generator pre wire

[racershawn]

Hi All! I am new to the forum. I have a Landmark Maison 365... Heading to Daytona... I would like to cary my generator in the bed of my truck and run a permeant lead to the prewire box in the front of the camper to plug into the genset... is that ok and the gen 30amp is 3wire and the box is wired for 50amp 4 wire.... any advice? Please...

 

[jimtoo]

Hi racershawn,

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum and to the family. We have a great bunch of folks here with lots of information and all willing to share their knowledge when needed.

I'm sure some of our other members that use generators or have done what you are talking about will jump in with some info for you.

Be sure and check out our Heartland Owners Club. Join us at a rally when you can and meet lots of the great folks here and make friends for a lifetime.

Enjoy the forum.

Jim M

 

[danemayer]

Hi racershawn,

The gen prep on the trailer has 2 hot legs, each carrying 120V, 1 neutral, and 1 ground. This is the same as the wires in the 50 amp shore power plug for your trailer. If your generator is supplying 30 amps at 120V, that's similar to a 30 amp receptacle at a campground. The generator supplies 1 hot leg. So you'll have to do the same thing you would do if plugging your 50 amp shore power cord into a 30 amp campground receptacle - you'll need an adapter that splits the single hot leg out to both the hot legs on the 50 amp gen prep. And depending on the generator's receptacles, you may need an adapter at that end as well.

If you have a built-in EMS, and you may, you may need to bond the generator neutral and ground together to keep from triggering errors on the EMS. You can read more about that here.

You may have to customize the wires and connectors. For safety reasons, I think you'd want a receptacle at the gen prep, rather than a plug.

If you're thinking about running the generator while towing, at the very least you'll have to figure out how to manage the cables so there's no stress while turning.

 

[racershawn]

Hi racershawn,

The gen prep on the trailer has 2 hot legs, each carrying 120V, 1 neutral, and 1 ground. This is the same as the wires in the 50 amp shore power plug for your trailer. If your generator is supplying 30 amps at 120V, that's similar to a 30 amp receptacle at a campground. The generator supplies 1 hot leg. So you'll have to do the same thing you would do if plugging your 50 amp shore power cord into a 30 amp campground receptacle - you'll need an adapter that splits the single hot leg out to both the hot legs on the 50 amp gen prep. And depending on the generator's receptacles, you may need an adapter at that end as well.

If you have a built-in EMS, and you may, you may need to bond the generator neutral and ground together to keep from triggering errors on the EMS. You can read more about that here.

You may have to customize the wires and connectors. For safety reasons, I think you'd want a receptacle at the gen prep, rather than a plug.

If you're thinking about running the generator while towing, at the very least you'll have to figure out how to manage the cables so there's no stress while turning.

Thank you so much! That was everything I will need... no was not planning on running gen down the road but wanted a much ezer way to plug the trailer into generator on short stops rather then pulling out the main cable from other end of trailer....

 

[sjandbj]

I set my rig up with a 50 amp receptacle mounted to the outside front wall. I wired it to the gen prep and now I can plug the cord into the front or the back of the rig. I use a 30 to 50 amp dog bone for the connector. With the way it is set up I can even run the generator in the back of the truck while driving so I could keep one AC running while traveling if it was too hot.

Steve

 

[racershawn]

I set my rig up with a 50 amp receptacle mounted to the outside front wall. I wired it to the gen prep and now I can plug the cord into the front or the back of the rig. I use a 30 to 50 amp dog bone for the connector. With the way it is set up I can even run the generator in the back of the truck while driving so I could keep one AC running while traveling if it was too hot.

Steve

thanks for the reply! do you have a male-male cord? also I was going to hardwire a 3prong twist lock cord to the box but I was not sure about the two hot leads... do I need to tie them together and then tie that to the hot lead for the gen plug?

Thanks all again

- - - Updated - - -

Hi racershawn,

The gen prep on the trailer has 2 hot legs, each carrying 120V, 1 neutral, and 1 ground. This is the same as the wires in the 50 amp shore power plug for your trailer. If your generator is supplying 30 amps at 120V, that's similar to a 30 amp receptacle at a campground. The generator supplies 1 hot leg. So you'll have to do the same thing you would do if plugging your 50 amp shore power cord into a 30 amp campground receptacle - you'll need an adapter that splits the single hot leg out to both the hot legs on the 50 amp gen prep. And depending on the generator's receptacles, you may need an adapter at that end as well.

If you have a built-in EMS, and you may, you may need to bond the generator neutral and ground together to keep from triggering errors on the EMS. You can read more about that here.

You may have to customize the wires and connectors. For safety reasons, I think you'd want a receptacle at the gen prep, rather than a plug.

If you're thinking about running the generator while towing, at the very least you'll have to figure out how to manage the cables so there's no stress while turning.

I just re-read this ... now I got it! ... I have a Honda 3000 but it is not enough to barely run my 1 a/c it will not think about running all 3 ... lol... thanks again

 

[sjandbj]

thanks for the reply! do you have a male-male cord? also I was going to hardwire a 3prong twist lock cord to the box but I was not sure about the two hot leads... do I need to tie them together and then tie that to the hot lead for the gen plug?

Thanks all again

- - - Updated - - -



I have a 50 amp plug in just like the one that is on the back of the rig. I chose to make them match that way I can use either one, front or the back, with the shore power cable. I have a short 30 amp cord that connects to the Honda's twist lock then to a 30 amp to 50 amp dog bone. I used it on my last trip and it worked great. Since each plug is wired to the transfer switch the plug that is not in use does not have power to it so there should be no problem.

Steve