50A power and amperage readings for a 2001, Excel RLE Limited
Sorry about a long post in advance.....I'm more verbal, visual and touch it kind of guy, really hate to write.
I stated in the "cheater box" discussion that I would be taking amperage readings of various systems and equipment on my unit. As not to be Off Topic, I posted some information there that might relate and will do the same here. These readings are from MY unit and suspect that they might relate to other Excel's as well and that is why I decided to share this information. Just never thought when I started it would take on a life of its own.
Several weeks ago, what started out to be a simple project of determining which input leg to use to install a
POWER INLET on my unit, ended up with other questions I had no answers for. A question about the CHEATER BOX was asked on the Excel Owners Forum: "Anyone use electrical plug cheater box? The one that you plug in a 20 amp and 30 amp plug and it gives you 50 amp service". This question lead me to others and a week of projects ranging from exploring my breaker panel, installing the Inlet, taking amperage reading multiple times in different places and moving circuits___ you get the ideal.
I find the term 50A is as general a term as I used to use when saying 30A.
Being new to the 50 amp service requirements of my Excel, the terms 50A available, 50A service, 50A 120/240v service, 30A to 50A adapters,
AUTOFORMER,
SURGE PROTECTIONand CHEATER BOX I, like most, initially found this confusing. What is
SHORE POWER? I don't have a boat.
After a lot of reading, the 50A 120/240v service isn't that much different than my stick built. It has two power input legs, a neutral and a ground. Each leg provides power to various breakers that feed different circuits that make up the outlets, refrigerator, air conditioner, etc.
But there are differences. In general, a stick built is designed to have a consistent power input and a relatively balanced load. My unit with the panel that is installed and would guess, speaking in general terms, other units providing 50A 120-240v service that the panels aren't designed to be balanced in the same manner. As RV'ers we face the challenges of having to deal with a variable power input, 30A or 50A 120/240v with a consistent to variable load (and don't forget the 50A from the cheater box). When I stated.... the panels aren't designed to be balanced in the same manner....what I discovered on my panel was that the black input leg provided power to breakers # 1,2, 5,6 and 7. The red leg serviced breakers 3 and 4.
After checking the breakers to determine which circuits they provided power to, I discovered that the black leg provided power to all the circuits that I normally use. The red, serviced the washer-dryer and a single rear outlet that included a ceiling fan. As we wouldn't be installing a W/D in our unit, this means that the entire load was on the black. IMO it's helpful to know what's on each leg and what each circuit or item has as a load demand when determining how we deal with or without the 50A 120-240v service our units require. Enter the cheater box discussion again. Without knowing my units demands, I would have been providing 30A to a 50A or greater demand and 20A to a circuit that had none. I'm sure this would have given me a sense of extra power, if I had chose to use it at the time. Regardless without the 50A 120-240V service available and by whatever means I hook up to the pedestal, load management is still required and that was a different project.
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Amperage readings. What did it all mean?
I tried to run the equipment that would give me a base line for amperage use. With the A/C, WH, Refrig, entertainment area operating and items we might use on a "normal" trip. This included 4.5amps from the converter to run 60% of the lights and the Charge wizard in normal mode. Had an amperage reading of 30.5 amps on my black input leg, 0 amps on the red and 30.5 amps on the neutral. With the microwave on, readings increased to 41.5amps. Add the coffee maker, another 10 amps, or the hair dryer, another 8 amps. One thing about determining a load, there is a constant, intermittent and occasional demand. Guess it could be possible to reach the 50 amp on a single leg input for a short period. When the DW makes me use the onboard vacuum system,
there's more in overload than the additional 8 amps.
What I did to "balance the load" was to move the WD and Rear outlet to the black leg and installed the Water heater and Microwave to the red leg. By doing this I have 18.9amps on the black and 22.6 amps on the red with the above equipment running. The white, neutral, read 7.6 amps compared to the 41.5 amps as before.
As demands change, so would the amperage on each leg. By making the changes I did, it gives me a little cushion on the black leg when the hair dryer comes on and the coffee pot is doing its thing. As mentioned, it's impossible to balance a system that has 5 circuits on one leg and 2 on the other. With my figures, with a W/D installed, it would still be possible to transfer a constant 10-20A load to the red leg and be within limits of the breaker and giving the black leg a little more capacity. Having just two breakers available is what limits my red leg from carrying more amperage.
Using the figures from the above test, if I was connected to a 50 amp service at the pedestal, one leg would read 18.9 amps and the other 22.6 amps. IMO the pedestal and my unit's breaker panel would perform better and safely within its limits.
If connected to a 30 amp service at the pedestal, with a 30 to 50 adapter, the demand would still be 41.5 amps for the duration of the Microwave operation. Thus I can't run a higher amperage load on my unit, by attempting to balance the load, as nothing has changed, the equipment and demand is still there. It also doesn't change how I should adjust to having 30 amp service.
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Amperage by number:
I thought about what I should be running on shore power when connected to a 30 amp service but can say I never knew where the line was that I shouldn't cross. Like most, tried to conserve and run gas on the WH or refrig when I thought I needed to. Have seen many times amperage and load charts for various equipment and items that has been posted on the .net or in articles and never thought much about them. Do they really relate to my unit or my needs? Well, must admit, after spending a day checking my amperage use, I will say they do.
Here's a link to
RV CONVERTER AND AMP DRAW. It will provide information that should be useful. Found that most of the readings listed were within the range of what I recorded. Found my reading for major items, like the A/C or WH to be in the middle of the range. Even though I took readings of my coffee maker, toaster etc, will not list them as they were close to those listed in the link and mfg vary.
I will list the following as they relate to my unit:
____The individual AC loads were taken after the item has been running for at least 15 minutes and read at the output of the circuit breaker. The DC load for the converter was taken with the unit plugged into the Splitter that was connected to it power source. (As I'm only concerned with AC amperage, the amp draw for various items does not relate to the load/amperage of the battery.)___
Norcold 814___ 4.0 amps
Atwood WH, GC6AA9E___ 11 amps
Coleman Series 8535 Air Cond___ 11 amps
Maxum RV2000 Vac___ 8 amps
For those with the Progressive converter and using the
CHARGE WIZARD, the information below is provided to add to the information in the above link.
Converter, with Wizard in Storage Mode: .3 amps____ in Normal Mode: .8 amps___ in Boost Mode: 2.2 amps
When this series of test were taken, the batteries were fully charged and the Wizard was in Storage Mode with a draw of .3 amps. As loads were put on the converter, because the batteries were fully charged, the Wizard stayed in the Storage Mode and the Converter increased its output to meet the demand. Taking the .3 amp draw into account and subtracting it from the reading, this was my amp usage by load on the converter:
Water pump:___ .4
Water heater on gas:___ .4
Furnace fan:___ 1.8
Fluorescent lights (2):___ .6
Four fluorescent lights:___ 1.2
80% of units lighting:___ 3.5
TV booster, 80% lighting and furnace fan:___ 6.4
It took about 30 minutes to complete the above test. When the demands were removed from the converter, it read .3 amps, still in Store Mode. I'm sure this isn't a "real life" test of the system but did give me an indication that the converter will carry the load as required and change its amperage as demand changes. It also showed that during the heating season, I need to add at least 6.4 amps to my figures when determining Load Usage for lighting and heat using the furnace.
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Bruce asked in the "cheater box" discussion:___ As for additional loads besides HW and refrig, don't forget you're built in battery charger. Particularly if you arrive at a CG after some time in the boonies.
___Using a spare battery that was already low and load testing it until it read 11.9v; I installed it as the second battery bank. The Wizard analyzed the battery and changed to Boost mode. At which time the battery recorded 14.4v on the meter and an amp draw of 2.2 amps at the converter. Checked the amperage after 30 minutes and the reading was 1.9 amps. IMO the 2.2 amps should be the max draw of the converter while boosting, the draw duration will depend upon the batteries state of charge before cycling to the Normal mode at .8 amps.
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What I did ...determining circuits and load at the service panel.
These test and procedures were done with the face of the breaker panel removed.
Extreme CAUTION must always be exercised when working on any 120v circuit. I DO NOT SUGGEST or ENCOURAGE that anyone should do the following.
It is only stated as a procedure that I followed in determining my circuit and amperage loads. DO NOT perform any test or procedure regardless of the maintenance task that you do not feel comfortable with or have no knowledge of. DO NOT perform any procedure or test while riding in a car or use while in the shower. With that said:
.....Performed an amperage reading of the black and red input legs with equipment running.
.....Determined which breaker was on each leg. This required the removal of an input leg and checking the breakers. Power, at the pedestal, was removed and applied at various times to complete this step.
.....Determined which items or circuits were on each breaker. The Air Cond, WH, microwave, W/D and GFI each had their own 20 amp breaker.
.....Performed an amperage reading of each breaker to determine its load.
.....Performed an amperage reading of the utility items we might use, i.e. the coffee maker, toaster, central vacuum, converter etc to determine their load. This was done using the item plugged into the Line Splitter.
.....I swapped several circuits to different legs to help balance the load.
..... Performed an amperage reading of the black and red input legs with equipment running.
.....I relabeled the panel to change or add addition information.
A description of MY PANEL: there are 2 columns of breakers. On the RIGHT, there is a 50A ganged breaker which is the input, Main or disconnect depending on how you prefer to name it. The GFI breaker is installed below, my #7. On the LEFT, there are three, double circuit breakers, meaning two circuits per breaker. These are my breakers 1 to 6. As stated: # 1, 2, 5, 6, and 7 are on the black leg and # 3 and 4 on the red.
The following test equipment was used to determine which circuits were "live" and for taking the amperage readings.
IDEAL AUTOMATIC METER,
AC LINE SPLITTER AND
NON-CONTACT VOLTAGE DETECTOR. I would suggest the Ideal Meter to anyone in need of an easy to use, multifunction meter.
Here are a few links that made this Topic shorter:
120-240 VOLT POWER TOPICS
RV ELECTRIC SERVICE
50A TESTER
Wish to thank the following for the information that they share with us all:
RVtechLibrary.com____great resource. On my favorites list.
myrv.com____for electrical information
KOA, RV Maintenance Tips
And various manufactures that provide information on their products.
and to ChiefJohn, who has seen several versions of this.
Yes it has gotten longer. I still hate to write!
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Still need to conserve and manage the load as required. Now have a little more information to do it.
If you managed to get this far....hope that something helped.
Chris
"Rockin" could not have done better -- for what that's worth. 
Member # 47
I didn't include some information and thought it could be added later.
Just funnin'....take the night off, so you don't blow a fuse! 
Linear Mode
