Foretravel Owners' Forum

Foretravel Motorhome Forums => Foretravel Tech Talk => Topic started by: jhardman on November 20, 2020, 10:39:47 am

Title: Smart Plug
Post by: jhardman on November 20, 2020, 10:39:47 am
My coach has a Smart Plug connection to hook to shore power.

I have a 50 amp yellow power cord with female smart plug on end and native male 50 amp prongs on the other.

I also have a 30 amp power cord with a  female Smart Plug on one end to plug in to the coach and 30 amp male prongs on the other end.

Proactively because some of the joints at neck etc, I wanted to buy new power cords. One 50 amp and one 30 amp, both with smart plug connections.

United RV says that what I'm saying isn't possible.

He says my only option is to use the 50 amp power cord and dog bone the park side connection.

Now guys, I know I use the 30 amp cord especially in the fall and winter when I don't want to wrestle the yellow octopus.

Do any of you have same set up? Am I really creating a fire hazard? I think they either don't understand what I have, the smart plug models have changed, or they don't know what they're talking about on a Foretravel.

What do y'all say?
Title: Re: Smart Plug
Post by: John S on November 20, 2020, 10:44:13 am
I had a 30 amp Marinco yellow power cord with the regular connection to the coach and 30amp male end. It was great t use in the cold when the 50 amp cord was hard to deal with, especially if  we only had 30 amp available. 
Title: Re: Smart Plug
Post by: jhardman on November 20, 2020, 10:52:35 am
They tell me it's either a 30 amp coach or a 50 amp coach, and that's true, but it can work on 30 amp service,

I tell them I can choose when no or only one ac is necessary.

They tell me the only way is to use  50 amp cord and dog bone down at power pole end of cord.
Title: Re: Smart Plug
Post by: Old Toolmaker on November 20, 2020, 02:04:40 pm
They tell me it's either a 30 amp coach or a 50 amp coach, and that's true, but it can work on 30 amp service,

I tell them I can choose when no or only one ac is necessary.

They tell me the only way is to use  50 amp cord and dog bone down at power pole end of cord.

Just to clarify here; you have a thinner lighter 30A cord with the 30 male RV wired end and a 50A socket with the single hot lead jumperd to both 50A hot pins?  The same way it would be in a 30-50 dog bone?
Title: Re: Smart Plug
Post by: Michelle on November 20, 2020, 02:11:08 pm
They tell me it's either a 30 amp coach or a 50 amp coach, and that's true, but it can work on 30 amp service,

I tell them I can choose when no or only one ac is necessary.

They tell me the only way is to use  50 amp cord and dog bone down at power pole end of cord.

TBH, going with the 50 amp Smart Plug cord and a 50 to 30 dog bone adapter is the most cost-effective option.  It has to cost less than 2 separate cords.

Where did you acquire this custom 50 amp Smart Plug to 30 amp male shoreline cord?  It sounds homemade.
Title: Re: Smart Plug
Post by: TheBrays on November 20, 2020, 10:55:18 pm
What Jhardman has is a special dog-bone I constructed.

I cut the female 50 amp connector off a regular 30-50 amp adapter (dog bone) and replaced it with a female 50 amp Smart Plug. (note: changed text - not Hubble but regular 50 amp female)
I wanted to get the 30 amp cord's connection into the water bay out of the weather. I could have put the Smart plug on the end of a 30 amp cord but I didn't want a 30' dog-bone.

As you know, a 30 male to 50 female adapter ties the hot wire from the 30 amp side to both hots on the 50 amp side.
It has to do this because the coach wiring is expecting two hot lines coming in in the 125/250 receptacle.
Again, you obviously don't  get 50 amp service but in this case all 30 amps or 50 amps means is how much electricity you can use before bad things happen
Title: Re: Smart Plug
Post by: jhardman on November 20, 2020, 11:19:19 pm
And it's fabulous! Thank you Elliott and Mary!

I knew I wasn't crazy!

What Jhardman has is a special dog-bone I constructed.

I cut the twist-lock Hubble connector off a regular 30-50 amp adapter (dog bone) and replaced it with a female 50 amp Smart Plug.
I wanted to get the 30 amp cord's connection into the water bay out of the weather. I could have put the Smart plug on the end of a 30 amp cord but I didn't want a 30' dog-bone.

As you know, a 30 male to 50 female adapter ties the hot wire from the 30 amp side to both hots on the 50 amp side.
It has to do this because the coach wiring is expecting two hot lines coming in in the 125/250 receptacle.
Again, you obviously don't  get 50 amp service but in this case all 30 amps or 50 amps means is how much electricity you can use before bad things happen
Title: Re: Smart Plug
Post by: Michelle on November 21, 2020, 09:11:12 am
What Jhardman has is a special dog-bone I constructed.


Ah, so this confirms it is not an off-the-shelf item and one needs to construct it (properly) if one wants one.
Title: Re: Smart Plug
Post by: Barry & Cindy on November 21, 2020, 06:34:27 pm
Looks like you have your answers. We use SmartPlug and think it is one of the better and safer improvements we have made.

If your "joints at the neck" are a problem on the 30 amp SmartPlug end, you could see how your custom modified cable end is wired, cut back the insulation to eliminate the "joints" problem and rewire the 50 amp female SmartPlug to the 30-amp cable or use electrical tape around the cable.

SmartPlug sells a nice long flexible 50-amp pre-made cable with female SmartPlug and campground male end. We have this cable and like it.

Buy the plastic female-end covers, same cover for 30-amp & 50-amp SmartPlug. They keep dirt and danger from getting into the end.

For a new 30 amp shore cable, you could buy a regular 30-amp extension cable, cut off female end, and wire to a 50-amp female SmartPlug.

For flexibility, you could create a short #10-wire cable with 50-amp female Smartplug and 30-amp campground male. Buy regular 30-amp RV cables. Plug in your new short cable to connect shore power to your coach. This way you could use 1, 2 or 3, 25-ft 30 amp RV cables as needed to reach campground electric box. We plug in our short cable to extension within the secure bay location behind locked compartment door.