My rig has is setup for 50 Amp service. My question is this...does anyone know if I plug it into a 50 Amp does it actually use both legs i.e. both phases of the 50 Amp or does it only use a single phase? I ask because I have an external yamaha generator that can do 120v 30A or also can do a 240v 30A but I don't have the plug to convert from the 240v30A to 240v50A hookup, only the 120V30A to 50A. If my rig will actually utilize the second phase then I will spend the money and get the cable but there is no point if it does not...I will just run the generator in 120v.
2011 3800BH 50 Amp question
- Thread starter RyRoRyan
- Start date
danemayer
Well-known member
The 50 amp pedestal has 4 wires: L1 and L2 each carry 50 amps at 120V. There's a single neutral wire and a single ground wire. The L1 and L2 lines connect to the circuit breaker panel and each one powers half the breakers.
Be very careful with 30 Amp 220V receptacles. They typically have a single hot wire carrying 220V. If you connect 220V to your breaker panel, you will damage a lot of stuff in your RV.
More info is available at myrv.us
Be very careful with 30 Amp 220V receptacles. They typically have a single hot wire carrying 220V. If you connect 220V to your breaker panel, you will damage a lot of stuff in your RV.
More info is available at myrv.us
Yes..I fully understand the 4 wire 2 phase setup, I have a 30A single phase connector so I can do that at pedestals as well. However my generator has both 30A 3wire and 30A 4 wire setups. i.e. 30A on L1 and 30A on L2 each with 120V then the neutral and ground. I should have clarified earlier that when I said my generator has 240V 30A that it was in a 2 phase (4-wire) setup, not 3 wire which yes would result in you destroying everything in the RV since you would give everything 240V. What I was wondering is how the RV is wired. Does the RV actually only use a single phase since all breakers will activate when running on 20A or 30A household 3 wire setups or can it actually utilize L1 and L2. I am assuming that the adapters that go from 3 wire 20A to convert to the 4 wire 50A to get into the RV actually just connect hot to L1 and leave L2 alone or do they send the hot (L1 phase) down both the L1 and L2 lines of the RV cable? I know the RV is only 120V but I always say 240V when I see 4 wire just because I know that there is potential there for 220 if you go between L1 and L2. L1 or L2 to neutral will result in 120V.
I should have been more clear. I see what you are saying. My generator is actually doing 240 30A via 2 phases (L1 and L2). It has the 4 wire connector just like 50A service does so it will send 120V down L1 and L2 just like the 50A pedestal does but just at 30A. All I was trying to figure out is if the RV actually uses L2 since everything will work when plugged in via an adapter to 20 or 30A 3 wire. Basically does the RV only use L1 for all breakers or do the adapters send their "hot" down both the RV's L1 and L2 cable in order to get everything powered. If the RV does actually use both the L1 and L2 then I can get a 4 wire 30A to 50A adapter and then have twice the watts available from my generator. This will both allow my generator to work more efficiently when only powering TV's and such but also will allow me more watts at night when I need to run the AC and the microwave at the same time.
Ryan
Ryan
danemayer
Well-known member
My understanding is that when you plug your 50 amp RV connector into an adapter that plugs into a 30 amp RV receptacle, the adapter ties L1 and L2 together.
You might check the generator specs. If you have 30 amps 120V on L1 and 30 amps 120V on L2, that's 3600 watts on each leg or a total of 7200 watts. That's a pretty big generator.
If the generator's receptacle is the same as a 50 amp RV park receptacle, and your coach has a 50 amp plug, why do you need an adapter?
You might check the generator specs. If you have 30 amps 120V on L1 and 30 amps 120V on L2, that's 3600 watts on each leg or a total of 7200 watts. That's a pretty big generator.
If the generator's receptacle is the same as a 50 amp RV park receptacle, and your coach has a 50 amp plug, why do you need an adapter?
Your rv plugs into a 220 v 50 amp circuit. The circuit breaker box brakes it down into 2 110 volt circuits at 50amps each. So you have 100amps. At the pedestal L1 to neutral will read 110v. L2 to neutral will also read 110v. If you measure L1 to L2 you will get a reading of 220v. I'm sure some electricians will chime in to explain this better.
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I have a Yamaha EF6300iSDE. It has a 30A per leg 4 wire twist lock but also has a 3 wire 30A twist. I have the adapter for the 3 wire but not the 4 wire twist to 4 wire blade. No it can't do the full 7200W but can do 52.5A max and 45.8A continuous. So instead of 3600W of possible power I can have 120V x 45.8 = 5496W continuous or 120V x 52.5A = 6300W max. Thanks for your info. Now that I know that on the 3 wire adapters it just ties L1 and L2 together so it would actually benefit me to get the adapter in order to boost my available wattage.
scottyb
Well-known member
Is the 4 wire twist the one with the pin in the middle and 3 flat blades in a radius? That is a standard generator configuration. You could replace the plug with a RV style receptacle. Look on Amazon. They have about every configuration of plugs, cords, and adapters you can think of. Search "Camco". Sounds like the only way you are going to get the power you want from the genny is to adapt to the 4-wire.
