Plugging in to house electric

[Karand58]

We have (new to us) class A 50 amp motorhome. When we plugged in for first time at our house only a few outlets had power and no appliances. With our 30 amp Class c we could turn fridge on to cool before going on a trip. From the control panel it appears only 4.2 amps are coming in. Any ideas on what is going on?
TIA

 

[SeilerBird]

I think you made a mistake. The 50 amp RV outlet is different than the 50 amp dryer outlet you might have plugged into.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Tell us about the adapter(s) you used to plug in. It sounds like whatever you used powered only one of the two hot wires in the 50A cable. That would literally rob half the circuits of power. Did you plug to a house appliance outlet, or a common 15A wall outlet? And what sort of adapter was used, if any.

Most owners use a 50A-->30A coupled to a 30A-->15A. The 50/30 is what converts from the single 120v line to the dual 120v lines in the 50A plug. Yours is probably defective or incorrectly designed.
This article explains how the adapter works.

Home stove and dryer outlets using 4 prong plugs should be compatible with RV 50A power (NEMA14-50), but older ones or different prong configurations may not. Home 30A outlets are rarely compatible.

 

[Mark_K5LXP]

I thought the way 50A RV's were wired most of the "typical" house circuits and one A/C were on the leg commonly used with 30A adapters, with the other leg wired to the 2nd A/C and some other lesser used stuff. I would expect most of the RV (converter, microwave, 1 A/C, some outlets) would work OK on a (correctly wired) 30A adapter.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

 

[ziplock]

The 50 amp RV outlet is different than the 50 amp dryer outlet you might have plugged into.

50 amp 4 posts.....dryer.....3 posts. you can chat about an adaptor.......does not work.

 

[Karand58]

We did the 50 to 30 and 30 to 15
Never had any issues with the 30 amp class c. We are plugging into a regular outlet in the garage that we used with class c

 

[ziplock]

Ohhhh, what kind of fridge? Residential? They might take more juice?

 

[Karand58]

Ohhhh, what kind of fridge? Residential? They might take more juice?

It’s rv fridge gas/electric

 

[ziplock]

It’s rv fridge gas/electric

So..........what are YOU thinking might be different with this class A hook up and your Class C.

 

[SeilerBird]

50 amp 4 posts.....dryer.....3 posts. you can chat about an adaptor.......does not work.

Many dryer outlets have 3 posts and many have 4 posts.

 

[ziplock]

Many dryer outlets have 3 posts and many have 4 posts.

hmmmm, interesting. Do you have a 4 prong dryer?

 

[SeilerBird]

hmmmm, interesting. Do you have a 4 prong dryer?

No, but as a retired electrician I have installed hundreds of them.

 

[DonTom]

Do you have a 4 prong dryer?

All the newer homes use the four prong drier outlets. 3-prong is older.

The 4-prong outlet is considered safer as it kinda has two grounds in case one fails. The separate ground wire plus the grounded neutral.

1996 was the year they started using the four prong drier outlets. Houses older than that will have the 3-prong.

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[8Muddypaws]

I can plug our motorhome into a 15 amp plug in our front patio and run most things, just not all at once. I use two adapters - 15 to 30 to 50. The maximum I can draw is still only 15 amps.

When I first get the beast out of storage and plug in the inverter/charger will draw 7-9 amps until it goes into float mode so I wait until all 6 batteries are fully charged to turn on the refer.

 

[Karand58]

We used the configuration of adapters like you stated above that most use. Plugged into reg outlet in the garage

 

[8Muddypaws]

Check the plug in the garage with one of these. Also the end of your extension cord.

 

[John From Detroit]

As others have suggested. Use the proper adapters 50-30 and 30-15 or 50-15..
50 amp service is what is like what is normally provided to a house. Two "Legs" both 120 volt with respect to the neutral

- - - - - - 240 volts - - - - - -
L1 - 120v-Neutral - 120v - L2

But the adapters are wired so L1 and L2 are common. thus everything in the RV is powered Since its all 120 volt. but... Be aware if you try to run too much you will get what I call the "Click of Darkness" (Trip the house breaker)

A/C's are around 13-15 amp Microwave around 11 Fridge 3-4 CONVERTER can be 10 or more (Depending on condition (State of charge) of batteries among other things.

House breaker 15-20 max.

 

[A Traveler]

I recently bought one of THESE. Only one adapter instead of two. 14 bucks.

 

[Domo]

Run an extension cord directly to the fridge and figure out the adapter/wiring issue at your leisure.

 

[Onyrlef]

We have (new to us) class A 50 amp motorhome. When we plugged in for first time at our house only a few outlets had power and no appliances. With our 30 amp Class c we could turn fridge on to cool before going on a trip. From the control panel it appears only 4.2 amps are coming in. Any ideas on what is going on?
TIA

Are you using an extension cord to get from the 15 amp outlet to the adapter, how long and what gauge?