220V/30 Amp vs 220V/50 Amp

[distaff]

I'm sure some of you have seen this and sorted it. We are planning on visiting some friends who have a shop with a 220V/30 Amp dryer style outlet we can use. I will need to buy or make an extension since the Beaver has a fairly short power cord. The plug/outlet are similar but slightly different and I'm sure they won't be compatible and I'll need to make an adapter or put a 30 amp plug on one end and a 50 amp receptacle on the other.

Suggestions/advice welcome, pictures below. I'm willing (if necessary) to buy wire and make an extension, but I'll need one end to be a water resistant RV plug, and the other I may have to change back and forth between a 30 and 50 amp plug. A 50 ft 50 Amp extension and an adapter would be nice, but I haven't come across such a thing.

[select55]

Originally Posted by distaff

I'm sure some of you have seen this and sorted it. We are planning on visiting some friends who have a shop with a 220V/30 Amp dryer style outlet we can use. I will need to buy or make an extension since the Beaver has a fairly short power cord. The plug/outlet are similar but slightly different and I'm sure they won't be compatible and I'll need to make an adapter or put a 30 amp plug on one end and a 50 amp receptacle on the other.

Suggestions/advice welcome, pictures below. I'm willing (if necessary) to buy wire and make an extension, but I'll need one end to be a water resistant RV plug, and the other I may have to change back and forth between a 30 and 50 amp plug. A 50 ft 50 Amp extension and an adapter would be nice, but I haven't come across such a thing.

change the outlet to a 50 amp stove style and your cord will plug right in
assuming its wired as a stove outlet which I believe it to be

[garbonz]

You actually could pull 2 30 amp 110 circuits out of that but would need a electrician to do it or you go boom.

[Tom-NC]

Hi
DO NOT USE 220 VOLT DRYER RECEPTACLE as it will damage your entire electrical system. 30 Amp is 110volt and 50 Amp is 220volt but in your rv it is split down to 110 volt on each leg.

On a 50 amp plug you have a red wire, a black wire, a green wire and a white wire. From red to white you will read with a voltmeter 110volt and from black wire to white you will read 110volts. Green wire is ground. Across red and black wire you will read 220volts. In other words half of the 220 volts feeds one buss in power panel and half of the 220volts feds the other power buss.

Again DO NOT USE 220 VOLT FRYER RECEPTACLE !!!!!!!

[twinboat]

Just make a jumper cord with a 30 amp male plug on a 50 amp female.

The round pin will be ground, the L shaped will be neutral.

You'll just be 20 amps short of a 50 amp service, on each leg.

If you draw to much, the house breaker will trip.

[select55]

Originally Posted by Tom-NC

Hi
DO NOT USE 220 VOLT DRYER RECEPTACLE as it will damage your entire electrical system. 30 Amp is 110volt and 50 Amp is 220volt but in your rv it is split down to 110 volt on each leg.

On a 50 amp plug you have a red wire, a black wire, a green wire and a white wire. From red to white you will read with a voltmeter 110volt and from black wire to white you will read 110volts. Green wire is ground. Across red and black wire you will read 220volts. In other words half of the 220 volts feeds one buss in power panel and half of the 220volts feds the other power buss.

Again DO NOT USE 220 VOLT FRYER RECEPTACLE !!!!!!!

you have no idea what your talking about. the 4 prong plug he shows is 110 left and 110 right, ground at the bottom and neutral at the top (or vice versa) ,same as a 50 amp rv outlet the difference is the dryer style plug has the goofy L hook connection that's why I said change the outlet plug to a stove style and because u say its 30 amp breaker it wont be the same amp available from a 50amp rv system
If u don't want to change the house plug then u need a male dryer plug and a female stove outlet and a couple feet of 8 gauge 4 wire and make a adapter

[nothermark]

For peace of mind I would start by checking the receptacle with a voltmeter and see that I had 2 lines with 120 VAC to the third and fourth pins and 240 VAC between the two hot lines. Those are nominal voltages +- 10% would not excite me. If that works then the only other issue might be the reduced current available.

[Old Scout]

Old dryer or water heater plugs [30 amps/220 volts] were a real problem as even trained electricians were not aware of the proper wire config. on a 30 amp, single hot, RV plug. This occasionally resulted in one of the two hot 120 volt legs going down the RV neutral--bad news unless you had a full-function surge protector to stop its. Newer wiring codes have a four-prong plug for both 30 and 50 amp plugs. With the 4-prong, 30 amp config, you will have two hot legs [30 amp/120volts], a neutral and a ground. The two hot leg prongs on either side of the plug will be easy to sort out; just need ID the neutral and ground prongs, top and bottom.....If not comfortable with all this, better use an electrician and make sure they are knowledgeable about RV configs....

[select55]

Originally Posted by Old Scout

Old dryer or water heater plugs [30 amps/220 volts] were a real problem as even trained electricians were not aware of the proper wire config. on a 30 amp, single hot, RV plug. This occasionally resulted in one of the two hot 120 volt legs going down the RV neutral--bad news unless you had a full-function surge protector to stop its. Newer wiring codes have a four-prong plug for both 30 and 50 amp plugs. With the 4-prong, 30 amp config, you will have two hot legs [30 amp/120volts], a neutral and a ground. The two hot leg prongs on either side of the plug will be easy to sort out; just need ID the neutral and ground prongs, top and bottom.....If not comfortable with all this, better use an electrician and make sure they are knowledgeable about RV configs....

agreed as very similar to what I posted (wiring wise)

[powercat_ras]

The RV compatible 50 Amp outlet is not the same as the photo in your thread.
You would need someone technically qualified to make a custom adapter, you won't be able to buy a ready made one.

As has been said already, if the adapter is made wrong you will put 240 V instead of 120 V into your RV and will destroy multiple things including likely the Converter Charger and the Microwave so BE SURE IT IS RIGHT before using it. Worse yet, if the adapter is made REALLY wrong you can make the skin and chassis of your RV electrically hot and kill yourself or someone else.

Here is what a standard 50 A outlet that RVs plug into looks like:

[select55]

Originally Posted by powercat_ras

The RV compatible 50 Amp outlet is not the same as the photo in your thread.
You would need someone technically qualified to make a custom adapter, you won't be able to buy a ready made one.

Here is what a standard 50 A outlet that RVs plug into looks like:

yes we have already brought up this point more than once and posted
a couple of solutions

[distaff]

Couple of points, I'm not re-wiring his home, so putting in a new RV outlet is OUT. Next, I'm pretty certain that the dryer style 30 amp 220 V is more or less the same as the 50 amp 220 V RV style in that you have two hot 110 to 120 V connections (each on a different phase of the 60 hz), a neutral, and a ground. The difference is one is fused for 30 amps, and the other is fused for 50.

The normal RV 30 amp circuit is ONE hot 110 to 120V line, one neutral, and one ground, with a 30 amp fuse.

There is a bit of variance in what is available in household wiring for the two hot leads, they vary from 110 V up to 120 V, but most electronics and wiring will tolerate anything in that range.

I may just make an extension with a dryer style male on one end and an RV style female on the other, the problem is the RV style female needs to be water resistant. Then I need to set the inverter to 30 amp input, as I understand it, it will detect the two 110 to 120 V inputs and adapt. The key is to not let it operate with a 50 amp shore power input or it may overload and throw the breaker.

[select55]

Originally Posted by distaff

Couple of points, I'm not re-wiring his home, so putting in a new RV outlet is OUT. Next, I'm pretty certain that the dryer style 30 amp 220 V is more or less the same as the 50 amp 220 V RV style in that you have two hot 110 to 120 V connections (each on a different phase of the 60 hz), a neutral, and a ground. The difference is one is fused for 30 amps, and the other is fused for 50.

The normal RV 30 amp circuit is ONE hot 110 to 120V line, one neutral, and one ground, with a 30 amp fuse.

There is a bit of variance in what is available in household wiring for the two hot leads, they vary from 110 V up to 120 V, but most electronics and wiring will tolerate anything in that range.

I may just make an extension with a dryer style male on one end and an RV style female on the other, the problem is the RV style female needs to be water resistant. Then I need to set the inverter to 30 amp input, as I understand it, it will detect the two 110 to 120 V inputs and adapt. The key is to not let it operate with a 50 amp shore power input or it may overload and throw the breaker.

no one suggested a need to rewire the home at all;what we suggested was change the outlet to a stove style( 15 minute job) or what we told you a couple times make the adapter as you and I have both described and suggested here

[twinboat]

Buy a 30 amp, upto 50 amp adaptor and cut the 30 amp end off. There should be the 4 wires you need to attach a 30 amp 110/220 male plug to.

Don't worry about the 110, 120 volt thing. It's all the same in any house. What ever the power company supplies will work. Some even call it 115 volts.