Electrical help...
- Thread starter Neil09
- Start date
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Yes, the fridge draws a rather small amount. The problem comes in when the wife decides to go out and clean it for the weekend trip and it is hot. "I'll just turn the AC on for a few minutes to cool it down" turns into melted wiring, damaged AC or worse.
That probably won't happen. I am sure it is protected by a circuit breaker. Many times my wife is cleaning it with the refrig, one AC and a vacuum cleaner on and never trips the breaker. We sometimes have guest spend the night in ours and run the AC for them. The main power draw is the microwave and the heat strip in the AC. Even with the 5.5 KW generator running and the AC's and microwave on my wife will decide to cook using a crock pot or some other electrical cooking devise and trip the breaker. If you plan on living it it for some reason then go ahead and install a 30 Amp 230 volt supply. Other than that, all you really need is 15 amp receptacle and an extension cord.
I can only run the 2 two roof AC s with the generator running or 230 volt shore power. On shore power there is a selector switch for either the front or rear AC, I can only run one AC plugged into shore power unless it is 230 volts. You can only run either the front or the back plugged into 110 volts, the two AC's are on separate 110v circuits.
The issue isn't in the camper it is the length of the run from the shed to the camper. He said he has a 30 amp panel in the shed and the distance is only a few feet to the camper. I assume the 30 amp is 230 volt line side and two 15 amp load side.
I can only run the 2 two roof AC s with the generator running or 230 volt shore power. On shore power there is a selector switch for either the front or rear AC, I can only run one AC plugged into shore power unless it is 230 volts. You can only run either the front or the back plugged into 110 volts, the two AC's are on separate 110v circuits.
The issue isn't in the camper it is the length of the run from the shed to the camper. He said he has a 30 amp panel in the shed and the distance is only a few feet to the camper. I assume the 30 amp is 230 volt line side and two 15 amp load side.
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Circuit breakers do not protect against low voltage, only over amperage. The cord will fry before tripping a 30a breaker.
A camper with 2 ac units will be a 50a 120v unit, not 240vac.
A microwave averages 1000-1300 watt draw, a roof ac unit can pull a lot more.
Plugging in a 30amp rv plug into a standard 15a duplex receptacle is just a bad idea all around for anything more than keeping the fridge running.
A 12ga wire will not support 30 amps.
a 30amp 240vac breaker can be broken off to 2 30a 120v lines, it is 30a per pole, either way it will melt a 12ga cord before tripping the breaker.
DO what you want, you asked for advice and it was given. I will stand by a 12ga cord (or 12ga romex) of any length being well undersized for a camper.
A camper with 2 ac units will be a 50a 120v unit, not 240vac.
A microwave averages 1000-1300 watt draw, a roof ac unit can pull a lot more.
Plugging in a 30amp rv plug into a standard 15a duplex receptacle is just a bad idea all around for anything more than keeping the fridge running.
A 12ga wire will not support 30 amps.
a 30amp 240vac breaker can be broken off to 2 30a 120v lines, it is 30a per pole, either way it will melt a 12ga cord before tripping the breaker.
DO what you want, you asked for advice and it was given. I will stand by a 12ga cord (or 12ga romex) of any length being well undersized for a camper.
I didn't say anything about running the whole camper on a 15 amp 110 volt receptacle. He doesn't need a 30 amp 110 volt circuit to run his fridge all he needs is is 15 amp 110 volts. He probably has a 30 amp 230 volt pane with 2 15 amp 115 V breakers feeding two or more 110 volt 15 amp receptacles in the shed. That is all he needs to run the fridge, he's protected by the 15 amp 110 V breakers in his shed. If he wants to run the whole camper he needs a 30 amp 230 V receptacle and appreciate size wiring to plug the camper into..
I'm pretty sure I didn't ask whar I needed to run my whole camper. Actually I'm more than sure I specifically said I'm running my refrigerator only. According to the sites provided, 12g is fine for what I need. Thanks
Thats a very common mistake with campers. Ive been called out more times than I can remeber because someone fried a bunch of appliances in their camper hooking them up to 240v.
