30 or 50 amp?

[Halo]

A quick question for a friend of mine thats renting a class A for a week. Will she need 30 or 50 amp hook ups at the campgrounds shes staying at? (Theyre asking her this and neither of us have a cloo)  I have no idea if theres anything special about this coach so lets assume its average. Thanks for any info!

 

[Lowell]

There are more experienced people on this forum that can provide better answers than I.  But I would first check with the vendor that she is renting the Class A from to see what type of electrical cable the RV has. Is it a 30 amp connector or a 50 amp connector?  Next, check out what the campground facilities she is planning to stay at to see what hook-up connections they offer. At the two most recent campgrounds I have stayed at that had electrical hook-ups, one had only 30 amp and the other had both 30 and 50 amp.  It is possible to purchase a adaptors that let you hook a 30 amp line to a 50 amp plug and vice versa.  If your rig uses a 50 amp plug and you use an adapter to connect to a 30 amp source, you wouldn't want to run all your appliances at once.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Jake has it right. There is no way for anybody here to guess whether the Class A will have 30 or 50 amp electrical system.  Both are common.  Just ask the rental agency how the RV is equipped.

If it IS equipped with a 50 amp electrical system, ask if it also has a adapter to allow it to plug into a 30 amp outlet. If no adapter comes with it, I suggest buying one - they are about $25.    There are far more camp sites with 30 amp electric than with 50 amp, so the adapter can be very handy.  Of course, if you make reservations exclusively for sites with 50 amp service, the adapter is not needed.

 

[Halo]

Thanks for the info! The way you describe it, it makes perfect sense. Ill pass this along to my girlfriend. I wish I was going along with her as Im starting to get the bug from her for some RV travel. Thanks again.

 

[John From Detroit]

One thing to consider as we move into the cooler months is this.  Most RV's,use propane for heating and cooking,Electric is used for lighting and AC (note most does not mean all, there are some all-electric models)

30 amps will run a tv, microwave, the on-board battery charger/converter, most all the electronics, possibly even a 2nd AC depending on a few things

What it won't (usually) run is 2 AC units and a microwave or industrial shop vac all at one time

(I have had one campsite where we had to shut off one AC to run the microwave or vaccume on 30 amps)

of coruse 50 amp service has no such restrictions  2 AC's microwave and vaccume (last two on oppisite legs) works fine