30/50 AMP

[mel s]

please tell me where in this circuit there is anything resembling 100 A of current flow

solarman
Watts divided by volts equals amps.

The drawing shows 6000 Watts on each 120V leg which is the same as 50 amps on each leg

(2 X 50 = 100).....therefore 2 50 amp legs equal 100 watts total.

 

[solarman]

solarman
Watts divided by volts equals amps.

The drawing shows 6000 Watts on each 120V leg which is the same as 50 amps on each leg

(2 X 50 = 100).....therefore 2 50 amp legs equal 100 watts total.

I know exactly how it works.. i'm just having a bit of fun with Seilerbird here..

i'll stop my non union response provoking now..  ;D ;D ;D ;D

 

[SeilerBird]

solarman, your wasting your time on this crowd trust me.

I am still waiting for cavie to explain to us how 50 + 50 does not equal 100.
I am also still waiting to find out how much 50 and 50 do really equal.
Just bad mouthing everyone who is correct is not the way to explain your point of view. And by the way it is you're not your.

 

[TonyL]

Whilst I appreciate that there are two live pins each with a potential supply of 50 amps, unless the items are two phase, any total load has to go back on the remaining pin, which could be carrying 100 amps if both lives are loaded. So why only 1 neutral pin when there are two live ones?????????
regards
TonyL

 

[Corky]

I am still waiting for cavie to explain to us how 50 + 50 does not equal 100.
I am also still waiting to find out how much 50 and 50 do really equal.
Just bad mouthing everyone who is correct is not the way to explain your point of view. And by the way it is you're not your.

Isn't "you're" a contraction of "you are?", or has that also been changed within the last 50 years?

 

[SeilerBird]

Isn't "you're" a contraction of "you are?", or has that also been changed within the last 50 years?

Yes it is. The sentence is 'solarman, your wasting your time'
It should be 'solarman you are wasting your time.'

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Whilst I appreciate that there are two live pins each with a potential supply of 50 amps, unless the items are two phase, any total load has to go back on the remaining pin, which could be carrying 100 amps if both lives are loaded. So why only 1 neutral pin when there are two live ones?

The answer requires some understanding of the alternating current sine wave and arithmetic with negative numbers.  A 50A/240v RV or residential system is what is called "Split Phase", meaning the two hots legs are 180 degrees out of sync. When one Hot is building or peaking at Positive voltage, the other is going Negative. The Neutral wire carries the arithmetic sum of the amps on the two hots, so a positive is added to a negative.  The best case is +50A and -50A, which nets to zero amps on the neutral. The worst case is zero amps on one and either +50A or -50A on the other, which adds up to plus or minus 50A on the neutral.

Positive or Negative in this context basically refers to the direction the current (amps) is flowing. Imagine if you can that the amps on the +50A side are going in one direction and the negative side in the other direction.  When both are placed on the same (neutral) wire, they cancel each other out and the net result is no movement, i.e.zero amps.


If the two hots are NOT 180 degrees out-of-sync, then the amps on each hot add up without a positive to offset the negative and the total would indeed be as much as 100A in the neutral.

 

[SeilerBird]

solarman
Watts divided by volts equals amps.

The drawing shows 6000 Watts on each 120V leg which is the same as 50 amps on each leg

(2 X 50 = 100).....therefore 2 50 amp legs equal 100 watts total.

Therefore 2 50 amp legs equal 100 amps total

 

[ChasA]

Corky,
The first instance of "your" in the quote is incorrect. It is indeed should be "you're ", the contraction  of "you are".  Nothing has changed. The second instance is the correct use of "your". It denotes ownership.  So Cavies statement would have correctly been "you're wasting your time".

 

[TonyL]

Thanks Gary, but my technical mind still had questions. Not wanting to steal the OP thread but the attached may help to explain
.https://www.rvtechmag.com/electrical/chapter3.php

 

[SargeW]

Good link Tony, thanks!  I do appreciate these discussions though. I always learn something, regardless of the differing opinions. 

 

[SeilerBird]

Very good thread Tony. It has the explanation of what we are talking about.

'To facilitate the larger loads placed upon the newer RVs the 50 amp service was brought out. Whereas the 30 amp service was a 120 volt service yielding 3,600 watts of power, the 50 amp service is a 120/240 split phase service. The split phase service means you have two 120 volt 50 amp poles, which gives you a total of up to 12,000 watts. So the perceived increase from 30 to 50 doesn't sound like very much but the real increase from 3,600 to 12,000 puts it into a more realistic perspective. Keep in mind that this assumes that you can utilize both of the two 50 amp poles effectively by balancing your load. If all of your loads are on one side of the panel you'll only be using one 50 amp pole, which means that you can only get 6,000 watts.'

 

[SeilerBird]

Good link Tony, thanks!  I do appreciate these discussions though. I always learn something, regardless of the differing opinions.

Thanks Sarge, that is exactly why I am continuing this thread. I don't really care what cavie thinks. I am concerned about anyone reading this thread and getting the wrong idea from misinformed sources.

 

[cavie]

On one hand we have Industrial, Commercial and Residential. On the other we have RV's. Same exact electricity. Two different languages. ???

 

[SeilerBird]

On one hand we have Industrial, Commercial and Residential. On the other we have RV's. Same exact electricity. Two different languages. ???

That doesn't matter. What does matter is how you add 50 and 50 and not come up with 100. Since you can't answer the question you deflect instead.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

That's a pretty decent article for those who don't want to get too heavily technical. Thanks for posting it, Tony.

 

[TonyL]

Education, you are never too old to learn. I spent all my life in electrical related trades starting as an apprentice electrician, and this had me confused!

 

[Corky]

Yes it is. The sentence is 'solarman, your wasting your time'
It should be 'solarman you are wasting your time.'

Apologies to all.
In a very extremely rare instance I thought I had caught SeilerBird in a full blown faux-pa and like a cat I jumped upon the moment.
In my haste, and although I did READ the content I did not COMPREHEND, and fired off the embarrassing post.
I should have known better than to even, in the slightest of slights question the wisdom of the one known as SEILERBIRD.
Again apologies for my moment of doubt.

Corky

(This is all to be taken with a tongue in cheek).

 

[SeilerBird]

Apologies to all.
In a very extremely rare instance I thought I had caught SeilerBird in a full blown faux-pa and like a cat I jumped upon the moment.

I accept your apology. There is a sub set of geniuses on this forum that absolutely live for the moment they can nail me in a faux-pa. I think there is some kind of competition or a betting pool. You are the only person with enough balls to actually apologize and admit you're mistake. (that was a joke in case you don't recognize it) ;D

 

[John From Detroit]

I am still waiting for cavie to explain to us how 50 + 50 does not equal 100.

Two answers. ONE the max amps in ANY wire is 50 amps. Hence "50 amp service"

Second and I think I already said this

If you think of it as 100 amp service well 60+40= 100  and 75+25=100 but if you try to draw 60 or 75 amps off one leg.> CLICK and darkness is your reward

But if you draw say 40 and 30 (70 amps total) it works.  The odds of your ever being able to draw EXACTLY 50 amps on both legs (Total 100) outside of an electrical/electronics lab approaches ZERO as we would say in Calculus class (Approaches zero is a common phrase there) in fact it is indistinguishable from Zero in practical life.