ksnipes said:
This is my take so far. If I plug my camper i.e. 30 amp to the 120/240 in the generator I will mess-up the camper side of the system. If I use a 110 plug-in on the generator I will be able to run the AC and lights. I would have to run the gas for hot water and refrigerator. Do I have this right. Next thing will the thermostat cutting off and on will the generator power be different than a normal hook up? Thanks once more.
Let me say this first....in my opinion when people start talking about running an rv with a household 240 v generator we or I sort of lock up and dont really want to say too much because we dont know if the person is going to fry their rv and be ticked at us or me.
Yes, ksnipes, if you are running on a 20 amp circuit you will pretty much only be able to use one heavy draw appliance at a time. If you use your 240 portion of you generator with the adapter that Pat posted you will then have 30 amps and may be able to run more than one item but the system is maxed out and may pop a breaker or cause heating ih plugs or connectors. I oly run one heavy thing at a time.
Also addressing what Patand Suzanne said. That is the adapter that you want to run the 4 prong generator to 30 amp RV. They have designed that adapter to ONLY use ONE hot leg. They are using the ground, neutral and one hot. If you use a digital volt meter you can prove that it's ok for your rig. If you look at the second drawing in this link
http://noshockzone.org/accidentally-plugging-into-240-volt-outlet/you will see a red triangle which shows what you voltage readings you should have when you plug the adapter that Pat has into the generator.
It's good to know how to check voltage on all this stuff as it can let you check pedestals for problems BEFORE you plug in if you dont have a Electrical Protection Device such as Progressive Industries. Some people always pin out the pedestal before plugging in. Look at the 240 schematic that PJmax posted in this link
http://www.doityourself.com/forum/electrical-ac-dc/528032-how-wire-240v-generator-plug.html and you will see that a 240 has two hot terminals. If you check voltages at you 240 generator plug be very careful because there is 240 volts between the HOT terminals. It can kill you.
A 50 amp RV uses a 4 wire cord because they use both of the hots. They dont power anything with 240, they just use both of those hots separately to power more 120 volt items. They have two strips or banks of 120 volt terminals vs one bank of 120 v in a 30 amp RV. I understand there may be some new 50 amp systems that power something with 240 but have never looked into it.
To understand your 30 amp system better research "Hot skin" and understand how to check for this condition as it can be deadly to anyone but sometimes kills kids and dogs because of their smaller body. Having good connections through all the terminals in the power cord and the rest of the system is very important. If you ever get the slightest tingle when touching your rig do not ignore it.
http://rvtravel.com/no-shock-zone-part-four-preventing-hot-skin-condition/
Your rig should also NEVER be bonded. The bond should only be at the source, which is the pedestal or your house. Learn about that too and how to test your RV.
Sorry to add so much but as said, most 120 isn't to complicated when just plugging into a Honda 120 generator but 240 is much more dangerous.