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50amp to 30

October 19, 2013, 12:37:11 pm

Need to use 30 amp plug in at hospital. I have the pigtail. Do I need to change any setting on the silver leaf. Also can I use two 30s to a 50

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Re: 50amp to 30

Reply #1 – October 19, 2013, 01:50:36 pm

Gerard,

With a 30 male to 50 female, everything in the coach will work-- up to the 30 amp total draw, of course.

Don't see it affecting Silverleaf, but it would be a good idea to reprogram your inverter/charger to the lowest "power save/power share" setting-- generally 5 amps @120 VAC.  That will leave you more amps for other things while the batteries are being initially charged.

Brett

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Re: 50amp to 30

Reply #2 – October 19, 2013, 04:11:31 pm

Gerard, Brett provides the best and most conservative advice. I live a bit "closer to the edge." Several times we have plugged to 30 amp outlet using the 30 A male to 50 A female pigtail. I've never changed any settings and not tripped any breakers so far. We do try to be a bit more conservative on our use of electric appliances, and we don't even attempt to run two air conditioners at the same time on 30 A hookup.

My coach came with a device to combine two 30 A circuits to provide a 50 A female outlet for the coach. I've never used it and don't expect to use it. With a bit of prudence, you can do OK on the 30 A hookup. If you need more power for a short period of time, fire up the generator. When we were in a campground with 30 A electricity and daytime temperatures, we ran the generator during the day so we could run both air conditioners, and did fine on the 30 A hookup at night.

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Re: 50amp to 30

Reply #3 – October 19, 2013, 04:31:55 pm

If you have both a 30 and a 15/20, you can use an extension cord to supply something-- easy if the appliance is set up using a plug. Example: refrigerator, some water heater 120 VAC elements, etc.

If the 15/20 outlet is to recent code, you can not use a "cheater" that takes a 30 and 20 and "makes" a 50 because the 15/20 should be on a GFI outlet and the cheater will trip it.

Brett

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Re: 50amp to 30

Reply #4 – October 19, 2013, 04:39:00 pm

Thanks all I have both a 50 female to 30 male and also the adapter with two male 30s to a 50 female.  If the two 30s are on different legs then I will be good to go and if not I will run off 30.  Brett, Mark has to have back surgery on Monday at Children's Hospital in New Orleans and that is what I need all of this for.  Thanks again.

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Re: 50amp to 30

Reply #5 – October 19, 2013, 05:53:49 pm

Gerard,

Good luck to Mark in New Orleans.

Even if the two 30's are on the same leg, your adapter will still work just fine.  The only limitation is that you do not want to exceed 50 amps total usage if on the same leg, as it could overload the neutral.  This is as opposed to 100 amps available on normal 50 amp RV service.

Brett

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Re: 50amp to 30

Reply #6 – October 19, 2013, 06:06:07 pm

Good luck on the surgery.  I had back surgery in aug of 11.  Watch your power and I think on your coach you tell the Silverleaf that you are on 30 amps. It is primarily for the charger I think though the new coaches now are putting in load shedding.

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Re: 50amp to 30

Reply #7 – October 20, 2013, 01:03:11 pm

Gerald, Good luck with the surgery, I have had back surgery four times and its no picnic.  Best advice I can give is to listen to Doctor and take the pain meds as prescribed.  I always have to think I am a hero and can endure the pain, and I am always wrong.
Gary B

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Re: 50amp to 30

Reply #8 – October 20, 2013, 02:21:02 pm

Best of luck with your back surgery.  I had mine five years ago this November.  Like Gary said get all the pain meds you can get and then get more and use them.  I made the mistake of leaving the hospital a day or so early because I wanted to get out.  I still had a drain in place that was still draining.  They took it out and closed it up.  Extra pressure meant more pain.  An extra day would have helped.  All in all, best thing I could have done.  I can still walk.

Roger

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Re: 50amp to 30

Reply #9 – October 20, 2013, 02:28:53 pm

The combination of two 30 amp shore power plugs to provide power to a 50amp
OEM power cord may not work. It depends on how the shore power plugs are wired.

If, where you are plugging in has "ground fault" breakers, you will find that connecting two 30amp shore power plugs into a 50 amp adaptor will trip both 30 amp shore power breakers. This is because, while there are actually two 50 amp hot leads (a red and a black for a total of 100 amps) with the (very heavy, yellow) Foretravel power cord, there is only one neutral wire (white). Connecting neutral wires from two shore power plugs is not really a "ground fault" but is detected as one.

To mitigate this situation, to the wiring connecting the AC power panel to the utility bay adaptor, I have added a second neutral wire. I also seperated the black neutral wires from the red neutral wires inside the AC panel under the bed.  I then installed two seperate 30 amp connectors to my coach so that I can use two 30 amp "ground fault" power cords and have each cord provide 30 amp power to one of the hots (red or black). This cannot be done when using the big yellow OEM 50amp power cord.

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