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Electrical Question

clayinaustin

clayinaustin

Charter Member
My friend want to build an electrical adapter. He has one 50amp connection on the side of his motorhome. However, the site only has 110volt 15amp "household" connections. If we use one 15amp plug, it can't draw enough juice to run both air-conditioner units. The plug overheats.

So, he wants to build a "Y" adapter that has two 15amp plugs going into one wire which will connect to his motorhome. I am not talking about a "Y" splitter, but a "Y" joiner! I think it is a dangerous thing to do. :eek:

What do you think? Has anyone ever seen this or done this?
 
P.S. The motorhome connection will also accept 220 volt. Is there a way to get 220v from two 110 15amp connections?
 
Look's like a recepie for a "fire" to me. He needs to buy an "inverter" at his local RV dealer and be done with it. They are about $300.00 but at least it's safe. Dave
 
Wardey said:
Look's like a recepie for a "fire" to me. He needs to buy an "inverter" at his local RV dealer and be done with it. They are about $300.00 but at least it's safe. Dave
Click to expand...

Yes, I think it is too dangerous. Does this inverter allow for two 15amp plugs? Our problem is trying to run two air-conditioner units thru one 15amp plug. Unless we can find a "two plug" solution, we can only run one air-conditioner unit. :(
 
What the inverter does is it takes 120 Volt / 20 Amp Ckt. and turns it into 30-50 Amp 240 Volts. It's just a step-up transformer. Most motor homes have this built in and come with an adaptor so you can run the a/c's off a 120 Volt Ckts. Dave
 
First problem: An RV AC pulls 14 to 18 amps on start up. The converter pulls about 5 amps constantly. A single 15 amp house hold circuit is not enough to run one RV AC, let alone two

Second problem (resulting from first problem): If you do plug an RV into a standard house hold circuit and run the AC you will starve the compressor of power. This will eventually result in compressor failure.

Solution: Do it right the first time. Have an electrician (or qualified buddy) install a 50 RV plug on a 50 amp breaker on site.
 
OK. How about this?

Buying or building a "Y" adapter that runs two 15amp plugs into one 30amp connection. A straight hard-wired adapter. All 110 volt.
 
clayinaustin said:
OK. How about this?

Buying or building a "Y" adapter that runs two 15amp plugs into one 30amp connection. A straight hard-wired adapter. All 110 volt.
Click to expand...

I have never seen of heard of some thing like that. If they are only supplying you with 15 amps of service, that's all you have. If you slit 15 amps into two circuits you have two 7.5 amp circuits.
 
Davidmnc said:
I have never seen of heard of some thing like that. If they are only supplying you with 15 amps of service, that's all you have. If you slit 15 amps into two circuits you have two 7.5 amp circuits.
Click to expand...

I am going to walk to the back and ask our electrical guy. He may have a solution. I will be back in a few.
 
Clay,

Here is what Mr. Al (RV Guru) is telling me. Since you are going to be running on supplied generator power you may be able to get away with this. Use an adapter to plug into the standard 15 amp plug. If you are using drop cords make sure they are at least 10 gauge wire and no longer than 50 ft. Limit your power usage as much as possible (ie: Frige on LP, water heater on LP, no microwave ect). Use a line voltage monitor (http://www.go-rv.com/coast/do/catalog/page?dealerId=1746&pageNum=55). Only run ONE AC unit. If the voltage drops below 105v turn the AC unit off. He says that most generator circuits will provide 20 amps of power. So if you keep it lean, you should be okay.
 
OK, First if you are trying to get 30 - 50 Amps of 220V power off of a single 15-20 Amp 115 Volt recepatcle as in a RV site, the only way you can do it is with a transformer (inverter). You have to change the 115 Volt to 220 volt and increase amp load to run the (2) A/C units. My buddy has a 34 Sea Ray and he called us in to wire a 50 Amp 220 Volt Ckt. at his dock. After I gave him a price of around 3K he went the inverter route and it has been working perfect. This is exactly what you guys are trying to do. Dave
 
I have a 30amp (from source) to 50amp (to motorhome) adapter. It's about 18 inches long. We plan to cut off the 30amp plug and splice two 15amp "household" plugs into the adapter. Does your "RV Guru" think this is safe?
 
clayinaustin said:
My friend want to build an electrical adapter. He has one 50amp connection on the side of his motorhome. However, the site only has 110volt 15amp "household" connections. If we use one 15amp plug, it can't draw enough juice to run both air-conditioner units. The plug overheats.

So, he wants to build a "Y" adapter that has two 15amp plugs going into one wire which will connect to his motorhome. I am not talking about a "Y" splitter, but a "Y" joiner! I think it is a dangerous thing to do. :eek:

What do you think? Has anyone ever seen this or done this?
Click to expand...



Currently you can buy a two 30 amp plugs to make one 50 amp outlet, this is done easy because the 30 amp is a three wire plug and the 50 is a 4 wire. With that combo you basically running two separate circuits to the RV. The problem going fro two 15 amp three wire to make one 30 amp three wire plug is cross phasing. Both supply power outlets have to be phased and the plugs connectors they attach to if not big problems. Get some extra fuel and run the generator, IMHO
 
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