50 amp to 15 amp household outlet

[khoenig]

How can I acheive this, can it be done safely with adapters?

[nailit]

It can be done with adapters, but just remember, you won't be able to run everything inside of your RV as if you were at a RV park plugged in. You will be pushing it (tripping a breaker) if you had lights, tv, frig and especially the A/C running all at the same time.

[khoenig]

Thanks, all I want is to keep the batteries from draining and maybe watch TV.

[paz]

We used to do it all the time when we parked our motorhome in our daughter's driveway, at least we did until this past fall when I finally ran a new 30-amp line. We used a dogbone to go from 50 to 30 amps, then an adapter plug to go from 30 to 15 amp. As you say, it's good enough to keep the batteries charged and to watch TV. Don't forget to switch your water heater to LP if you have an option to run it on 120V electric. That heater pulls about 12 amps all by itself when it's on.

[lostagain]

This is what you need.

[bachler]

I'm not sure I would use or reccomend useing the ;; 30 to 50 amp Tail.. It's Backwords; You cannot get 50 amps out of a 30 amp circuit;;

[RustyJC]

It's the standard dogbone adapter to plug a 50 amp power cord into a 30 amp supply - it's used by 50 amp rigs where 50 amp service isn't available on the shore power pedestal.

Rusty

[mikron]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bachler I'm not sure I would use or reccomend useing the ;; 30 to 50 amp Tail.. It's Backwords; You cannot get 50 amps out of a 30 amp circuit;;

It's made for that use. Only one side of the 50 amp line (4) wire will carry power to the coach. If you exceed the amp the breaker will break and keep line safe.

[Pusherman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by paz We used to do it all the time when we parked our motorhome in our daughter's driveway, at least we did until this past fall when I finally ran a new 30-amp line. We used a dogbone to go from 50 to 30 amps, then an adapter plug to go from 30 to 15 amp. As you say, it's good enough to keep the batteries charged and to watch TV. Don't forget to switch your water heater to LP if you have an option to run it on 120V electric. That heater pulls about 12 amps all by itself when it's on.

One more trick along with the above recommendations is to put your refrigerator on LP. Will cut an amp or 2 off the draw.

[RustyJC]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikron It's made for that use. Only one side of the 50 amp line (4) wire will carry power to the coach. If you exceed the amp the breaker will break and keep line safe.

The 30-to-50 adapter bridges L1 and L2 in the dogbone so that L1 in the 30 amp receptacle powers both the L1 and L2 leads in the 50 amp power cord. That way, although you still can't draw more than 30 amps due to the 30 amp breaker in the shore power pedestal, both buses in the 50 amp RV are powered and there are no dead circuits or outlets in the RV.

Rusty

[RickO]

This summer we spent two months at my FILs place in Minnesota living off of a single 20 amp circuit by adapting 50amp to 30 amp (dog bone) then 30 amp to 20 amp dog bone.

The tips you've gotten already are good. Switch both water heater and fridge to LP if you can. Also, if your inverter allows you to adjust the number of AC amps its charger can draw you might want to crank that down to 5 amps.

Running either electric heat or AC would be really tough on 15 amps.

Good Luck...

Rick

[Ray,IN]

Since your intention is to only use this to keep batteries charged, you should not encounter any problems using both adapters to step down from a 50A plug to 15A receptacle and still have adequate power to operate lighting in your coach.

[Monacoach]

50 amp into 30 amp then into 15 amp.... We have been doing this for years. I watch tv while the batteries charge.

[wa8yxm]

There are two ways.. 30-50 (you follow the power) and a 15-30 or...

I've seen (and actually own) a 15-50 amp adapter.

Yes you can do it safely if you follow the rule of 1, and only 1, big ticket item.. On my rig that would be the power converter... Nothing more. At least till the batteries are full.

(normally when I'm hooking to 15 amps I pull the plug on the PDI 9180 and plug just it into the extension cord by the way.. Much easier than trying to educate the wife as to what we can, and can not, do on 15 amps)