Shore Power Connections

[atamians]

I'm trying to figure out the electrical components involved with the main power feed to our RV

It's a 1986 Beaver Marquis 36' Class A DP - 6500W Onan Genset.

The 50A receptacle on the side is fine and the Genset works fine. In the engine compartment there is an electrical box with a couple of circuit breakers in it (Labeled Main Power Cord). It appears the Genset power runs straight through the Auto-Transfer switch then into the coach. It also looks like the shore power runs through the Main Power Cord Box and then into the Auto-Transfer and Coach.

There are also two 15A "Male End" 120 cords that come out of the bottom of the Main Power Cord box. The white wire from each of these cords are tied to the white from the Shore Power receptacle and the blacks are just wire nutted and not connected to anything. Are these designed so I can plug two extension cords into these as long as they run from separate 15A circuits and I'm not connected to the standard shore power receptacle?

If these blacks were connected, wouldn't the blades be hot when connected to shore power? They don't currently have a cap on them.

Thanks

Chris

 

[ironart]

Re: Shore Power Connections

Hi Chris and Welcome....My Son lives in or near Denver....How's the weather..???

To answer your question......YES those prongs will be HOT if you connect the capped wires to the black wires in the box.. as well as the male ends on your shore power plug if you decide to use the 20 amp plugs to power your coach .....The automatic transfer switch in the coach SHOULD cut off the power from the generator, that might back feed the cord. The 2 plugs were intended to be an auxiliary Shore power.....probably from his house when the unit is parked at home. It would have been better if he had made some sort of adapter that plugged into the shore power plug but you have what you have...... Personally I would disconnect the 2- 20amp plugs and just let the shore power cord go through the box, unaltered.

If you feel the need to run 220VAC to the coach from a "Rube Goldberg" connection from 2 cords from your home.....then do it at the Shore Power plug with a special "Rube Goldberg" connection..

 

[atamians]

Re: Shore Power Connections

Thanks for the input Ironart. The weather here in Denver has been pretty nice. Have had the RV out almost every weekend although it sure was much colder today.

The reason I started looking into this is to provide some shore power while parked in front of the house. I figure I have two choices. Run a 50A or 30A receptacle for me to plug into or figure out how to connect to a standard 15A receptacle. The 50 or 30 receptacle would seen the easiest, but for me, it would require a sub panel.

I do have a power cord with the standard 50A plug on the end, I also have a 30A adapter for use on the same cord. Lastly I have an adapter the 30A plug - plugs into and it has a 15 Amp plug on the end but I'm not sure I can just plug that into the house.

I'm pretty handy with electricity which is why I still haven't figured this out. Without a wiring diagram, I know better than to just try things.

Chris

 

[ironart]

Re: Shore Power Connections

Hi Chris,
Yes, you can plug that into the house...

Once you reduce from your 50Amp plug you loose your 220VAC circuit and are dealing with 120Volts. There is a good chance that one leg of the 220 volts only ran one of the Air conditioners but it could have ran other items in the coach too...It would be good to check to see what you will loose by using only one leg of the 220V......
If it is the case that you are only loosing 1 air conditioner by switching to the 30amp or 20amp plugs then you are in good shape....You are no worst off then you would have been using the connection with 2 plugs in the engine compartment.......You are still only going to have 20 amps coming into the coach (and 1 AC).....which will limit your activities considerably....If you can get by with just 1 AC and run your hot water heater on Propane and watch your other usage like Micro and coffee makers....You will be able to get buy just fine.....I have done it and only blown the 20amp breaker on rare occasions...

If you decide to use the double plugs in the engine compartment BE SURE you only connect them to the part of the cord that goes to the Transfer switch...NOT to the part of the cord that goes to the shore power plug Otherwise the prongs on the shore power plug will be hot and could do some damage to you or anything they touch.

Remember with 20amps in you are only going to get 20amps out...so you will still have to be conservative with your usage....

Try to find a plug in the house that does not have any load on it.....Sometimes the Washing Machine in the Garage (if that's where it is) has a separate circuit and would make a good choice for the RV....You would have to remove the RV plug when doing laundry but that would only be for a few minutes at a time..

May come up that way next year....Sure pretty country