two 50 amp cords

Hi,
We are at a campsite and need about 4 more feet of cord. Is it OK or safe if we just buy another 50 amp cord and hook the 2 together to get the extra length we need? (The power supply, the motorhome and the cord we have are all 50 amp) Thanks!

sp said:

Hi,
We are at a campsite and need about 4 more feet of cord. Is it OK or safe if we just buy another 50 amp cord and hook the 2 together to get the extra length we need? (The power supply, the motorhome and the cord we have are all 50 amp) Thanks!

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Yes. I carry a 50' extension and use it a lot

I bought a [15] foot, 50amp extension cord (Amazon) for just these situations. 30amp too. Handy for storage and use. I've found them to be real handy when the Hook-ups are in reach of them.. vice the 30 footer's ??

Joe

BIG JOE said:

I bought a [16] foot, 50amp extension cord (Amazon) for just these situations. 30amp too. Handy for storage and use. I've found them to be real handy when the Hook-ups are in reach of them.. vice the 30 footer's ??

Joe

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I did the same thing except mine was a 15' cord.

Rene T said:

I did the same thing except mine was a 15' cord.

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FAT fingers Rene   

sp said:

Hi,
We are at a campsite and need about 4 more feet of cord. Is it OK or safe if we just buy another 50 amp cord and hook the 2 together to get the extra length we need? (The power supply, the motorhome and the cord we have are all 50 amp) Thanks!

Click to expand...

Absolutley, you can add a extension (50AMP) and be good to go. The more you travil the more likley you will run into this situation. It is amazing how many wierd layouts you will find in campsites.
Bill

very true, I would suggest as well getting a sealed housing that keeps moisture out of the connection point or at least wrapping a bag and taping it?

I've found that just propping the connection up above ground level is sufficient to avoid problems in the rain.  Rain water dripping or even running through a plug connection is rarely a problem, but mix in some dirt or minerals and it becomes a good enough conductor to trip a breaker. Rain water is near always pure, the product of a natural distillation process.

I have both 30 and 50 amp shore cords and extension cords (one of each) no problems on the rare occasions when I've needed to extend.

And 100' of 15 amp cord.

The only advice I'd give is this.. Whereer the juntion between the shore cord (the one that attaches to teh RV) and the Extension cord... Keep the plug/outlet ABOVE ground by a few inches. IE: lay a cinder block under i9t or a folding step.. Do not let it sit in a puddle of rain water.

Deja vu.  Didn't Gary give exactly that same advice 40 minutes earlier?  8)

airace007 said:

very true, I would suggest as well getting a sealed housing that keeps moisture out of the connection point or at least wrapping a bag and taping it?

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Welcome to the forum.
I've never had to protect  the plugs from moisture. Unless there's a chance of the connection ends up in 6" of water, no need to wrap it. And if there's going to be that much water, wrapping it won't do any good.

I got my 15 ft 50A cord at RVUpgrades (a sponsor and best price).  I needed it to hook up at home.  I pushed the connection tight, and it has been laying on the ground since.  Right now, it is under 6 inches of ice, sleet and snow.  I have not been to the camper today, but I expect it to be fine.

grashley said:

I got my 15 ft 50A cord at RVUpgrades (a sponsor and best price).  I needed it to hook up at home.  I pushed the connection tight, and it has been laying on the ground since.  Right now, it is under 6 inches of ice, sleet and snow.  I have not been to the camper today, but I expect it to be fine.

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Dang Preacher, where you are you living? We only got about 2" total in Bardstown....

We bought an extension for our 30A service cable when we picked up our coach, based on advice here.  We've only had to use it a few times so far, as I've been able to get within range of the pedestal most times with our built-in cable, which is around 30'.  It's worked completely fine, with one small exception. 

Last summer, we were at a campground with what looked to be a fairly sketchy power system, and we were close to the end of a row.  It was pretty hot, so many were running their AC units, including us.  A good number of times over the few days we were there, I came back to the coach to find the AC breaker on our power panel tripped.  I'd reset it, and all was well... Until it tripped again later.  This is the only time we've had this issue, and we were using the extension cable. 

My theory is that there was already a bit of a low voltage situation with all the AC units running (I don't have a surge protector unit - ordering one for this season).  When that voltage dipped a bit from AC units kicking on,  it combined with the already increased voltage drop from our double-length cable.  Of course as voltage drops, current goes up, and I'm thinking that increased the load to the breaker to the point where it tripped.   

Other than that, no problems at all with the extension.  I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it - it will almost certainly come in handy.

FunSteak said:

Last summer, we were at a campground with what looked to be a fairly sketchy power system, and we were close to the end of a row.  It was pretty hot, so many were running their AC units, including us.  A good number of times over the few days we were there, I came back to the coach to find the AC breaker on our power panel tripped.  I'd reset it, and all was well... Until it tripped again later.  This is the only time we've had this issue, and we were using the extension cable. 

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The impression I'm getting was that it seems like whenever you came back, the power was off. Did it actually trip or was someone shutting it off.
As far as the 30' extension, it would be too long for me. I would cut it and make a 10' and a 20' extension cords. The plugs aren't that expensive.  Then if you're going to go to a CG and all you need is 10', you've got it.
I see you're thinking about getting a surge protector. That's good.  I would highly recommend the one by Progressive Industries. If you ever get a power surge and it fries the protector, they'll replace it. 

postmandug said:

Dang Preacher, where you are you living? We only got about 2" total in Bardstown....

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We are in Paducah.  There are foot or deeper drifts.  We got another couple inches of fresh snow today.  And yes, the power in the camper is still on.

I too have a 50 amp extension cord, though I usually don't carry it with me due to the weight, instead I carry a 50 ft 30 amp extension and a 100 foot 12 AWG heavy duty 15 amp cord, along with appropriate pigtail adapters, under the theory that I would rather have a little electricity than none if an outlet is far away.  Chained together this gives me about 175 feet of cord to a 15 or 20 amp outlet.  Of course my coach only has a single air conditioner, so I can easily live on 30 amp service with only minimal power management (don't use the electric heating element on the water heater and the microwave while the air conditioner is running, etc.).

Rene T said:

The impression I'm getting was that it seems like whenever you came back, the power was off. Did it actually trip or was someone shutting it off.
As far as the 30' extension, it would be too long for me. I would cut it and make a 10' and a 20' extension cords. The plugs aren't that expensive.  Then if you're going to go to a CG and all you need is 10', you've got it.
I see you're thinking about getting a surge protector. That's good.  I would highly recommend the one by Progressive Industries. If you ever get a power surge and it fries the protector, they'll replace it.

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Sorry for the delayed reply!

It wasn't off every time, but there were several times over the weekend.  It wasn't off at the pedestal, but the AC breaker in my coach was tripped.  A quick reset and it fired right up.  That's what led me to believe it was a low voltage situation, driving up the current draw enough to trip my breaker.

The 30' extension is a bit long, and I haven't yet needed that whole length, as the built-in one from the coach is also about 30' long.  That's actually a pretty good idea to shorten it - I suppose I could make it into one 10' and one 20' extension, making it quite versatile.  That job should take me about 10 minutes - no problem.  Good call.

I'm leaning heavily toward the Progressive Dynamics 30A portable unit.  My power bay doesn't have much room for a hardwired one, but it's not out of the question.  I have to get the specs and take a close look.  Since my coach's cable is hardwired to a junction box in the bay, I figured I'd cut it off about 24" from the box, install a male plug to connect to the PD unit, then add a female plug to the remaining downstream cable.  That way, I can leave the unit safely in the bay, out of the weather and away from sticky fingers, but still be able to remove it in seconds if needed. 

I'm not too worried about using a remote display from the hardwired version.  If it trips, I'll just have a peek into the bay to see what's going on.

You're replying to a 4 year old thread, but I also suspect you don't have a either a 50 amp RV or possibly any RV since you seem to know little about the supply wiring. And the cord amperage capacity only needs to be large enough to handle the maximum load from the RV, not the maximum output of a generator.