30to 50

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mplante

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Joined
Nov 25, 2023
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brandon ,fl.
hello fellow campers . my wife and i bought a 2005 winnebago sunrise 33 . resently took it out on a trail run , living in florida
we set it up to try out everything , so its 30 amp and i was running both a/cs , and i tripped the breaker on the pole . is it possible to
up grade the electrical to 50 amp.
 
Hi and welcome to the Winnebago family and the forum! You could upgrade the Sunrise's wiring and load center to 50 amp but that's going to be quite a project. If you are the DIY type and experienced with electrical wiring (and have actually done electrical work) I say go for it and take lots of before and after pictures. Make a new thread here, that would be a very interesting project.

Now for the practical idea - buy a 50 to 30 amp adapter. Then you are at the mercy of the load center in your Sunrise so to speak.
 
mplante said:
hello fellow campers . my wife and i bought a 2005 winnebago sunrise 33 . resently took it out on a trail run , living in florida
we set it up to try out everything , so its 30 amp and i was running both a/cs , and i tripped the breaker on the pole . is it possible to
up grade the electrical to 50 amp
Click to expand...
You can but it would involve changing the distribution panel or adding a panel, of course swapping out the shore power cord and involving 8 hours or so labor. It's just two 50 amp 120 v. legs instead of one 30 amp 120v leg. You could too look into a power management system ( hard to imagine a 30 amp rig w/2 rooftop units wouldn't have a pms) which involves load shedding. When one appliance needs amperage which the system detects will overtax the system the pms will shed another appliance, typically the other a/c, until the draw is manageable. You could also install soft start capacitors in both a/c's, which I'd do regardless. My anecdotal experience in our 30 amp MH with but one 15btu rooftop unit was not being able to run even the microwave and the a/c simultaneously, nor could I run the ac when on the 15amp circuit from home. After installing the softstart capacitor those particular issues went away. I'm guessing you have two 13.5k units, you might consider installing the soft start capacitors first and see what happens.
 
Generally that is a big project, but some Winnebagos are relatively easy to upgrade because the factory used mostly 50A components in the electrical system, whether a 30A or 50A model. Simply a manufacturing simplification for them. If it already has a 50A-capable Auto-transfer switch & load center, then it needs a new power cord. Whether your Sunrise is one of those requires some research as to the make/model of the auto-transfer switch and load center (breaker panel). If you can provide those, we can tell you whether they are 50A capable or would require replacement in an upgrade.

The wiring schematics & parts listed on the Winnebago website for your year/make/model should help.
 
HueyPilotVN said:
If you are only doing it to use two A/Cs then using a separate 15 amp extension line from the shore power connection for one of them is much easier.
Click to expand...
I have a 50 amp to two 20 amp 120 v recept's dogbone which would work as well. Were I to install a mini split for the rear area of our MH my plan was to power it from the 50 amp side of the pedestal, be it 120 or 240v.
 
Anything you do between the CG power pedestal and the RV is useless, you are limited by the rating of main breaker in the distribution box regardless of anything else.
onlyreif, John, and Gary stated the solution. However it's possible to re-wire one A/C unit so it can be powered by a dedicated 20A extension cord and external receptacle for that one A/C unit, for a cheaper solution.
My first MH was a 30' 1976 Allegro with 2 A/C units. It was 30A service of course back then.
In the kitchen was a 3-way 120V wall switch. This switch selected the 2nd A/C unit or the microwave oven, center position was off. Once I taught DW and our 3 daughters how and why this switch worked we didn't have power problems in hot weather.
 
Last edited:
I installed what is called a break out system.
Since I had a 50 amp RV in "Normal" mode.. as the factory wired it
In "Breakout" mode) 30 amps) one AC had it's own cord.
From teh breaker I ran a 12 GA line to a compartment. with a 15/20 amp outlet on the end
From that compartmet a 2nd 12 ga line. this one with a 20 amp plug ran back to a junction box behind the breaker panel (Easy access on my rig) and was connected to the orignial lead to one A/C.. 30 amp. I pulled the plug and used a 12 ga Extension cord to the park's 20 amp outlet
Suggested to put a 20 amp breaker in the junction box..(or in the compartment) but I I did not I trusted the park.
 
Thank you all for your replies , i will do some investigating before i jump into far.
i was going to try the 50 to 30 over the thanksgiving weekend , as we were going
camping for the first time with it , but i hurt my right leg and could bearly walk . leg is getting better . will repost when i get it figured out . thank you aging.
 
Ray-IN said:
My first MH was a 30' 1976 Allegro with 2 A/C units. It was 30A service of course back then.
In the kitchen was a 3-way 120V wall switch. This switch selected the 2nd A/C unit or the microwave oven, center position was off. Once I taught DW and our 3 daughters how and why this switch worked we didn't have power problems in hot weather.
Click to expand...
My 2012 Fleetwood Terra 31TS is set up the same way... It does have a 50A 240V rated panel, but is only used at 30A 120v... It works fine running both ACs, or the one AC and the microwave, like you said... But it drives me nuts... It's just not the right way to do it.. I would like to change out the transfer-switch and cord, and rewire the panel, but I'm not sure how hard it would be to get another set of wires to the one AC or the microwave... They are both fed from that 3-way switch now...
Butch
 
Running additional wiring in any RV is a quite the challenge if one objective is to hide the wiring. On our previous Horizon I hid low voltage wiring along a wall-floor corner (in the salon) and used a trim strip to cover it. In the aft cabin I just used flex conduit also along a wall-floor corner (low voltage wiring again), no need to hide it there since it's very difficult to see in that area anyway.
 
John Canfield said:
Running additional wiring in any RV is a quite the challenge if one objective is to hide the wiring. On our previous Horizon I hid low voltage wiring along a wall-floor corner (in the salon) and used a trim strip to cover it. In the aft cabin I just used flex conduit also along a wall-floor corner (low voltage wiring again), no need to hide it there since it's very difficult to see in that area anyway.
Click to expand...
When I worked for F&W, I lived in a house at the HQ of the wildlife area I worked at. The house was over 100 years old and eventually the state said it needed updated wiring, so a contractor came in and the only way to do it was to run the wiring through raceways like below. It ran up the corners of the rooms, along the baseboard, and along the top of the walls near the ceiling. After a while you didn't even notice it anymore.

1701292910647.jpeg
 
After 43yrs of running conduit (and even exposed Wiremold) as an union electrician, I don't really want to see exposed wiring in my RV or house... It would bother me and probably my wife and son (Who has been a wireman also, for almost 30 yrs) to have it surface run... Being a wireman, is probably also the reason why the 3 pole switch for the AC/microwave drives me nuts.. At 75 I'm after an easy way to accomplish this, but I'm not looking at exposed conduit..;)
Butch
 
John Canfield said:
In a lot of commercial buildings conduit is exposed and like you say it's never noticed after a while.
Click to expand...
It is always noticed by us electricians.

ButchW said:
After 43yrs of running conduit (and even exposed Wiremold) as an union electrician, I don't really want to see exposed wiring in my RV or house... It would bother me and probably my wife and son (Who has been a wireman also, for almost 30 yrs) to have it surface run... Being a wireman, is probably also the reason why the 3 pole switch for the AC/microwave drives me nuts.. At 75 I'm after an easy way to accomplish this, but I'm not looking at exposed conduit..;)
Butch
Click to expand...
I totally agree. It is a real art to be able to run wires in an existing building that are never seen.
 
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