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Old 11-14-2020, 06:40 PM   #1
Vinnie
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Plugging in at home

Before I call the electrician, I think I can puzzle this one out with a bit of guidance. There's a decent shed in my back forty with a 50amp plug inside, but I'm fairly sure it's the wrong kind, and certainly not grounded as required for the RV. I think I can just put the correct kind of receptacle on, and with a long enough extension cord (which will be more than 50' if that's not going to create a rift in space-time), I can get the rig plugged in for full parked functionality. Do I just get a plug that matches the shore power configuration, with a matching extension cord(s)?

Ideally, for now, I just want to charge the crappy compact car battery the dealer installed, operate the jacks and slides, and use some tools while we prep it for travel.

Attached pic- front and back of the existing plug, and the breaker box. Circled breakers are dual-30amp- is that the configuration I want to see for a usable shore plugin?

Bonus question: there has to be a better option than that dinky car battery for house power. I saw in another thread somebody mention dual 6v batteries. Is that good without solar, and please show me an example wiring diagram so I can get them installed myself.

Bonus bonus: it's bad to just leave it plugged in for months, right?

Thanks!
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Old 11-14-2020, 06:56 PM   #2
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I’m not an electrician but that looks like a 220 plug, maybe for a welder.

50A RV plug will have 2 legs of 110 and as such will have 4 wires. I wouldn’t plug your rig into that outlet, call a local electrician and have him/her change the plug, breakers and wiring.
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Old 11-14-2020, 07:13 PM   #3
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Wrong plug, wrong size wire (so it appears) and 30 Amp instead of 50. Don't know if that's a sub panel or not or what it's ampacity is. Don't cheap out, call an electrician and have an outlet installed closer to the camper . Take a look at the cost for a 50 Amp extension cord, they ain't cheap.

Why would you want to risk your health/life, and possibly doing thousands of dollars in damages to the trailer to save a couple of hundred dollars. Dual 6 v batteries would need to be connected in series. Search the internet and you'll find plenty of diagrams.
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Old 11-14-2020, 07:21 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chuckster57 View Post
I’m not an electrician but that looks like a 220 plug, maybe for a welder.

50A RV plug will have 2 legs of 110 and as such will have 4 wires. I wouldn’t plug your rig into that outlet, call a local electrician and have him/her change the plug, breakers and wiring.
If your not familiar with wiring the correct plug or breaker hire a electrician.
It will not hurt a thing to leave it plugged in full-time, just be sure to check the water in the battery cells, once you have the proper battery, regularly topping off with distilled water.
As for the battery be sure to get a true deep cycle battery, it should not have CCA/CA listed on it, with the highest aH (amp hour) rating you can find. A group 27 or 31 12 volt will be good choices, AGMs if you don't want to worry about checking water levels.
If 2- 6 volts are chosen be sure to get a couple of good golf cart type batteries & wire them in series. For 2 - 6 volts in series means to connect the + of battery #1 to the buss of the rv, the - of battery #1 connects to the + of battery #2, the - of #2 goes to the ground.
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Old 11-14-2020, 07:24 PM   #5
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It says right on the plug "50A-250V" and there's a fourth wire (ground) that's just not connected. Can't tell you what gauge the wire is, as I didn't pull the Romex out that far, but it's way heavier than the typical 110V stuff.

Edit: it was always the plan to change the plug, simply wanted confirmation that the dual-30amp breaker and the 4-conductor wiring was right for the preferred shore plug.

I get your point about spending the money and doing it right, just wasn't looking forward to building even this little bit of infrastructure before tearing it all down again soon to build a proper barn where I can have real hookups, dump, and not have to worry too much about winterizing. Ideal for folks like us who prefer to travel when the days are shorter.
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Old 11-14-2020, 07:26 PM   #6
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Your 50A needs need to be addressed appropriately. Depending on the panel you can run a 50A double pole breaker to feed your 50A plug. What you are looking at is wrong. As was pointed out it sure looks like the wiring is too small. If you ran 6 gauge wiring to feed the RV plug 50-60' away THEN try to run an extension cord you are looking at problems. Get the electrician...bad things happen when your try to take shortcuts with power.
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Old 11-14-2020, 07:36 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Vinnie View Post
It says right on the plug "50A-250V" and there's a fourth wire (ground) that's just not connected. Can't tell you what gauge the wire is, as I didn't pull the Romex out that far, but it's way heavier than the typical 110V stuff.

Edit: it was always the plan to change the plug, simply wanted confirmation that the dual-30amp breaker and the 4-conductor wiring was right for the preferred shore plug.

I get your point about spending the money and doing it right, just wasn't looking forward to building even this little bit of infrastructure before tearing it all down again soon to build a proper barn where I can have real hookups, dump, and not have to worry too much about winterizing. Ideal for folks like us who prefer to travel when the days are shorter.
You can get a 50 to 15 adapter for your trailer. That way you can charge the battery, turn on lights using a heavy extension cord until you build a new building. Just remember no AC or water heater on 110.
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Old 11-14-2020, 07:39 PM   #8
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Yeah I've already got all the dogbones for 110. Can I operate the jacks and slides on 110/15?
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Old 11-14-2020, 07:42 PM   #9
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Originally Posted by Vinnie View Post
Yeah I've already got all the dogbones for 110. Can I operate the jacks and slides on 110/15?
I do at the shop.
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Old 11-14-2020, 07:46 PM   #10
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OK thanks y'all!
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Old 11-14-2020, 08:10 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chuckster57 View Post
I’m not an electrician but that looks like a 220 plug, maybe for a welder.

50A RV plug will have 2 legs of 110 and as such will have 4 wires. I wouldn’t plug your rig into that outlet, call a local electrician and have him/her change the plug, breakers and wiring.
All 240 plugs in the US are 2 120 volt legs. it's called split phase. Same as you house. same as your 240 range.

50 amp RV 120/240. 30 amp RV 120 volts.


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Old 11-14-2020, 08:17 PM   #12
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Yeah I've already got all the dogbones for 110. Can I operate the jacks and slides on 110/15?
You're mixing up voltage with amperage and ac with DC. All the voltage in the panel are 110 v ac. The difference is in the Amp rating of the breakers and the size of the wire that connects the breaker to the outlet.

The slides and jacks run on 12v DC. The "110" operates the converter which charges the battery. You need a fully charged battery as te converter will not supply enough amperage to operate the slides and jacks on it's own. Connecting the trailer to a 15 Amp outlet via dogbone connectors will run the converter just fine but will not operate the water heater element, or the air conditioner, or any other high amperage load lie a space heater.
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Old 11-14-2020, 08:51 PM   #13
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Looking at the wiring on the back of the plug in post #1, you have 240 volts between the black and the red wire and 120 volts between the black wire and the white wire and 120 volts between the red wire and the white wire. That is a typical 240 volt outlet (think dryer or electric range plug). Depending on how your "adapter plug" is wired, you could wind up with 240 volts to your 120 trailer plug.... Additionally, there is a neutral but no ground on that plug, so using an adapter, you won't have a "grounded trailer" only a neutral to protect the entire system....

I wouldn't plug my trailer into that plug wired as it currently is wired. Depending on how your adapter plug is wired, you risk burning up the electrical system in your trailer (if you put 2240 volts to the trailer input shore power plug. Even if your adapter is wired to only apply 120 volts, you're still missing the ground and could have a "hot skin trailer" .....

That plug is not suitable, as it's currently wired, to power an RV.
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Old 11-14-2020, 09:41 PM   #14
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Let's be clear- I was never going to plug my RV into the existing 50A outlet, as it's currently wired. I'm no electrician, but I'm not a complete moron, and even the manual says THOU SHALT NOT PLUG INTO NON-GROUNDED SERVICE, and I can clearly see that pretty copper ground wire just floating there, so... yeah. The idea was to correctly wire an appropriate outlet to the existing 50A circuit and use that, but the esteemed elders here have convinced me that even that is ill advised.

The shed is also wired with ample "normal" AC receptacles, wired to 15A or 20A circuits, as you can see from the pic of my panel. I'll just use my dogbones to reduce to 15A and run my big ol' 100 foot cord to charge the battery. If that's enough to operate slides, jacks, and the 12v stuff in the camper, we're good. Just didn't want to constantly run the generator when I don't have to.
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Old 11-14-2020, 10:35 PM   #15
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Vinnie the plug is inappropriate. Wire in a regular RV 50A plug correctly before you start using dogbones to reduce to 15/20A - you have no ground.

As far as 100' extension cords running the trailer - depending on what you try to run you can have trouble due to the resistance of such a long cord and the heat/loss it generates.
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Old 11-15-2020, 12:51 AM   #16
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Vinnie the plug is inappropriate.
You're trolling me, right? Don't know that I could have explained any more clearly that I'm NOT PLANNING TO USE THE PICTURED PLUG FOR ANYTHING, EVER.

Using dogbones to reduce to a regular old residential typical every day plug, and plug into a regular old every day residential outlet, just to charge the battery which is dead as a doornail, is ok, right? I'm not going to create a black hole and suck half of Tennessee into it just to get my slides out once in a while, yeah?
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Old 11-15-2020, 04:41 AM   #17
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Vinnie, your "I'm not going to create a black hole and suck half of Tennessee into it"hopefully isn't true. Having lived here for more than 50 years I can furnish you an entire list of places to start. Can you start with the Shelby County Clerks Office and head to the tax assessor?
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Old 11-15-2020, 05:27 AM   #18
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Can I suggest that you get a 10/3 20A cord if you are running 100ft. The male plug end should look just a bit different than a normal 110 extension cord...one of the prongs is sideways (20 A outlet plug). Additionally it should come with its own adapter to allow that plug to go into a 15A outlet.

It should provide you peace of mind to do what you want with that distance.

I use that with an ems, rv power cord and dog bones at home. Additionally I can run every aspect of the electrical (one item at a time) and get an idea of their electrical draw (I happen to have a 20A outlet as the source).
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Old 11-15-2020, 06:17 AM   #19
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I just had an electrician change a 220vac hot tub outlet to a 120vac 30 amp RV plug and it only cost $200, parts and labor. Cheap for the piece of mind of not risking fire or damage to the house or TT.
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Old 11-15-2020, 06:47 AM   #20
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I had no problems wiring my 2 original 30 amp RV outlets. But when we got the 50 amp fifth wheel, I purchased the RV box I wanted, and then hired an electrician. They used 6 guage wire from the main panel splitter (which split the power to the house and the un-attached garage). Now, it's split 3 ways, one to the house, one to the dis-attched garage, and one to the RV box. The RV box has all 3 plugs, 20, 30, 50 amp for all three types of service. In addition, I will have the original 30 amp box on the other end of the garage, which never gets used now.

My suggestion, hire an electrician and have it installed. You also might consider the 20-30-50 amp RV box also, as it has it's own set of breakers right at the box, and when plugging and unplugging you won't have to run back to the circuit breaker box to flip the switch every time.



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