot of trouble making it automatic etc.. Transfer relays just cause more problems than they are worth.. The worst is that the trace will never work properly and let you set shore and generator loads separately.
We have a simple syetem. on the side of the coach is a 50 ampere Hubbel marine twist lock. We have two cords, one a honky #6 very heavy 50 amp guy that sits in the bottom of the locker with every thing else on top of if. Second we have the normal 30 ampere cord with also the mating hubbel twist lock.. the twist lock is wired to put the 30 amp on both sices of the split bus. We also have 3 more sections of #10 gauge 30 ampere cable to hookup if needed to friends houses ete.. plenty of 15 ampere adapters etc...
At the trace we have an addidional 50 ampere plug that allows us to move the plug to a socket and power the coach directly from the 50 amp 230 volt service.
We have used this 3 times in almost 5 years of full timing..
With a trace SW4024 there isn't much that you cant run on 30 amperes. WE run both roof airs, and the fridge, Microwave if we want it.. Trace just supplies the extra, and puts it back when the airconditioners cycle...
Its a very symple system, and lets you have best of both worlds.
Jock |
FAST FRED
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, November 25, 2004 - 5:37 am: | |
"My experience is that most of the "many older pretty campsites" that FF seems to prefer do not have space or facilities for a 35 or 40 ft. conversion."
The oldest state parks were built for 30 ft travel trailers towed by the family car.
And the earliest commercial parks followed this lead.
Any 35 ft coach can usually get in , although the 40's may have to settle for parking outside and walking thru.
The earlier the campground was built , frequently the prettier it is.
Water front was not as big of a realestate deal in the 20, 30 40 and 50's so earlier campgrounds can have VIEWS.
WE all have our vacation preferences and a flat field , cleared of every scrub and tree to make "Pull thru Camping" avilable to the unskilled newby , has little appeal for me.
Ditto for camp Wallmart or Camp Sams Club, or Camp Home Depot parking lot.
Vacation Your Way!
I prefer the pretty places,where enough electric to charge the batts is a bonus!
FAST FRED |