Commercial/Shore Power Connection

[Crabber82]

Good morning,
Proud new owner of a Vintage 1988 Wide Body. Totally new to the RV scene so my question is very basic. At the power connection station (driver side rear of bus behind wheels) there are three potential ports. There are two cords that came with the coach. One 50 amp 4 pronged plug and one 3 pronged 30 amp plug.

I am waiting on electrician to install a 240V 50 amp circuit to resolve the overall issue. But in the mean time I have a 120V 15 amp circuit (garage radio) available and a 240V 20 amp circuit available (my air compressor plug).

Does the 30 amp port and associated cord on my Wanderlodge use 120v or 240v? Does it matter? Or does it simply accept the power and then by some unknown and lesser understood (by me) magic make it work. I do understand that I can not run the major appliances at the lower "amps". All I am trying to do is power the lighting and charge the batteries while I begin some interior restoration.
I would rather use the 240v 20 amp circuit but clearly I don't want to mess up anything by utilizing he wrong voltage.

I have read the owners manual cover to cover and scoured this blog and can not find any mention or reference to this subject.

So the simple question is...Do the shore/commercial power ports and associated cords on my 1988 Wanderlodge need 240 source? 120 source? Or does it matter.

[cvaughn]

Be very careful. DO NOT HOOK YOU BUS TO 240 VAC. The results will be very expensive to fix.
The three prong plug is 120vac 30 amps and needs to be on a 30 amp 120 vac breaker.
The four prong plug is two legs 120vac 50 amps and need to be on a 50 amp 120 vac breaker. the four prong plug shares the ground and neutral with outside blade of the plug, creating two legs of 120 vac 50 amps 120 vac.

Not all electricians understand how RV's are wired. Please find one who is familiar with RV's.

I hope someone else will help me out with the technical part.

[mikebulriss]

Crabber82,

Welcome and congrats. Charlie supplied the answer for you.

Google is your friend in understanding RV wiring. Make sure the electrician does!

In the meantime, while awaiting an electrician, go to Walmart, an RV supply, etc. and get a 30A to 15A converter plug to use with the 30A cord. Use it with your existing 15A circuit. It will the supply the Bird with enough power for the lights, battery chargers, bus electrical outlets, refrigerator and microwave depending on what else is on. Even one of the electric toe heaters will work for storage heating. My 91 works fine in storage with this set up.

Good luck.

[Crabber82]

Thank you Charlie...That's exactly what I was trying to avoid. Expensive first timer mistakes....

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Hi Mike, The 30a cord had one of those on it when I took it out of the storage been. However, when I plugged it in and switched the power selection to 30A I didn't seem to have any power in the living area. When the onboard generator is running (no commercial power connected) all the features on the bus function as I would expect.
I am fairly certain that the house batteries (not engine or generator battery) are dead. Would this be the reason that the house lights are not performing on commercial power?
I would have thought that when plugged in that the commercial power would be the source. But I am beginning to think that this is not the case...Any words of wisdom for the "newbie".

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On a follow up note in the quest to further my power station knowledge. There are three ports in the power station compartment. The owners manual (yes I have the original one from 1988) does not really explain what is going on in this area. So would someone shed some light on the correct usage of these ports.
Top left port appears to be 50A service, top right appears to be another 50A service and bottom right appears to be the 30A service.

Guessing it is fairly safe to assume...never use two of these at same time?

[cmillsap]

When connected to a 50A AC shore power outlet or using the generator, you have 2 legs of 120v AC. The power on each leg is distributed throughout the coach in a balanced manner depending on the load.
When you are connected to a 15A AC outlet, you will only have power on one leg. The lights in the salon may be wired to the leg that you are missing.

[mikebulriss]

Crabber82, BTW, got real name?

Wow, you are stressing the gray cells as I sold my 83 PT40 11 years ago. I had forgotten about the manual transfer switch for the power source. Let me randomly address your questions. I am on an iPhone, so ignore funny spellings!

OK, in the back of the bus where the power plugs in. I think that you will find on closer inspection that the single power plug is 50A and the other two are 30 A. My 83 had one 50A shore cord and 2 30A shore cords. The breaker panel in the BIrd has two power busses in it. When you use the 50 A cord, both sides are powered and everything in the Bird has power (assuming the breakers are on and everything actually works as designed). If you use the 30A cords, each cord powers one of the breaker box busses, so only one half of the coach (whatever is on that buss) is getting power. With both 30A cords plugged in, you get full power. To test this, move the 30A cord from one inlet to the other and different things in the BIrd will work. What you need to do is to get your hands on a a 50A to 30A dog bone adapter, then use the 50A cord and put the 30-15A adapter on the dog bone
and plug it into the 15A circuit in the garage. You will have power to both legs in the breaker box and everything in the Bird will have access to power.

As to not having the power cords plugged in at the same time, it makes no difference. They can all be plugged in. The manual transfer switch only allows the power source you select to flow into the breaker box (gen, 50A or 30A, was there an inverter setting? Don't remember).

Oh yeah, some of the lights are 110V powered only and some are 12V powered running thru little inverter devices to power the 110V bulbs. So yes, different lights will work on 12 V battery power versus when plugged in to 110V power.

OK, this nostalgia exercise is fun after all! What's next? ;-}

Enjoy the learning curve!

[Crabber82]

Mike, you are truly a "guru"...to late to go test the knowledge but no doubt tomorrow morning I am purchasing some adapters and putting this information to work.
Thanks again,
JC Mitchell
Goldvein, Va

[mikebulriss]

Aw gosh, Thanks. But really I am just trying to pay it forward when I can. I had the 83 for 9 years and have had the 91 for 11. So it's more a 'been there, done that' learning curve. When I update to a 2000+ model, I can only hope that Chuck, Charlie, David and others will help me, because I will be totally lost also. I see some of the discussions they have on those newer models and I go 'huh? What are they talking about?'. So I surely hope that they are here to help when I need them and that they will remember me helping others. After all, that's what the forum is for.

[patticake]

Also, on your connection, there is colored tape on the plugs. Two should be yellow and one red, and on your cords, the same color. The red is the 50 amp connection and the yellow, 30 amp.
Each of those 30 amp connections only power up half of the coach. If you are using that now, see which one powers up the inverter/charger side, and use that plug.
If you need more help with that, call me 985 three5one o eight39

[davidbrady]

(05-18-2016 23:00)mikebulriss Wrote:  Aw gosh, Thanks. But really I am just trying to pay it forward when I can. I had the 83 for 9 years and have had the 91 for 11. So it's more a 'been there, done that' learning curve. When I update to a 2000+ model, I can only hope that Chuck, Charlie, David and others will help me, because I will be totally lost also. I see some of the discussions they have on those newer models and I go 'huh? What are they talking about?'. So I surely hope that they are here to help when I need them and that they will remember me helping others. After all, that's what the forum is for.

Welcome to the forum JC. Tell us more about your restoration. Pics are always appreciated.

Mike, I'm not going any where!