Electrical Adapter question

[tech740]

We are heading to a park that doesn’t have a lot of 50 amp sites. I purchased an adapter that the 50 amp camper plugs into and uses a 30 and 15 amp for additional power. I know these don’t work well if GFI 15 amp outlets. My question is if I remove the ground lug from the 15 amp pigtail end will that remedy the double ground issue that trips the GFI? I used a ohm meter and checked the adapter both commons and both grounds ar tied together and the hot from each pigtail feeds one leg of the 50 amp. It seems to me that removing the ground lug in the 15 amp should remedy the issue if I have one. Thoughts??

[chuckster57]

I wouldn’t remove a ground, buts that just my thoughts. I would probably opt for a 50 to 30 amp and just watch my power usage. Are you trying to get enough for a second AC?

[CedarCreekWoody]

First determine which leg (L1 or L2) is fed by the 15 amp plug. Your GFCI might not even be on that leg. Next determine if the pedestal even trips your GFCI if they are on the same power leg. Sometimes the two GFCIs get along fine. I plug mine into a GFCI outlet here at home with no problem. If you are still having conflicts then consider turning off the breaker for the GFCI circuit in your camper. Finally I would not cut off the grounding lug from your plug. It is there for every ones protection and I doubt it would fix your problem.

[flybouy]

The double ground is not an issue. As stated, sometimes a GFI plugged into a GFI can cause one to trip, if that happens then use a straight 30 amp to 50 amp adapter and live with it. A 15 amp circuit will; not run an air conditioner anyway if that's your objective,

[meaz93*]

And I'm sure you know NOT to try and turn your AC unit on while plugged into 15-20amp circuit [emoji15].....by accident. It's basically good for charging your coach battery & turn lights on. That is a real good way to ruin your converter & AC unit as well. I knew a guy that..... knew a guy that tried that out-lol
30amps will run 1 AC unit, that's it.
Camp on!28522

[tech740]

I wouldn’t remove a ground, buts that just my thoughts. I would probably opt for a 50 to 30 amp and just watch my power usage. Are you trying to get enough for a second AC?

Yup it’s forecasted to be hotter than we like in Michigan next week. The park we have a membership for ensures a site is open when you make a reservation but you can’t reserve a specific site or type. You arrive find an open site you like and register. My thought is if needed I have ran a single A/c at home on a 20 amp in my garage. I thought if both grounds were tied together, the 30 amp ground would suffice.

[flybouy]

Yup it’s forecasted to be hotter than we like in Michigan next week. The park we have a membership for ensures a site is open when you make a reservation but you can’t reserve a specific site or type. You arrive find an open site you like and register. My thought is if needed I have ran a single A/c at home on a 20 amp in my garage. I thought if both grounds were tied together, the 30 amp ground would suffice.

You might do that on a 20 amp with no other load but do you know if the pedestal has a 20 amp or is it a 15 amp?

As for the ground, if you think about it every receptacle in the park's power distribution panel/subpanels should all be bonded to the same ground. The adapter you referenced should have both the 30 amp side and the 15 amp side bonded to the same ground. The trailer's distribution panel has one grounding buss with all grounds bonded to the incoming ground. SO bottom line, it's just one big happy earth ground and all the circuits are connected to the same ground. If you remove the ground pin from the 15 amp plug by default it will still be grounded to the same place via the 30 amp plug.

The GFI works by monitoring the current of the line and the neutral. If there is an imbalance between the 2 it interrupts the circuit. It takes very little imbalance to trip it (4 or 5 milliamps) and it acts quickly. The ampere imbalance or "loss of power" is interpreted as that power going somewhere other than from the line to the neutral like a human to ground (such as if you cut the power cord with a saw or overloading the outlet and creating heat in the outlet or cord).

Long explanation to get to this point but having the ground connected on both plugs should not pose a problem. Operating the circuit over loaded will cause a problem and the GFI will trip before the circuit breaker does.

[tech740]

That makes sense. I thought it sensed an additional ground not through the plug. I guess we will see how it works. I do know the pedestals are worked for 20 amp and the adapted is 10/3 wire so it’s heavy enough. It has the standard 15 amp orientation on the blades on that adapter end.

[flybouy]

That makes sense. I thought it sensed an additional ground not through the plug. I guess we will see how it works. I do know the pedestals are worked for 20 amp and the adapted is 10/3 wire so it’s heavy enough. It has the standard 15 amp orientation on the blades on that adapter end.

The 30 amp side of the adapter is 10/3 wire but I'll bet the other plug being 15 amp is only 14/3. If you try running 20 amps thru it you will overheat it and/or possibly melt it or set it on fire.

[Customer1]

Removing the ground is a bad idea in general but a wasted effort for what you are doing, it won't matter.

A GFCI measures the balance between the hot and the neutral. Your 50a service has one neutral and two hots. The GFCI you plug into will sense the imbalance and trip.