Plugging in to house electric

[Kirk]

When we plugged in for first time at our house only a few outlets had power and no appliances.

I am suspicious that you have power to only 1 leg of the 120V system. Nearly all 50A RVs have 2 circuit breakers for outlets, one on each leg (L1 & L2) of the supply. The best 50/30 adapters will tie both legs together and share the supply but there are adapters out there which only power 1 side so check the adapter with your ohm meter first. Sme are like this image.

You will need one that has L1 and L2 connected together like this.

I suspect that you may have the first version.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

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

Then the odds are your 50->30 adapter is defective or incorrectly designed. A voltmeter will answer the question quickly. Just plug the adapters to the outlet and then measure voltage between L1 & Ground and L2 & Ground. Both should be about 120v.

The 4.2A you are seeing on the panel is simply the amount of power being drawn by the few outlets in use. It's not the limit of what is should be available.

 

[Ray-IN]

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

This explains how the RV wiring is configured: RV Electric
For the 30A > 50A adapter. The 30A male end is a standard 30A plug wiring, but the 50A adapter on the other end simply has a jumper wire from the 30A incoming hot that connects to both legs of the 50A female plug on the other end of the dogbone so both legs are powered to the shore power cable.

 

[Karand58]

I am suspicious that you have power to only 1 leg of the 120V system. Nearly all 50A RVs have 2 circuit breakers for outlets, one on each leg (L1 & L2) of the supply. The best 50/30 adapters will tie both legs together and share the supply but there are adapters out there which only power 1 side so check the adapter with your ohm meter first. Sme are like this image.

You will need one that has L1 and L2 connected together like this.

I suspect that you may have the first version.

Thanks for the info on adapters. I’ll check it out.

 

[SC5thWheeler]

You have gotten some good info from folks who know more about electrical wiring than I do, but I will offer this:

What you're doing is common and I've plugged in several different RVs to a house outlet using the two adapters and it should work as long as you just run the fridge and maybe a couple of lights.

Much less complicated than what has been offered, I would check every single breaker. If something like the fridge doesn't work ,then flip the breaker off then back on. Sometimes they can be tripped and it's not obvious.

Also, there is probably a GFCI outlet in the bathroom and maybe another somewhere near the kitchen sink. Press the TEST button and then the RESET button on all of them. Again, Sometimes it can be tripped and it's hard to tell and this is the equivalent of turning them off and back on. I'll add that if the bathroom outlet is tripped, it might kill several other things like the bedroom TV. Seems strange but that's how they work.

My bet is on a breaker somewhere in the camper.

 

[SC5thWheeler]

I thought of one other possibility because, like me, you are new to a class A.

We were plugged in while visiting relatives and I forgot to turn on the inverter. After about 36 hours, the house batteries went dead and about half of our RV went dead.

If this is it, mine has a button to turn on the inverter inside and a large disconnect switch outside in the cargo bay. The outside one is what got me.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

If the coach has an inverter/charger, it's also possible that the inverter's internal breaker has tripped. That will take out a lot of the 120v branch circuits even though shore power is providing the voltage.

Likewise, a tripped GFCI (bathroom or kitchen circuits) can shutdown multiple outlets and maybe some appliances too.

 

[Sandia Man]

Not sure why you are having issues, we have plugged into a household outlet at home for decades and all all of our RVs whether 30 amp or 50 amp and have power to all interior RV outlets. If you had power to all your outlets in your 30 amp rig I would think it would work for your 50 amp rig as well, at least it has for our RVs in the past and now with our current 40' motorcoach. We have an inverter charger that does control a certain amount of outlets in our rig, although with passthrough as long as the inverter breakers are not tripped it is not an issue as all outlets within rig are powered when plugged into 15, 30, or 50 amp shorepower.

 

[Racklefratz]

Something's wrong, obviously, with your power connection. "30 Amp" previous is irrelevant.

For an RV that requires 50 Amp supply, what you need to do is wire a dedicated 50 Amp breaker, from whatever distribution box is available, to a corresponding 50 Amp receptacle for the RV, from which you can connect the 50 Amp supply cable to the RV.

It's not complicated, and it's not rocket science.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Something's wrong, obviously, with your power connection. "30 Amp" previous is irrelevant.

For an RV that requires 50 Amp supply, what you need to do is wire a dedicated 50 Amp breaker, from whatever distribution box is available, to a corresponding 50 Amp receptacle for the RV, from which you can connect the 50 Amp supply cable to the RV.

It's not complicated, and it's not rocket science.

And it's also not required. A full 50A/240v power source is just a "nice to have".

 

[DonTom]

A full 50A/240v power source is just a "nice to have".

Or my trick. I don't have a 14-50R at either house.

Or do I have one at each house?

Tesla 12KW Wall Adapter to 12KW 14-50R:



-Don- Reno, NV

 

[Lou Schneider]

Or my trick. I don't have a 14-50R at either house.

Or do I have one at each house?

Tesla 12KW Wall Adapter to 12KW 14-50R:

View attachment 172020

-Don- Reno, NV

Maybe, maybe not. Depends on the size of the neutral wire. The neutral carries the difference in current between the two hot legs. 240 volt appliances place a minimal load on the neutral. RV loads aren't naturally balanced and and can place up to 50 amps on the neutral if all of the loads are coming off of one leg.

 

[Ray-IN]

Maybe, maybe not. Depends on the size of the neutral wire. The neutral carries the difference in current between the two hot legs. 240 volt appliances place a minimal load on the neutral. RV loads aren't naturally balanced and and can place up to 50 amps on the neutral if all of the loads are coming off of one leg.

Yep, it would be rare indeed to have 0 volts on neutral for an RV.

 

[DonTom]

Maybe, maybe not. Depends on the size of the neutral wire. The neutral carries the difference in current between the two hot legs. 240 volt appliances place a minimal load on the neutral. RV loads aren't naturally balanced and and can place up to 50 amps on the neutral if all of the loads are coming off of one leg.

Come to think of it, the neutral has no purpose in a Tesla Wall Connecter. No use for the 120 VAC. No need for it.

But my guess will be the neutral and ground prong on the 14-50R will be connected together inside the box. I can't find one at this house right now to check, perhaps I have them all at my Auburn house.

But it's not designed for RV use. While the ground will have the neutral from the house connection, doesn't look like it would be good for the 50 amps at the Tesla Wall NACS plug:


Now that I look again, I wonder if it is using the outer sleeve on "L2/N" as neutral. I am not sure if that "N" stands for neutral.

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[Racklefratz]

Check the plug in the garage with one of these. Also the end of your extension cord.View attachment 171941

That's not going to check a 50A RV receptacle. Doesn't look anything like one.

 

[Racklefratz]

And it's also not required. A full 50A/240v power source is just a "nice to have".

Nope. You can jimmy a 30A circuit using adapters all day long to fit a 50A receptacle, but if the power demand is for more than the 30 amps available, you're out of luck. Breaker will open.

Our 50A all-electric Tiffin NEEDS almost all 50 of those amps with all 3 ACs going and other stuff on inside. Any attempt to power it with some jury-rigged 30 amp adapter would be an exercise in futility.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Nope. You can jimmy a 30A circuit using adapters all day long to fit a 50A receptacle, but if the power demand is for more than the 30 amps available, you're out of luck. Breaker will open.

Our 50A all-electric Tiffin NEEDS almost all 50 of those amps with all 3 ACs going and other stuff on inside. Any attempt to power it with some jury-rigged 30 amp adapter would be an exercise in futility.

It should be obvious that you can't draw more amps than the outlet provides. That's not the question here.

 

[Onyrlef]

Nope. You can jimmy a 30A circuit using adapters all day long to fit a 50A receptacle, but if the power demand is for more than the 30 amps available, you're out of luck. Breaker will open.

Our 50A all-electric Tiffin NEEDS almost all 50 of those amps with all 3 ACs going and other stuff on inside. Any attempt to power it with some jury-rigged 30 amp adapter would be an exercise in futility.

As Gary points out that's not the point, the 30 amp adapter means you're only going to have 120v 30 amp service available so you'd need to shed some ( in your case a lot ) load to get there. You're only connecting it to your 50 amp shore pwr. because you don't have a 30 amp shore power cable available, the adapter makes it 30 amp.

 

[SC5thWheeler]

@Karand58 did you ever get it working right or figure out the issue?

 

[Racklefratz]

As Gary points out that's not the point, the 30 amp adapter means you're only going to have 120v 30 amp service available so you'd need to shed some ( in your case a lot ) load to get there. You're only connecting it to your 50 amp shore pwr. because you don't have a 30 amp shore power cable available, the adapter makes it 30 amp.

I'm not sure what that even means - I can't relate it to anything I posted.

This "discussion" has been all over the place. I understood the OP's post to be asking why he wasn't getting power to all the circuits in his RV. That goes directly to how the RV is being connected to shore power, and what kind of shore power is available.

I assure you and "Gary" that I need no schooling on 30 amp vs 50 amp RV operation or load shedding. We've owned both over many years. I'm familiar with all the adapters out there, and I have personally installed a 50 amp power outlet to power our current 50 amp motorhome - it's worked fine.