Community Forums

suebrenn · 07-05-2014, 10:37 AM

When parked at our house and plugged into 120 outlet, can we run the air conditioner in 5 th wheel?

Fred1609 · 07-05-2014, 10:44 AM

No...Its likely a 15 amp breaker....We run our fridge plugged into a 15 amp plug...but that's all.

jesilvas · 07-05-2014, 03:40 PM

Need to learn some electricity terms first, I feel. All your systems are 120V, but you're limited by amperage. There are 15A outlets, 20A, 30A, and 50A. If you're plugged into a 15A outlet, the basic answer is no.

Kingw2001 · 07-05-2014, 04:46 PM

we have been parked for 2 days at a family members house and running the small air conditioner with no problems from a 15 amp plug. Im actually quite surprised. you just dont want to try it with a small 14 guage lead cord. we are using a 10 gauge lead cord. just try it and if it trips the breaker then no.

Cypressloser · 07-05-2014, 07:49 PM

You might be able to get away with it for a short time, but it can turn out deadly for the compressor motor or cause a fire. It is quite common that a 15 Amp breaker is connected to 14 awg wire (legal) and the compressor motor starves for Current (Volt) due to line loss. Therefor the AMP draw increases and causes the wire to heat up and the hotter it gets the more AMP it will draw until it burns, possibly before the breaker trips. Unless it is a very small AC unit, (11000 BTU) I wouldn't do it and even then keep the cabling short and heavy. I believe (please don't quote me) a 13500 BTU AC draws around 16 AMP on startup and around 12 when up and running. Don't forget, you also have other appliances drawing power in the background like your converter/charger which can draw somewhere between 5 and 15 AMP AC depending on size and state of battery. I once had a 20 Amp plug melt on me, I only had a space heater connected, and was lucky that the breaker worked.

jesilvas · 07-05-2014, 09:42 PM

A/Cs draw a LOT ~50A upon rotor lock up, but that is quick. Running amps (fan with compressor) is up to 15A on older, less efficient units.

Converter uses 2A on average, and up to 10A (most are on a 15A circuit) or so on heavy draw with dead batteries.

Refr heating element is 2.5A.

So you do not have room to run an A/C . . . well or safely.

glennwest · 07-06-2014, 01:49 PM

if on 20 amp breaker you should be fine. When I had my S&B all my exterior circuits were 20 amp.

wa8yxm · 07-06-2014, 02:08 PM

There are two answers:
When you first plug in the likely answer is NO... Six hours later (Or less) the answer may, or may not change.. What happens during those six hours? The batteries charge.

Your outlet may be 15 or 20 amps. or 15/20 (15/20's have a "T" shaped neutral, and of course a 20 amp breaker that feeds them with 12ga wire)

Plug in a volt meter (Any outlet INSIDE the RV) and plug in the RV.. IF you have a good size 3-stage converter wait a couple hours for the batteries to suck up some power and try it.. NOTE the volt meter if it sticks in teh 110+ range then the WORST thing that will happen is a soft CLICK from the area of the circuit breaker panel in the house and loss of power to the outlet.

IF it drops to below 105.. Turn off A/C.

If you draw more power than the breaker can carry, it trips, no damage is done.. So try it and see.

Timay · 07-06-2014, 04:44 PM

I run mine on 110/115/120volts (choose your voltage - it is all good) when plugged into a 120volt outlet on a 100' extension cord when at home. The extension cord is a 12gauge, good for 20 amps, fed from an outlet in my garage I installed when I fed my sprinkler system. It runs fine and charges the batteries as well. I have not run the water heater when at home (no need), but the fridge, convertor and all run fine, as does the microwave...never tried the microwave while the A/C is running, but I don't use it at home any way. Oh - my A/C is a 15K unit.

So, the answer is: plug into a 20amp circuit with an extension cord of at least 12gauge wire and you will be good to go. No need to wait for the batteries to charge, etc., just plug it in, turn it on and go. If the draw is too great the breaker will pop, then come back here and we can help you work it out...I don't anticipate we will hear from you in that regard, however!

Oh - in order to find out if your breaker is 15 or 20 amp, plug in a radio, turn it up so you can hear it at the breaker panel, then flip breakers till the radio quits...then look and see what amperage the breaker is.

Tim