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Old 11-15-2012, 08:02 AM   #15
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Tony Lee. Yes it is legal. Why shouldn't it be? Been using it for several years without problems. Agreed that before you plug into a campground even without this combiner you should always check that they wired it correctly with a tester. If it caused problems or was dangerous then Camco would have pulled it off the market by now. If the campground was wired incorrectly and you didn't check it first then it will immediately pop the breaker. One should never plug in a motor home at anytime without first having the pole breakers in the off position. All it does is put a 15 amp circuit in parallel to the 30 amp circuit coming from the same supply source for more current handling.
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Old 11-15-2012, 08:16 AM   #16
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A true RV 50 amp circuit is a total of 100 amps divided into two legs and you cannot replace 100 amps with a 30 amp power source. Especially if you have an electric stove top. Now you need some self power management. You have the electric heating element in the Aqua Hot, the residential fridge, the microwave, the AC units, the electric stove top, the wife's hair dryer or curling iron, and the TV and the converter charging the batteries. That battery charger can pull 20-25 amps if the batteries are down. So if you can minus out the AC units then you have to manage what is left. It is doable but is a pain. I bought a CAMCO Power Maximizer which gives you 45 amps and helps some.
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This joins the 30 amp pole circuit with the 15 amp pole circuit and gives you a single line at 45 amps total. I first use a plug checking device that I bought from Home Depot and check that both plugs are wired up correctly before I plug anything into the pole. I do this a lot.

Really like the idea of this, but it seems that a lot of campgrounds these days are going to GFI protected 15 amp poles these days so that doesn't work then.
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Old 11-15-2012, 08:24 AM   #17
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Trap you are correct in that it will not work with a 15 amp GFI circuit. Normally a campground that still has only 30 amp service has not upgraded the 15 amp to GFI so I have not had that problem. I do use it at home or when parked at my sisters farm by combining two 15 amp circuits off of two different circuit breakers to give me 30 amp power when only 15 amp is available.
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Old 11-15-2012, 09:12 AM   #18
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Trap you are correct in that it will not work with a 15 amp GFI circuit. Normally a campground that still has only 30 amp service has not upgraded the 15 amp to GFI so I have not had that problem. I do use it at home or when parked at my sisters farm by combining two 15 amp circuits off of two different circuit breakers to give me 30 amp power when only 15 amp is available.
Dang Mike now you went and convinced me that I want one. For us Canadians there are a lot of 30amp campgrounds and a lot don't plan on upgrading to 50amp, not that many days up here that would require more than one AC. But I do think I may just put that one my have to have list
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Old 11-15-2012, 09:48 AM   #19
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Two thoughts-
1. Most campgrounds that offer electricity will have rules against running your generator. Most folks want peace and quiet when camping in a RV park.
2. Check to see if your inverter will supplement power. On my MH the inverter will come online when camping with 30amp service. Then when demand drops, the batteries begin charging.

As for the "cheater boxes" you can overload the neutral side, plus it will often trip the GFI breaker at the box.
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Old 11-15-2012, 01:54 PM   #20
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A true RV 50 amp circuit is a total of 100 amps divided into two legs and you cannot replace 100 amps with a 30 amp power source. Especially if you have an electric stove top. Now you need some self power management. You have the electric heating element in the Aqua Hot, the residential fridge, the microwave, the AC units, the electric stove top, the wife's hair dryer or curling iron, and the TV and the converter charging the batteries. That battery charger can pull 20-25 amps if the batteries are down. So if you can minus out the AC units then you have to manage what is left. It is doable but is a pain. I bought a CAMCO Power Maximizer which gives you 45 amps and helps some.
Fretz Enterprises Online Store
This joins the 30 amp pole circuit with the 15 amp pole circuit and gives you a single line at 45 amps total. I first use a plug checking device that I bought from Home Depot and check that both plugs are wired up correctly before I plug anything into the pole. I do this a lot.
I want one of those for my 30 amp coach that I can use in the summer when there is low voltage in the campground!
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Old 11-15-2012, 05:30 PM   #21
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Thanks all. Good info for the unknowing.
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Old 11-15-2012, 05:38 PM   #22
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As for the "cheater boxes" you can overload the neutral side, plus it will often trip the GFI breaker at the box.
Overload which neutral? Not the one in the RV, it's sized for 50amps.
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Old 11-15-2012, 08:39 PM   #23
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Two thoughts-
2. Check to see if your inverter will supplement power. On my MH the inverter will come online when camping with 30amp service. Then when demand drops, the batteries begin charging.
That's pretty interesting. I haven't seen that before. On mine, there's a transfer switch built into the inverter. If there's power from the plug or generator, the inverter won't work. It turns into a charger. THe best I can do on a 30 amp circuit is turn the charger off.
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Old 11-15-2012, 09:24 PM   #24
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Overload which neutral? Not the one in the RV, it's sized for 50amps.
great question!
Here's the problem as I see it. The current on each neutral is now controlled by the impedance of each the circuits and one of the neutrals could be overloaded. How?



So lets say that the 30amp socket has a bit of corrosion on the neutral side, therefore the 15/20 amp socket is going to take up the slack. the breaker will not blow since it is on the hot side. The 15/20 amp outlet neutral side now becomes the side carrying too much of the combined neutral load for the design of the socket. Melts, fire, whatever...


So here's my bottom line, hypothetical, if an inspector came out would the "cheater box" pass inspection?


Also, If the rig has load shedding then it will only detect a 120V 30A circuit and limit you to 30A. it won't see 240V
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Old 11-15-2012, 09:27 PM   #25
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That's pretty interesting. I haven't seen that before. On mine, there's a transfer switch built into the inverter. If there's power from the plug or generator, the inverter won't work. It turns into a charger. THe best I can do on a 30 amp circuit is turn the charger off.
The Magnum inverter in conjunction with the Power Control system made be Precision Circuits has this capability. Many rigs have it and the owner is not aware it's there.
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Old 11-15-2012, 09:33 PM   #26
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That's pretty interesting. I haven't seen that before. On mine, there's a transfer switch built into the inverter. If there's power from the plug or generator, the inverter won't work. It turns into a charger. THe best I can do on a 30 amp circuit is turn the charger off.
Mine doesn't have that either. But if the inverter circuit was under the control of the load management system, I could see it working. It would need some sort of priority to make sure it's enabled long enough to keep the batteries sufficiently charged.

I've actually turned off the breaker leading to the inverter on occasion, for that very reason. I also do it when we're shutting down the generator. When the generator starts, it's a very clean cutover because the generator doesn't put out any power until it's up to speed and ready. But when it's shutting down, sometimes the voltage drops too far before it switches back to inverter. Causes our DVRs and computers to reboot (sometimes).
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Old 11-16-2012, 06:05 AM   #27
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The mh are not designed for what is called "No Break" power switching. So when things switch from AC voltage being from shore power or generator power to inverter power the relays cause a momentary break in the power as the contacts open or close and cause DVR, Satellite Tuners and whatever to drop power momentarily. It is not because the voltage goes low but because there is no valtage for that fraction of a second. It is the same as in your house if you where to switch from incoming power to generator power you just can't do it fast enough and will lose power for a fraction of a second.
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Old 11-16-2012, 06:46 AM   #28
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A true RV 50 amp circuit is a total of 100 amps divided into two legs and you cannot replace 100 amps with a 30 amp power source. Especially if you have an electric stove top. Now you need some self power management. You have the electric heating element in the Aqua Hot, the residential fridge, the microwave, the AC units, the electric stove top, the wife's hair dryer or curling iron, and the TV and the converter charging the batteries. That battery charger can pull 20-25 amps if the batteries are down. So if you can minus out the AC units then you have to manage what is left. It is doable but is a pain. I bought a CAMCO Power Maximizer which gives you 45 amps and helps some.
Fretz Enterprises Online Store
This joins the 30 amp pole circuit with the 15 amp pole circuit and gives you a single line at 45 amps total. I first use a plug checking device that I bought from Home Depot and check that both plugs are wired up correctly before I plug anything into the pole. I do this a lot.
Mike, Does this now allow 2 AC units to run at the same time with 45 Amps?
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