RV Lifestyle & Repair Editors

Overview of 50-Amp RV Electrical Systems

RV Lifestyle & Repair Editors
Duration:   5  mins

Description

It is important to have a full understanding of how different RV electrical systems operate, including the different outside electrical sources available at campgrounds. With the installation of more residential appliances, RV electrical systems need power to keep everything running smoothly. 50-amp power cords may be needed to meet the demand of RV electrical systems and all appliances inside the motor home, especially if 2 roof air conditioners are needed.

Today’s average roof air conditioner can draw up to 14 amps. Using two air conditioners and other electrical equipment requires more than a 30-amp system. 50-amp plugs have 4 terminals a ground, a neutral, and two hot legs on opposite of each other on the plug.

If the campground source does not have a 50-amp plug in, an adapter can be installed to the plug for 30-amp service. A 30-amp plug in will limit the amount of power you get inside your RV, almost cutting the flow of the current by half. A 30-amp plug will only have three terminals, a neutral, a ground, and one hot leg. It is always best to plug RV electrical systems with 50-amp power cords into 50-amp power sources; however, if only a 30-amp plug is available, you will have to manually limit the amount of electricity used in your RV. This means possibly not running one of the air conditioning units and connecting RV electrical systems through a 50-amp adapter to step down the system to a 30-amp service.

When at home you can plug RV electrical systems into a plug in the garage or outside of the home, however, you need to be careful not to overload your home’s power system. Typical residential outlets are only 15-amp and require adapters to reduce the plug. If plugging into a 15-amp outlet, you will need to understand your power requirements and probably only run the refrigerator. Many residential outlets are connected together or “ganged” to other outlets so other appliances such as a refrigerator, freezer, or air compressor may also be connected to that circuit. It is best to bring in a certified electrician to install a dedicated plug in your garage that is at least 20-amp to be used for your RV. Verify what appliances you will be running inside your RV and consult your electrician for the proper amperage.

Know the different types of plugs and adapters required to step down power sources to fit your RV’s needs. A good understanding of the 50-amp electrical service in your RV will help you avoid any problems when traveling down the road.

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4 Responses to “Overview of 50-Amp RV Electrical Systems”

  1. Jack Stackman

    This is a poor description of RV service. One could be led to believe there is NOT 240 volts at the distribution panel. If there wasn't, the neutral would be overloaded. Bottom line is, watching videos such as this is not going to make you knowledgeable enough to keep you and the coach safe.

  2. Alva Jim

    Will a 30A, 110V plug in service run a residential fridge, one A/C unit and a water heater?

  3. Don Christiansen

    I don't think this video has a clear explanation between the power difference between 30 amp and 50 amp services. For example, on a 50 amp service each hot leg is delivering 50 amps at 120 volts. That works out to 2x50x120 = 12,000 watts. On a 30 amp service there is one leg carrying 30 amps. That works out to 1x30 x120 = 3600 watts. Quite a difference.

  4. Tom Stalnaker

    "It is important to have a full understanding of how different RV electrical systems operate." That is especially true if you are writing articles about electrical systems. This writer apparently does not. His statement that "A 30-amp plug in will limit the amount of power you get inside your RV, almost cutting the flow of the current by half." is not correct. Since a 50 amp connection is effectively two 120 volt 50 amp supplies, dropping back to a 30 amp (120 volt) supply cuts to less than 1/3 of the power available in a 50 amp (240 volt) connection.

With more residential appliances. We need more power. Steve, we've got a 50 amp service here. Why don't you explain how that works inside an RV? You bet mate's leak.

This is our dead end or the male end of a 50 amp power cord. When you're plugging into a true 50 amp service, you have a ground on top, you have a neutral on the bottom. You have 120 volt leg here and 120 volt leg here. Between the neutral and the hot, you're going to have 120 volts. Between the hot and the ground you're going to have 120 volts.

Between the two hots, you can get 240 volts but it is still not a 240 volt outlet. It's a 50 amp outlet. So keep in mind you've got a hot, a hot they're sharing the same neutral, and you have a common ground. Problem people have is, this would be an adapter. This is a 30 amp outlet going to a 50 amp.

The reason we've got a 50 amp power cord here is because of the device, the AC devices you have and the demand on your AC unit in your motor home. So you have to step down if you're in a campground that only has a 30 amp. Now, what that's going to do is limit the amount of voltage you have available. Even though you've got 120 volts here and 120 volts here, basically what they're doing is, they're splitting the hot on this plug. You've got a neutral here, so they're taking and dividing this one hot into two down here.

So you're basically cutting that flow in half. When you're stepping down to 30 amp, reducing the amount of current you have at your coach. Electricity is just like water, the bigger the hose, the more water you can pass through, the bigger the wire, the more current you can pass through. So it's essential that, if you can plug into 50 and by all means, use the 50 amp. If you've got to step down to a 30 amp you are going to be reduced.

You may only be able to run one air conditioner and your refrigerator and your microwave but you're not going to probably be able to run both of them. To make it even a step down even further, you can go to the 30 amp. And this is where you would plug this into the 30 50 into the 50 and reduce that down, and this is going to overheat. You can see that most of the people that have these, they've turned rusty brown and melted but you don't want to use this unless you're packed, getting ready to load your camper. Just at that, probably a last.

Yeah. Ditch effort. So when using a system like this one, typically if we're going to go before we take off we're going to just cool the refrigerator down. We go into our garage, put it in the driveway, plug it into a residential stout. It's important that you understand how much draw you're taking out of that.

Everything else needs to be off. If you are actually plugging into your typical garage outlet it's a 15 amp outlet, right? Correct. And it's going to be ganged to maybe other outlets. Sure.

We could have a freezer, we can have an air compressor. So it's very important that you understand what's hooked to that system. I've always said, it's a good idea to have an electrician come in and literally put a dedicated circuit answer. You're not tied with anything else. But still you need to understand that you you can't run the roof air conditioners, other components in there, you're at a 15 amp service here.

It's a good idea to maybe bump up to a little higher. But now tell us about, you know, this is one of the quick connects that on the 50 amp service that would come into the coach. Now, when we plug into here, we've got basically two different lines coming in as you said before. How does that come into a distribution center and it gets split? Now some people think one line goes directly to the back air conditioner.

Describe that a little bit for me. Not unnecessarily. Basically, you've got two legs of 120 volts here. And so when you plug this in, these wires are going to go to your distribution center you're going to have a series of breakers. You're going to have a main and then you'll have breaker, breaker, breaker, breaker, breaker, depending on how big your load center is.

Every other breaker in that series the first breaker would be going to this, for instance, this hot leg, the next breaker will be going to this. The next breaker would be going to this and the next breaker. They alternate all the way down the row. So basically we have two separate lines coming in that supply that in the breakers going to each one rather than a full system. Right.

Okay. It's basically built to NEC standards just like your home would be wired. It's gotta be wired the exact same method or procedure. So basically it's a home on wheels. Hmm.

Now one of the things that we also see quite a bit is campground sources. If you have 50 amp at the campground available they want you to plug into the 50 amp because it's wired for that. If you start stepping down to 30 amp and you're using a lot of stuff inside your coach, the demand may be too high. So not only are you looking at tripping breakers in your coach, but you could do some damage to the campground source as well. campground source as well.

Okay. Alright. So a good understanding of the 50 amp service what it does in your RV is important. So you don't have problems down the road.

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