Todd, I have a non electric question. Is a bottle jack the only proper tool to use to jack up a heavy fifth wheel? (20k)I have a 12 ton bottle jack, I bought it new, I used it 2x coming west. It's now leaking hydraulic fluid. From what I've seen on floor types, they only go to 3 ton. I understand the temptation to use the leveling Jack's, but that's not their intended use, so that's a big NO. I have independent suspension, rubber spring to replace, a tire to replace and wheel bearings to repack so I need a solid jack. I do have 2 jack stands, so maybe it's that I just have a bad bottle jack 🤔
We used to have a 50 amp 5th wheel & had a Licensed Electrician install a separate panel with an exterior 50 amp female receptacle to power the RV. The 5th wheel is gone. I have a portable 3500 Watt generator with 1 - 110 Volt 30 amp & 2 - 110 Volt 20 Amp outlets. I want to run an extension from an upright freezer & an upright Refrigerator/Freezer. I would like to use the 110 volt 30 Amp outlet to plug into the 50 amp female receptacle to run LIMITED household items. No Dryer, No Hot Water Heater, No Microwave, NO Oven, NO A/C Just lights, ceiling fans, & TV. Is the Dog-Bone the best answer?
I have a 50A RV and one 50A pedestal plug in. Can I use a 50A splitter to power my RV and my 240v Electric vehicle charger or do I need a separate breaker to run the EV charger? Is the splitter safe?
I recently stopped at an RV park that only had 50 amp service. They gave me a 50 to 30 adapter to use, which was nice of them. When I connected my surge protector/analyzer before hooking up as is my procedure, it indicated reverse polarity. I checked another pedestal and it indicated the same thing. I showed the park owner and he was perplexed and told me lots of people use a 50 to 30 adapter without problems but cheerfully gave me a refund and I moved on to another park. Was that a wise decision or does using a 50 to 30 adapter normally cause that?
Another interesting adapter is the 50A 240V split phase male to (2) 30A 120V female receptacles. I use one of these at my home. My property has a 50A RV pedestal. My RV only needs 30A. When we have someone come by for the weekend, the 50A to (2) 30A adapter allows both RVs to have their full 30A capacity.
I have a 30 amp camper van, I am still confused if I can plug into a 50 amp pedestal with the van’s 30 amp power cord as I have not physically seen or tried yet. I do have a ems device, and know that breakers should protect the van, I am thinking I still need a 50/30 dogbone to actually fit and plug into the 50 amp pedestal… please help this newbie🙏🏻🤣🚐
If you have 50amp RV, plugged into a 30amp service, with a softstartrv, will that help with running ac's and microwave? Or is that only for the start up amps used?
Was just about to order the 50amp female, split to 2- 30amp male Y adapter. Currently I'm connecting my 50amp rv down to a 30amp on my generator. But my generator has 2 30amp plugs. So I can't connect that Y Adapter to those 2 30amp plugs on my gen to get more combined amps?
I've scoured the nets and I can't find a straight answer. I have an auto former that has had its surge protector shot at the last 2 sites I've stayed at. Everyone keeps talking about "if the site is wired right" no one has that power other than the site so how's that help? Talked to a guy about how taking a dog leg and rewiring it so it's pulling from channel to of the 50 amp to my 30 amp TT. All the 50 amp motor homes come in and turn everything on and the whole camps power drops. My autoformer surge protector gets fried. As I only need 30 amps is it possible to protect my equipment from those power drops by plugging in my 30 into a 50?
Here's my question if you're at an RV / camp site and they have 50 amp plugs and or 30 amp plugs. But you're in a regular van like a Toyota van or a Chrysler Pacific van. But you want to use the things that you have inside your van like fans computers maybe a TV or something and you want to plug a regular extension cord in that you use at home to charge up these items. My question is can you convert, can you plug a extension cord into the 30 amps and then plug a regular extension cord into that and charge the TV your computer or whatever you have in your regular van? How do you convert that energy/power?
I'm sure glad I don't have to worry about available shore power anymore. We live in our motorhome FT and haven't plugged into external power in 7 months - and then it wasn't necessary. This is possible because we have 5,020 watts of solar, 23.5kwh of batteries and 6,000 total watts of inverted 120v AC power on our motorhome, which is more than adequate for our needs. For anyone who loves to boondock like we do and is on the fence about getting a large solar system, I highly recommend it. In fact, it gives us more options and saves us a ton of money even if we're not boondocking. We're on the East Coast now where big rig boondocking is scarce, so we're staying in a non-hook-up campsite in a nice RV park for only $100/mo., saving $500 a month off their normal FHU rate.
If you do have a 50 Amp RV and your run it on 20 or 30 amps don't run both ACs at the same time. Or avoid running the stackable drier, microwave, and an AC. Just pretend you are boondocking and you are running on a generator. That usually will solve most issues. Great video, Thanks Todd!!! Pat
What about using an adapter that plugs in to the 50 Amp service, but splits in to a 30 Amp "RV" plug to supply a "30 Amp" trailer and a standard household 15/20 Amp plug?
I had never seen the dual 30A to 50A dogbone, thats intriguing. So if you have dedicated 30A to each hot leg and your 2 AC's on each on a different leg, does that mean you can run both ACs (no microwave, of course)?
One concern I have, @2:45 you mention using two adjacent 30 amps pedastals. This should cause no problem unless some of the newer rigs come equipped with a 240 volt HVAC, water heater, or such. If the adjacent pedestals are one wired with L1 and the other wired L2, you won't have a problem. The two hot leads will measure 240 volts across them. But if both pedestals are wired with L1 (or both with L2). The difference across the two hot pins on the adapter will be zero volt. This means any 240 volt equipment will not work. Another concern with 240 volt appliances is, my marina is wired with two legs of a 3 phase delta. The voltage across the two hot pins are 120 degrees out of phase, not 180 degrees. Because of this, the voltage from one hot to the other is not 240 volts, it is only 208 volts. There is a buck boost transformer (not to be confused with a buck boot converter). The transformer can be wired to provide the correct voltage. It can be found by searching "Buck-Boost Transformer" on youtube. There are boats here that use 240 volt appliances, so I suspect the same for high-end motor homes. Imagine many boats and RVs came with 12 volts. Then there was a requirement for 120 volts. Now there is a requirement for 240 volts. RV parks and marinas have done what was needed, though not necessarily what was right to provide for the needs.
You say newer rvs equipped with240 appliances. What brands and models? There are VERY FEW rvs all custom build very high end motorcoaches that put in 240 volts.
@@NationalRVTrainingAcademy No, I did not say that. I said "should cause no problem unless some of the newer rigs come equipped with a 240 volt". I have seen it on yachts and ass-u-me it will soon be on high end coaches. My comment was just a heads-up for anyone that happened upon this issue. Again, it shouldn't be an issue. I can't say for sure, I will check next time I am there, but it seems the dock in Green Cove Springs, FL has L1 on one side and L2 on the other for the 30 amps. If I had 240 volts on the boat, I would have to run one line across the dock. Since I have two independent 120 volts circuits, it doesn't matter. So I assume you are aware of my friend Murphy the legislator. Have fun!!
Yep I had to rewire my st5000 stepdown transformer to output 120 even cause I can utilize j1772 stations for my camper van usually the stations are 208 out so I had to unwind around 15 turns of wire from the transformer coil to get 120 v output
@@coreybabcock2023 Just for my understanding, it sounds like you are using a 5kW transformer to step up to 240v. Is the J1772 an adapter to charge a Tesla? If it is I suppose the Tesla has a way to manage the charge current?
Hello Todd, I just purchased a new RV. I went from a 30-amp RV to a 50-amp RV. They gave me an adapter to go from 50 to 30 as well as the adapter to plug into the 110-household plug. When doing this with my 30-amp RV I had no issues, I could run just the small things needed to prepare for trips and opening the slider. However now with the new RV and same set up the second I try to plug into the wall socket I get a spark. Naturally I abandoned the attempts to plug in anymore. Any Advice you can help me with?
Great timing on this subject. We’re getting a new to us RV. First time we’ll have 50amp setup in a rig. All others have been 30. We’re very use to watching our amperage usage. I was curious to see if downsizing for 50 to 20 through adapters was going to work. We have a 20 amp receptacle at home with a 20 amp cord. I favor this over the 15. Looks like if we just continue to keep an eye on usage we can dog one the 50 to 30 and use the 20 adapter to the shore cord. Nice. Just seemed like something to look into before trying an experiment with disastrous outcomes. Thanks Todd
30amp camper. I found out the hard way that if I don't have a good ground at the pedestal or home, I get ~60 volts across anything metal in the camper. Woke me up REAL quick. Places to look on a Coleman/Dutchman?
Here are a couple videos where we addressed hot skin: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Ifo-ZLrdsBg.htmlfeature=shared ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-96G8PUiCNaM.htmlfeature=shared
Thank you sir! This is literally the BEST RV channel out there. If I wanted to hear about family drama, I'd turn off my computer and go downstairs. No BS.. just the facts here@@NationalRVTrainingAcademy
I just bought a new extension cord for home connection. No AC of course. It's 12 gauge and 50ft. That's supposed to be max length and min gauge for my 30 amp. I use my dog bone with that. My battery stays charged and it let's me run the fan inside while doing maintenance, cleaning and loading for my trip.
please tell me you're not serious about this claim. A 20ga cord is only rated for between 5amps and 11amp maximum and at 11amps, it must be 75deg C rated insulation and as short as possible due to voltage drop. Some charts say 20ga wire is barely adequate for 1.5amps of current draw. Any greater load than 5amps will likely turn your wire into a toaster element... for a very short time.
I think you mean you have a 50 foot cord that is 10 gage, or I hope that is what you are running. That would be sufficient for a 20 amp load. 10 gage extension cords are tremendously expensive.
Vanguard, 50 ft, 12 gauge, rated voltage 125, Max amperage 15, max watts 1875, service rating SJTW, indoor/ outdoor contractor grade. To be exact. From Harbor Freight.
