Shoreline question

[crumgj]

I am new to the RV lifestyle and need some advice. I've just purchased a 2004 Winnie Sighteeer and I'm enjoying tweeking it to make more to my liking. While it's in my driveway is there a quick way to hook the MH electrical supply to the house current so that I'm not draining the battery? I would think that a typical extension cord is too light. Any suggestions??

[powerboatr]

if you just want to keep the batteries up or maybe the fridge on so its cold and ready to go.....

make sure you have a good 15 amp outlet, and use the adapters down from 50 to 30 to 15 amp and use a good heavy gauge extension cord. BUT do not use it to run your a/c or other high amperage draw appliances.

the best bet is to have an electrician run you at dedicated 30 amp rv circuit and then use the 50 to 30 amp adapter dogbone. That way you can run the a/c and cool down the coach a few hours before your ready to go.

I did that with my fiver for years at our other house

hd and lowes both sell a 30 amp rv box as do most hardware stores.

[John H...]

If you don't use any major appliances in the MH, then a heavy duty outdoor extention cord will be enough to keep battery charged and to work lights, etc. John H...

[PNWGirl]

My TT is 30 amp and I use a 30 amp extension cord to hook her up to the stick house power. You can get them at Home Depot, Lowe's and if you have them, Harbor Freight. They usually have them for a better price than RV stores.
Sheila

[crumgj]

Thanks everyone for the quick responses!! You've all be very helpful!!
Gary

[EngineerMike]

Gary-
Extension cords come in different duty levels equating to different wire sizes. Smaller wire size = more heat generated by current in the cord. This is true of plug ends also. If you are running a 50' cord, and just keeping batteries up, I'd be using a 14/3 cord. If 100' I'd be using a 12/3 cord. As far as the plug & receptacle ends, use your cord, then after half a day, check the plug/recept. ends w/your hand to see if they are heating up. If they feel hot, they will eventually melt the molded plastic end, maybe cause a short, and could be real trouble. If that happens, go to HD or Lowes and buy heavy duty ends for the pieces that are heating up (i.e. male from one side & female for the other which will be on a different cord or will be the receptacle part of the wall outlet assembly. Change the cord end(s) and/or outlet as applicable. You'll be glad you took this step the first time you see a buddy w/a melted plug end all glued up in a messy hot ball, or a receptacle w/a nasty black mark from the arcing. The cheapie receptacle costs 49 cents, the heavy duty one $1.49. The extra buck is for thicker, better made spring clips to hold the spades of the plug. The heavy duty plug ends (male & female) cost more for the same reason. Leaving a coach plugged in is not a job for cheap connections or thin wire IMO. I fried up plug ends maybe 4 times before learning this lesson. Once thought I had a good setup w/heavy duty recept's, only to find a 30A plug end globbed up, set off the breaker, and the frozen fish in the freezer 6 weeks later (whooda thought to check?) was not shall we say, in pristine shape. Check those plugs regardless so you know they are not heating up, only takes a minute.

[crumgj]

Thanks! I'm going to look into this because I just want to make sure I'm not depleting the batteries while I'm working in the MH. Amazing how simply "tweaking" a few things can take up so much time! I'm new to RV'ing but having a ball so far!!

[David K]

If you are not that far from your house and access to the breaker box in your stick house, I would run a 30 amp outlet to your parking place and plug into that. That will get around all of the extension cords and heating problems. If you are planning on keeping your MH for some time, I would go this way. I ran a 30 amp plug in for my coach and I use a 50 amp to 30 amp converter and keep my coach plugged in 24/7 when it is parked at home.

[crumgj]

Thanks Dave, I like your suggestion. I'm foggy on the 50amp to 30 amp part so could you enlighten me? I can run the 30amp from the fusebox to a plug-in without a problem. Not being an electrician, where does the 50amp to 30 amp part come in? I'm assuming it'll be at the coach plug-in but that's a guess! Any insight would be greatly appreciated!!
Gary

[AFChap]

If you decide to install, or have an electrician install, a 30a outlet for your RV, MAKE VERY, VERY SURE you know how it should be wired, and then TEST it before you plug in your RV. Way too many licensed electricians DO NOT KNOW what an RV 30a outlet should be, and even when you explain it to them and even when they have the correct receptacle, they tend to wire it as they know "normal" 30a outlets are wired with TWO power legs of 30a 120v power ...and when you plug your RV in it will fry the electrical system and anything connected to it. Far too many RV owners experience that every year. I will never plug into an unknown 30a outlet, especially at someone's home, until I first test it with my multi-meter to be sure it is wired correctly. An RV 30a outlet has only ONE leg of 30a 120v power rather than two as most other 30a outlet have.

Frankly, it is easier to get the right outlet for your RV if you have a 50a outlet installed. RVs uses a "normal" 120v/240v 50a outlet that is wired with two power legs of 50a 120v power each, just like many kitchen ranges and clothes dryers use. The household appliances use the two legs together as a 240v outlet, while RVs split the outlet and use it as two individual legs of 120v power ...you don't have to think about it or do anything other than plug in. With a 50a RV outlet, you can use the normal 50a to 30a adapter to plug in your 30a RV. And then when you get a new RV a few years from now, and it is 50a, you will already have the necessary outlet!!

[David K]

I am assuming that your coach is a 50 amp shore line like mine is. If you wire a 30 amp plug in from your house to where you are going to plug in your MH, then there is a converter (pig tail) that plugs into the outlet (three prong) and then has a 4 prong female plug in that you plug your MH shore line into. I did not wire a 50 amp plug from the stick house as the 30 amps allows me to run my air conditioner, keep the batteries up, run the heater if needed, lights, the refrigerator -- course not all at once but, I can run the air conditioner and the refrigerator, and lights without any conflicts. I did not run a 50 amp due to cost of wiring, the plug in being more expensive, etc. Just a lot more expense that I did not need to incur. The run from my electrical box to the plug in is about 30 feet which I used #8 wiring to run that -- to run 50 amp, I would have had to drop down to #6 or #4 wiring which is more expensive. I already had the 30 amp converter as you will run into some parks (state parks, corp of engineering parks -- just to name a couple) that will not have 50 amp plugins and you have to use a converter to get the electricity to your coach.

As was pointed out above, when doing the 30 amp circuit, make SURE that you use a single pole 120 volt breaker -- the wires going to the 30 amp female MH plugin will be a hot, a neutral, and a ground -- the female MH plugin will show the wiring diagram for you. It is not wired like the 30 amp plug that you plug your house dryer into --- that plug in is a 240 volt plugin with a hot, hot, and neutral wire going to it and it uses a double pole 240 volt breaker.

Hope this helps some.

[Theberrys]

I keep my Tradewinds plugged in all the time with a Killawatt monitor in line. We have two chassis batteries and four house batteries. When the batteries are charged and no appliances turned on it typically draws around 45 watts. The highest I've ever seen it when the batteries are charging is 400 watts. That’s about 3.5 amps so a normal exterior extension cord is plenty. The 10 AWG chords are really costly, a 12 AWG is OK if you don't run anything but the Refer. I suggest getting a Killawatt to monitor the usage and then you'll be sure your in the safe range. The $20.00 one will tell you what you need to knowAmazon.com: P3 International P4400 Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor: Electronics

Dick

[DAN L]

Originally Posted by crumgj

Thanks Dave, I like your suggestion. I'm foggy on the 50amp to 30 amp part so could you enlighten me? I can run the 30amp from the fusebox to a plug-in without a problem. Not being an electrician, where does the 50amp to 30 amp part come in? I'm assuming it'll be at the coach plug-in but that's a guess! Any insight would be greatly appreciated!!
Gary

here are a couple of resources:

RV Wiring

RV Electric

[crumgj]

As usual, MANY thanks for all the great information!! All of you are certainly making it easier for a newbie!!
Gary