50a electrical plugs?

[Ryan Wright]

Hi Pete,

> 50 Amp cable carries a _lot_ of electrical potential, so you do need to be
> very careful with your choices. Using romex (or romex-like products) for an
> extension cord may seem like a practical idea

Oh no - I was NOT planning on using romex for an extension cord.
Electrical codes exist for a reason and I follow them. My comment on
romex referred to moving the outlet. My 50 amp service is on the side
of my house. I need to move it about 20 feet further down the house so
my existing Wanderlodge cord will reach. I've been told I shouldn't
make a 50 foot long, 50 amp cord, because of problems with voltage
drop.

I, however, don't see the difference between these two scenarios:

1. Run an additional 20 feet of romex, in the wall of my house, to
move the outlet, then connect my 30 foot cord.

2. Leave the outlet where it is and just make a 50 foot cord.

As far as electrical potential is concerned, if the wire gauge is
equal, seems the same thing to me, and number 2 is certainly easier.

> The National Electrical Code requires buried
> wires and/or use of conduit for an exposed location.

Yep, and the 30 amp feed I installed for my greenhouse is THWN in
buried conduit.

> Finally, you might 'get away' with using BX (armored) flexible conduit for
> your "extension cord", although I'd be concerned that direct sun exposure
> would overheat the wires. Obviously, driving over it with your coach is very
> likely to destroy it.

No - I plan to use the same type of material used for the factory
extension cord. I'm doing this by the book. Also, I never drive over
my extension cords - I always move them out of the way before moving
the coach.

> So, my question is, Is that really an output plug?

It's possible. I don't have anything like that on my '86. Just the
standard 50 amp input, and a pair of 30 amp inputs (one for each leg),
and the various cord sets. That output plug would be a real handy
feature, though.

> (Since we've only had one extended (a few hours) power outage here in the
> past 25 years, needing the backup power from the generator seems fairly
> remote. -- and I can 'tap into' the coach 120 vac system, should the need
> arise, with extension cords fed from normal outlets -- that would be
> sufficient to keep the home refrigerator and freezer 'going' to prevent
> spoiled food. I already have sufficient extension cords to handle that
> possibility.)

Yeah - my area has very stable power as well. The longest power
outages last just a few hours and come only every few years. The last
one was last winter, first power outage since I've had my coach. We
just abandoned the house, fired up the generator and watched movies in
the coach until the power came back. If it would have been too long,
I'd have powered my deep freezer with an extension cord off the coach
until power returned, but I've lived here nearly 30 years and there
hasn't once been a power outage long enough to spoil food.

-Ryan
'86 PT-40 8V92