Yeah, yeah get the third A/C. What class do you race at bonneville?
"This gives you two legs of 50 amps at 120 volts. I think it would be really hard to utilize that much power at any one time. Possibly some all electric coaches might use this much but I seriously doubt it. "You will have to trust me on this because there are a ton of factors which will contribute to 50 amps being inadequate. I can give you a few simple scenarios. Two ACs on one leg both running. I will ignore the start up load for this illustration. That is about 26 amps if the voltage is 120. A lot of campground have lower voltage, but lets look at a good situation. Then consider that the coach has two inverter chargers and the chargers are not set for a low charging rate, but a full bulk charge capability. That could add as much as 20 amps if only one charger is on a leg. Add a refrigerator, a coffee maker, a hot water tank recovering after the morning showers, and then momma plugs in her hair dryer.The scenario I described is with common devices. As the coach gets more sophisticated as some of the newer store bought conversions are getting, you can plan on an auxilliary air compressor for all the air operated systems such as pocket doors, floor slide and the leveling system and we haven't even considered the entertainment systems, the bay refrigerator, the Jenn Air grill, the two element electric range, etc.Richard, I agree it is hard to comprehend 50 amps being inadequate, but if we drive buses to have the quality, safety and conveniences you can't carry in a sticks and staples, then power system design and management is the key. As recently as 15 years ago converters were using 12.5 KW generators and with the on-board systems you would be hard pressed to use all that output. Now the typical coach has a 20 KW generator because it is possible to use almost all of that capacity if you used all your systems at once.I've followed the efforts of some of the folks on these sites and it is clear they are building coaches to equal any store bought conversion and those builders will have devices that will quickly exceed the capacity of the typical 50 amp power outlet. Then if you are in a campground whose power is usually 105 to 110 the power absolutely has to be managed.
I bet if you check your campground 50 amp is two 25 amp legs providing 50 amps total. I have seen people in camprounds use a 50 amp adapter on a 30 amp hookup thinging they were geetiiing more but really less. Adapts one 25 amp 120volt. Correct me if I'm wrong. I just read my gen specs today. My 10KW is rated at 40amps per leg that gives me 80 amps ( 10,000watts divided by 120 volts = 83.3 amps) my gen will run more than any campground I've ever been in. Blwssings, Charlie
If you combine a 30 amp and 20 amp at the campground post into your 50 amp wired coach you will be limited to a total of 50 amp. However, you only have 20 amp on one leg and 30 amp on the other before the campground breaker(s) trips (If the campground is wired correctly with the 20 and 30 on separate legs of a 240 service). If you are trying to use 240 volt, you would be limited to 20 amp before the campground 20 amp breaker would trip. At least this is my understanding, correct me if I am wrong (wouldn't be the first time Or The Last) Jack
I know this has been repeated many times before, but think of a typical campground power outlet with what the industry calls a 50-30-20 configuration as a single 20 amp 120V receptacle, usually a GFCI. It also has a single 30 amp 120V receptacle. Both of these receptacles are pure 120 V, and in the typical power outlet are on separate legs.The 50 amp outlet is what tends to confuse a lot of people. As Richard pointed out earlier, that is a four wire receptacle with two hot legs, a common and a ground. Between the two hot legs is 240 V. Between either hot leg and the common is 120 V, and each of the two legs has 50 amp capacity.There are a lot of misconceptions about the power coming from these boxes and how to get it into our coaches. My only advice is that unless you know exactly what you are dealing with in the power outlet and your coach, do not start getting creative. I am especially concerned about amatuer built conversions especially when the owner is unsure of how they were wired, especially as relates to grounding. By code, all new power outlets require a 20 amp GFCI outlet. Generally they will not allow a 20/30 amp combined cheater cord to give you 50 amps of 120V because the GFCI will trip.