50 Amp Power Maximizer

[Roberson4]

Does anyone have/use these? Are they safe? We go to a park that does not have a 50 amp hook up. I am about to add a second air to our 5ver, and was thinking this may be a good adapter to get.

The 50 amp power maximizer has a 30 amp male plug and a 15/20 amp male plug on one end. The other end has one female 50 amp plug.

I did see one customer review that said if the 15/20 amp receptical is a GFCI that this adapter would not work. Said that the GFCI would trip.

[Johnnyfry]

The problem is the fact that virtually all power posts have a GFCI on the 20 amp outlet. Because the 30 and 20 amp share a common neutral through the 50 amp cable to the trailer, the GFCI will trip out.

There 2 ways around this:
1. Use an isolation transformer on the 20 amp outlet. This is impractical for several reasons: transformers are big and heavy and they are expensive.

2. Run a 20 amp extension cord into the trailer and use it directly to power part of the load without interfacing with the AC panel. While this would work fine for the coffee maker or toaster oven it would not be too practical for the Air Conditioner unless you fitted it with a household cord and plug, it certainly could be done but it would be a lot of hassle for the times you wanted to use 2 AC units.

IMHO
John

[Roberson4]

Thanks for the answer John. Not what I wanted to hear, but what I expected I would hear.

Thanks,
Paul

[Johnnyfry]

Paul, I have used the extension cord route to allow me to use appliances and AC when I was on 30 amps and it works well. A 50 foot 10/3 extension Is about $90 from Home Depot.

John

[Roberson4]

Thanks for the info John.

Is 30 amp normally enough to run both AC units with nothing else running?

[Festus2]

When you say "nothing else running", don't forget to include the converter which draws about 5-8 amps as well as the fridge and HW tank if you are hooked up and not using propane to operate the fridge and heat the HW tank. One A/C, the converter and the HW (running on 110v) will draw too much amperage on a 30A circuit to also have a second AC running.
You would probably need to do as Johnnyfry did and run a separate, heavy duty extension cord to operate anything else like small appliances.

[whitebb]

50 Amps works and you don't need to do all of these things.

[mikell]

Get a power monitoe to make sure your voltage doesn't get too low. This has readout for voltage and you can plug things in to see what the wattage is. They are quite accurate we us them in out labs at work

http://www.mcmelectronics.com/produc...LAID=220321019

[Roberson4]

Originally Posted by Festus2

When you say "nothing else running", don't forget to include the converter which draws about 5-8 amps as well as the fridge and HW tank if you are hooked up and not using propane to operate the fridge and heat the HW tank. One A/C, the converter and the HW (running on 110v) will draw too much amperage on a 30A circuit to also have a second AC running.
You would probably need to do as Johnnyfry did and run a separate, heavy duty extension cord to operate anything else like small appliances.

Ahh. I always forget about the converter. Thanks for the info.

[Roberson4]

Originally Posted by whitebb

50 Amps works and you don't need to do all of these things.

Yes, 50 amps works great if available. 50 amps is not always available. Therefor the reason for the discussion. If 50 amps is not available you MAY have to do these things.

[Roberson4]

Originally Posted by mikell

Get a power monitoe to make sure your voltage doesn't get too low. This has readout for voltage and you can plug things in to see what the wattage is. They are quite accurate we us them in out labs at work

http://www.mcmelectronics.com/produc...LAID=220321019

I have a plug in volt meter in our camper at all times. I also have a kil-O-watt meter I use with our Christmas lights display. Thanks for reminding me it has other uses.