Community Forums

cavie · 08-07-2019, 07:15 PM

45 years as a master electrician and never heard the term 100 amps available until I got on RV forums. I wish it would stop. I have built hundreds of 200 amp services in homes. Not once have I or any electrician ever heard 400 amp available!! RV services are 30 amps and 50 amps. just leave it at that!

96 Wideglide · 08-07-2019, 08:32 PM

We have a small campground in town, maybe 25 sites, all 30 amp service except 4 sites on the beach, which are only 15A.
You get no breaker on your pedestal, it's always live

.
Last time I was there, I would blow the breaker with the fridge on electric, the AH on electric, and attempting to make a pot of coffee

! Had to contact the manager to reset my breaker.
Talked to a friend who owned a small trailer, and spent months there at a time. He had been in the breaker room with the owner/ manager before, and told me, " There all 20A breakers in there"!

PanJH · 08-08-2019, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rk911

care to name the park?

Sky Boss--- let us know the name and location of this place so we can avoid it.
Thanks !

MSHappyCampers · 08-08-2019, 05:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cavie

45 years as a master electrician and never heard the term 100 amps available until I got on RV forums. I wish it would stop. I have built hundreds of 200 amp services in homes. Not once have I or any electrician ever heard 400 amp available!! RV services are 30 amps and 50 amps. just leave it at that!

Are you saying that with a standard 50A hookup there are NOT two 50A circuits available providing 50 amps on each?

hoosierrun · 08-08-2019, 05:18 PM

Too many places are wired for staggered operation. That is, by design they expect so many units to be drawing at max and others with their AC compressors on standby. It never works in the dead heat of Summer.

It's just like the power companies having to build for peak demand. Billions are spent on plants just so they can cover a few hours of peak operation. Yet the so-called 'knowledgeable' people say they don't need to build those plants and it is just a waste of money. You know the rest.

If an RV park wants satisfied customers they have to provide power for peak demand.... that is unless people in the parks are mining bitcoin with a huge computers in their RV

.

rk911 · 08-08-2019, 06:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cavie

45 years as a master electrician and never heard the term 100 amps available until I got on RV forums. I wish it would stop. I have built hundreds of 200 amp services in homes. Not once have I or any electrician ever heard 400 amp available!! RV services are 30 amps and 50 amps. just leave it at that!

then why am I able to pull 30+ amps on each leg?

Busskipper · 08-08-2019, 06:31 PM

Guys try to understand what is being said.... yes, in a 50 amp service you do have the capability of two 50 amp legs BUT and that is the issue for the uneducated layman..........it is still called a 50 amp service.......plain and simple.

Try as hard as you want BUT the world will still call it a 50 amp service.

So stop trying to change what the common terminology is........period.

Sorry, but when rv’ers talk about electrical connections, the conversation often leaves the real world behind, and the conversation seldom comes back to the real world.

JMHO,

twinboat · 08-08-2019, 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Busskipper

Guys try to understand what is being said.... yes, in a 50 amp service you do have the capability of two 50 amp legs BUT and that is the issue for the uneducated layman..........it is still called a 50 amp service.......plain and simple.

Try as hard as you want BUT the world will still call it a 50 amp service.

So stop trying to change what the common terminology is........period.

Sorry, but when rv’ers talk about electrical connections, the conversation often leaves the real world behind, and the conversation seldom comes back to the real world.

JMHO,

Its not just a 50 amp service.
Its a 50 amp, 240 volt service !

In the world of boating, there is 30 amp 120 volt service, 50 amp 120 volt service, 50 amp 240 volt service and for the big boys, 100 amp 240 volt service.

cavie · 08-09-2019, 05:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Busskipper

Guys try to understand what is being said.... yes, in a 50 amp service you do have the capability of two 50 amp legs BUT and that is the issue for the uneducated layman..........it is still called a 50 amp service.......plain and simple.

Try as hard as you want BUT the world will still call it a 50 amp service.

So stop trying to change what the common terminology is........period.

Sorry, but when rv’ers talk about electrical connections, the conversation often leaves the real world behind, and the conversation seldom comes back to the real world.

JMHO,

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cavie · 08-09-2019, 05:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rk911

then why am I able to pull 30+ amps on each leg?

In order to do that you would need to be plug into a 30 amp service using a 30/50 dog bone. 30 amps is 120 volts. 1 hot, 1 neutral and 1 ground. The 30 amp leg is joined together in the dogbone and you get the same 30 amp leg on both legs. Therefor you only have 120 volts @ 30 amps total. There is not 60 available!LOL

If you have a 30 amp service in your rig you only get 30 amps on one leg. The other leg is neutral.

twinboat · 08-09-2019, 06:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cavie

In order to do that you would need to be plug into a 30 amp service using a 30/50 dog bone. 30 amps is 120 volts. 1 hot, 1 neutral and 1 ground. The 30 amp leg is joined together in the dogbone and you get the same 30 amp leg on both legs. Therefor you only have 120 volts @ 30 amps total. There is not 60 available!LOL

If you have a 30 amp service in your rig you only get 30 amps on one leg. The other leg is neutral.

You claim years of experience in electricity, yet you say someone can not draw 30 amps from each leg of a 50 amp 240 volt service.

https://www.rvtechmag.com/electrical/chapter3.php

Sky_Boss · 08-09-2019, 07:02 AM

I think we are dealing with different lexicons for professionals vs RVers. It seems that it turns into a bit of a semantical argument between those with a "proper" understanding vs those with a (or trying to grasp) a working knowledge.

I think this is because many RVers have no background in electrical service. You put a newbie in a 50 amp RV with a readout that provides total amps used along with amps used by each leg and you get a shift in terminology. The same goes when you watch an informative Youtube video explaining that no laymen/novices and you further entrench a different description.

I totally get what the pros are saying that a 50 amp, is a 50 amp, is a 50 amp. However, for the pros here, it doesn't help to stand on technical terms when a lot of folks just don't know it. I, for one, get it but it took me going through the amateur process of learning about it.

Now all that being said, I do see where my first discussion with the CG manager and even in a discussion about a 50 vs 100 amp coach was useless. I never envisioned that in a setting with 3 other supposedly experienced RVers (including an "electrician") I would see such unanimous ignorance.

Trust me...I learned a lesson that day.

TXiceman · 08-09-2019, 07:47 AM

The simple answer is the RV service is a 50 amp, 240 V, split phase. L1 or L2 to neutral you get 120 volts and L1 to L2 you get 240 volts.

The RV manufacturers, split the RV into two 120 volt circuits, each capable of drawing 50 amps or 12,000 Watts. Whether you multiply 240V x 50 Amps or 2 x 120 x 50, you still get 12,000 Watts.

Ken

LETMGROW · 08-09-2019, 08:00 AM

Discussions like this remind me of what I have said for years. If you put a group of so called experts in a room to discuss one subject they couldn't agree on anything!
Lynn