Tripping breakers at 20 and 30 AMPs

[Pete Masterson]

Don't turn anything on.

"50" amps is actually 50 amps at 240 volts so you have 100 amps of
service at 120 volts. The two "legs" of the circuit _each_ carry 50
amps.

So, when you plug into 20 or 30 amps, you only have 20% or 30% of the
normal available power. You must accommodate the lower power
availability accordingly. You have to turn stuff off.

For example, we spent 2 days (in semi-hellish Texas heat/humidity) in
a 30 Amp camp site in a Texas state park. We could only run 1 AC --
and had to turn it off to run the (electric) stove. The AC draws 15
amps while running and jumps up to 25 amps (or so) during start up. I
have a home-type refrigerator and there's always some other draw
(including the battery chargers) so 30 amps simply can't handle two ACs.

I've camped for a couple of weeks with 30 amps -- and no problems --
when we were parked on the California coast in January. We were using
heat from the AquaHot system -- no AC.

Since almost all RV parks offer at least 30 amp service, you should
use that to the maximum extent possible.

There are "cheater boxes" that claim to plug into both the 20 and 30
amp receptacles to give you 50 amps (but not the true 50 amps at
240v) of power. Unfortunately, due to the way that most power
pedestals are wired, the cheater box rarely, if ever, works. (The one
I got has never worked at an RV park. I was able to get 40 amps at a
friend's home where he had two independent 20 amp circuits
available.) You probably won't want to bother with a cheater box.

Pete Masterson
aeonix1@...
'95 Blue Bird Wanderlodge WBDA 42'
El Sobrante, CA




On Jun 3, 2007, at 12:32 PM, garyvant55439 wrote:

> Earlier this year, I bought a 2004 Wanderlodge M380. So long as I was
> plugged into 50 Amp shore power, everything worked fine. However,
> plugging into 20 or 30 Amp circuits trips the circuit breaker on the
> campground pedestal.
>
> How can I avoid this from happening?
>
> Best regards,
>
> Gary Van Tassel
> Rollinsville, CO
> 2004 Wanderlodge M380
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>