30 amp plugged into 50 amp, main breaker pops

[BadmanRick]

Just a suggestion. We have the same problem. So when my wife uses the hair dryer or our toaster we shut off the airconditioner. This stops the main breaker from tripping. Hope this helps.

[coop341]

I’ve never looked that closely at a 50 AMP breaker, but I believe what others have said is true that 50 amps is just 2 legs of 120VAC, which would tell me that each leg is 25 AMP. My guess is the 30A to 50A adapter is only connecting 1 leg of the 50A to your cable. If any one leg exceeds 25A on that 50A breaker, it should pop. Add the fact that the more a breaker is popped, the easier it is to pop it, they “wear” out.

[66joej]

Actually I believe 50 amps is 2 legs of a 220 volt service making a total of 100 amps. I stand to be corrected as I'm not an electrician.

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by coop341

I’ve never looked that closely at a 50 AMP breaker, but I believe what others have said is true that 50 amps is just 2 legs of 120VAC, which would tell me that each leg is 25 AMP. My guess is the 30A to 50A adapter is only connecting 1 leg of the 50A to your cable. If any one leg exceeds 25A on that 50A breaker, it should pop. Add the fact that the more a breaker is popped, the easier it is to pop it, they “wear” out.

The 50A is 2 separate legs of 120VAC giving you 100A or 12K watts. The adapter takes ONE of the 50A legs and splits it going into the trailer so that you don't have 1/2 of the 120V outlets/appliances not working. It is VERY easy to blow a 30A breaker in a 50A trailer using an adapter if you're not watching what you are doing - they are 2 very different animals.

[xrated]

Originally Posted by coop341

I’ve never looked that closely at a 50 AMP breaker, but I believe what others have said is true that 50 amps is just 2 legs of 120VAC, which would tell me that each leg is 25 AMP. My guess is the 30A to 50A adapter is only connecting 1 leg of the 50A to your cable. If any one leg exceeds 25A on that 50A breaker, it should pop. Add the fact that the more a breaker is popped, the easier it is to pop it, they “wear” out.

Nope....the 50A amp service is 50A on EACH leg, for a total of 100 amps at 120 volts. That's 12,000 watts, vs the 30 amp service which is just one leg of 120 volts, for a total of 3600 watts. So the 50 amp service will provide over three times the available amperage of what the 30A service will provide to you.

[Old Mustanger]

You have some serious tripping going on if you can wear out a circuit breaker

[flybouy]

Originally Posted by Old Mustanger

You have some serious tripping going on if you can wear out a circuit breaker

Roger that! I've seen them wear out from people using them to turn lights on and off (in the retail and resturant buisness when I was a director of construction) but that took years of daily use.

[n4qpcham]

Everyone seems to be forgetting something: an electrical breaker does not give its fully rated amperage on output. Most will trip at 80% capacity, or 24A for a 30A breaker and 40A for a 50A breaker. Better recalculate those watts!

[xrated]

Originally Posted by Kathy & Jerry

Everyone seems to be forgetting something: an electrical breaker does not give its fully rated amperage on output. Most will trip at 80% capacity, or 24A for a 30A breaker and 40A for a 50A breaker. Better recalculate those watts!

That 80% capacity is also rated for a "continuous load". A continuous load is considered to be a circuit loaded to capacity for Three or more hours.