Has anyone done the 220V change on their 10K generator? Any issues/problems with it? How long have you had it done?
According to Power Tech mine can be changed over. The main reason is we are Fulltime and the 110v dryer is just not cutting it even when plugged in.
Morning Bruce,
My coach had a stacked washer/dryer (220v) when I bought it.
Wife would do a load of wash before I unhooked. An hour before we arrived at the next destination I would start the generator, turn on the front air and start the dryer. Worked great.
Has anyone tried the 120v to 220v converters for the washer/dryer?
I don't think there is any cost to change from 120v to 240v. Think it's just a wiring change at the voltage regulator but I wouldn't do anything until I had clear instructions from Power Tech.
Have your generator S/N in hand when you call them.
Bruce, If you modified your Generator to 220v and installed a 220v dryer, wouldn't you have problems if you ever go into a campground and used their standard RV 50 amp service?
Is there a workaround?
Should be no problem. You would just use a duplex breaker in the main 120 VAC breaker box that has a breaker on L1 and one on L2.
Same as in a stick and brick house.
As Brett said, a properly wired 220V outlet is 2 120v legs on different phases. Same as your house
My previous coach had a 220 volt generator. It duplicated the 50 amp plugin as having 2 opposing legs of 120 volts.
The only downside I feel in having a 220 volt coach is when on 30 amp or less with only 1 leg of 120 volts. Then if you have any 220 volt appliances they won't work. Possibly a 220 volt dryer may work but much slower.
I thought there was something different in the way an RV 50 amp outlet and a normal 220v outlet are wired.
I will take y'all word for it that it will work, cause I am not an electrician
NOPE, 100% the same. Two hots (L1 and L2), neutral and ground.
That one's the same, it's the 30 amp one that can get you in trouble. Most residential electricians are more familiar with the old 240V 30 amp setup than the 120V 30 amp RV connection.
RV Electric (https://www.myrv.us/electric/)
When plugged into a 30 amp pedestal and using a dogbone adapter, both the L1 and L2 legs are connected together and supplied with 120 volts. So, any 240 volt appliances will not be harmed, but will see 0 volts across L1 and L2 and not be usable.
(http://www.foreforums.com/MGalleryItem.php?id=4812)
They will take the 30 Amp 120 volt and miss wire it to 240 volts. When you plug your coach into that plug you will be lucky in having to replace all of your electrical items with new
Exactly (and with no ground)
Just to help clarify, you can think of the 30 amp hot leg of the park receptacle being split to L1 and L2 of a 30 to 50 dogbone. So instead of 2 50 amp legs of power, you are sharing a 30 amp leg between both mains in your coach.
But the question being asked in this topic is related to 50 amp service, not 30 amp. The question is if one wires the generator to provide true 240 V output so you can run a 240V household clothes dryer, does that mess anything up when you later plug into an RV park's 50 amp. It doesn't.
The thing that is the fly in the ointment on this project will be the voltage regulator. The OEM voltage regulator only works on the single leg output. When you separate the leg into 2 to get 220 your the voltage regulator will be still be looking at 1 leg not both. This means you will need to keep the 2 legs balanced by watching what load you have on each leg. You may be able to change voltage regulators to make it work like it does now.
Mike
I'll need to get In touch with Powertech to see what gives.
240-volt generators have a disadvantage in that their individual legs should not be greatly out of balance at any one when it comes to amp-loads. Shore power is highly balanced at generating stations.
120-volt generators do not need to be leg balanced as both legs are combined inside generator and both legs equally share loads, but neutral wire and transfer switch point can be overloaded