Inverter

[Sparky 3]

Bought a 1995 Holiday Rambler the plug on the power cord is 30 amps but the inverter is marked 50 amp. It has two air conditioners but only one works hooked to land power. Both will work off of the generator. Is this normal?

[Dave_H]

Yes it is normal for only one AC unit to work on 30 amp but both will run with generator. My previous 1988 Holiday Rambler had a switch box below the hallway closet that allowed me to choose either to run front AC or rear AC when plugged into 30 amp shore power.

[twinboat]

As mentioned in your other post, the device listed as 50 amps is a converter/charger, not an inverter. It's there to charge your batteries and has nothing to do with your shore power or generator running your ACs.

[followingsea]

Originally Posted by Sparky 3

Bought a 1995 Holiday Rambler the plug on the power cord is 30 amps but the inverter is marked 50 amp. It has two air conditioners but only one works hooked to land power. Both will work off of the generator. Is this normal?

My first MH was a '95 HR. It had a 30 amp @ 120 vac shore power.

It had a battery charger and no inverter. 120 vac outlets were not powered from the batteries. I did install a 700 watt inverter for small 120 vac loads.

My current MH has 50 amp @ 120 vac shore power and generator. It has an inverter/charger. It will charge batteries at 100 amps @ 12 vdc (1200 watts).

The inverter provides 120 vac from 12 vdc. The largest load is the microwave at about 1500 watts. Air conditions and other large ac loads are not powered from the batteries.

Modern RV typically have 120 vac and 12 vdc electrical systems.

It is important to not confuse the two systems. Current (amps) x voltage (volts) = power (watts)

[Argosy]

My 1990 Holiday Rambler also had a Front-Rear rotary switch for the ACs. It was also at floor in the hall in one of the 2 compartments with the breakers and fuses.

[GunninGopher]

I agree with the post mentioning that you are mixing up the shore power AC amperage with the converter's charge output. 30A 120v has way more wattage than 50A DC. Using basic voltages without loss or overhead, a 50A 12v converter, assuming that it can really produce that much (which they rarely do), only uses about 600 watts, where a 30A 120v system shore power can provide that converter 3600 watts.

I do have a comment about the dual AC system on 30A AC shore power.

On my 2001 class A, instead of a manual switch, I have an Intellitec system which, when running on 30A shore power, monitors the load and, among other actions, will only run one AC at a time. To run both AC's, like others have said, I have to run the generator.

I have heard of some hacks that allow you to plug the secondary generator circuit up to a 15A or 20A plug on the pedestal and run both AC's from both 30A and 15A/20A AC shore power. If I take my RV to the river again in the summer I may be looking into that.

If you have that system it will probably be called Intellitec EMS. It may have a 30A/20A button as well.