How to deal with Winnebago Intent 30 amp?

beautifulday · 12-05-2020, 04:23 PM

How to deal with Winnebago Intent 30 amp? much less power than 50 amp.

Is 30 amp sufficient for Intent? how to manage electricity usage on daily basis?

Can it be changed to 50 amp?

Wyatt · 12-05-2020, 05:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beautifulday

How to deal with Winnebago Intent 30 amp? much less power than 50 amp.

Is 30 amp sufficient for Intent? how to manage electricity usage on daily basis?

Can it be changed to 50 amp?

I don’t think you would need more than 30 amps unless you added a second A/C unit. I’ve never run into an issue in ours needing more power, as it’s design to run dine on 30 amp.

I let others comment on changing in out to 50, because there’s a lot involved...

Morich · 12-05-2020, 05:32 PM

Unless you plan to add a lot of power hungry gear, 30 amp will be plenty. you may be missing how the breakers work on the electrical. Just because the main is 30 amp doesn't mean that it can't be feeding five circuits fused for 15 amps. If you want to do something like run a coffee pot, toaster and hair drier all at the same time an electric heater is running, then you will likely trip some breaker.

beautifulday · 12-05-2020, 05:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morich

Unless you plan to add a lot of power hungry gear, 30 amp will be plenty. you may be missing how the breakers work on the electrical. Just because the main is 30 amp doesn't mean that it can't be feeding five circuits fused for 15 amps. If you want to do something like run a coffee pot, toaster and hair drier all at the same time an electric heater is running, then you will likely trip some breaker.

Right, I am not quite understanding 30 amp = 5 * 15 amp?

one circuit: 15 amp * 120V = 1800 watts
5 circuits: 1800 watts * 5 = 9000 watts

But 30 amp has only 3600 watts.(30 * 120 V)

Morich · 12-05-2020, 07:34 PM

Right, that is where the confusion comes in! We are kind of trained to think that a 15 amp circuit is going to carry 15 amps when that is almost never happening. The breaker and fusing are set at levels to stop so much current moving that the wiring overheats and becomes a fire hazard. But in truth, most circuits in a wiring plan only have a very small load on each circuit. That is true UNLESS we add a bunch of things that use a large amount of power.
The normal home is set very much the same way as bedroom outlets are often set up on 15 amp circuits and rarely carry that amount of power, even though it would be deemed safe to use the full 15 amp due to the wire size. If you set up a toaster and some other high power item on the same kitchen circuit, it trips the breaker, just the same as it does in the RV.
The RV is a bit more prone to tripping as there are far fewer things expected when we "rough it" but moving to a 50 amp setup is often only found when there is enough space involved to need two air conditioners, not in the normal smaller size RV.
So my point was that you may find a 30 amp setup feeding circuits rated at 15 or 20 amp but often only using a total of 10 amps if we are not using one of the high power items. It is not so much what the safe rating says but how much we are actually using at any given time. But it is part of getting used to what you can and can't do. Any breakers we have tripped have always been one of the 15 amp breakers which feed the kitchen where we might want to plug two items like the toaster and coffee pot into the same outlet. with each of those requiring 1200 watt (about 10-12 amp each) we do find that we have two circuits on the cabinet and one item has to go on a different circuit or wait until the first is done!
Same thing happens at our "normal" Thanksgiving, if we don't train the new cooks who want to help!

beautifulday · 12-05-2020, 08:44 PM

I see. 15 amp is the limit of each circuit.

Is one circuit of 30 amp (instead of 5 * 15amp) more flexible? we can plug electronics into any outlet as long as total electricity usage is less than 30 amp.

Wyatt · 12-05-2020, 10:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beautifulday

I see. 15 amp is the limit of each circuit.

Is one circuit of 30 amp (instead of 5 * 15amp) more flexible? we can plug electronics into any outlet as long as total electricity usage is less than 30 amp.

No, what he’s saying is you have a total of 30amps available to use simultaneously. Each outlet providing 110v is typically on a 15amp breaker. So long as that circuit is less than 15amp, you won’t trip the breaker.

But you could trip a breaker, as Morich pointed out , simply by overloading that one breaker, beyond 15amps, even though your coach has a combined total of 30 available.

Now,if you were to have two circuits at their max—15 amps, you’re hitting the threshold for the whole coach, and throw the main 30 amp breaker.

But it’s hard to do. Even with our A/C on, it’s drawing a fraction of the available 30 amps.

Reniram · 12-06-2020, 04:54 AM

We have wintered in Florida for the past 10 years and after being plugged in to the 30 Amp for 3 months I had trouble pulling the plug from the post..when the thing did finally come out I discovered it had got very hot and partially melted at the receptacle..I had been using two small electric heaters and sometimes A/C and sometimes in between an electric kettle and maybe even the microwave!...yes some of the breakers did pop at times.It taught me a valuable lesson not to operate all the appliances at one time..

Morich · 12-06-2020, 07:39 AM

If I'm guessing, you are trying to do a good job of shopping. That is good to ask the questions BEFORE buying! So if you have a specific Rv make year and model like size, if you can post it up, we can look at the specifics of that coach and give some ideas of what sort of limits there will be on using electrical in that one.
We always have a certain limit when we do things like this in the house but houses are built with a bit more "spare" built in and it does take a little different view to make it work well in RV.
One of the more common items is to know which outlets are on which breaker so that we can do things slightly different. I just looked at the drawings for a 2020 intent of some model and I can see that the outlets on the galley cabinet are on the same breaker, so if we did the normal to make coffee, do some toast and the wife was in the bath drying hair, we might trip the breaker.
But the solution may be as simple as plugging the toaster in one the dinette instead of the galley or waiting until the hair is dry!
Small mods in use can make a total difference, so we might look at exactly what problems you might see in how you use your RV?
This drawing shows the 30 comes in and feed 3 15 amp and 2 20 amp and tells what each circuit has on it.
https://www.winnebago.com/Files/File.../000174505.pdf
This is the main listing for a ton of info on all the parts of RV if you need to look at other things like plumbing, etc.
https://www.winnebago.com/owners/own...s-and-diagrams

Barny750 · 12-13-2020, 04:58 PM

30 amp sucks. i was constantly kicking out the breakers. i live in mine so i want it to have the wiring option like a household would.if your confused, this is the way i seem it. i did convert mine to a 50amp, not easy but can be done. think about this. look at your breakers in a electoral box. would you either have the option to hook one wire to all the breakers or split it up into to 2 differant boxes. i put another 6 wire in and remove the clip that separates the breakers into half the power goes one line and the other half goes to another. basically wire up with a 50amp. i never will or would ever ko a breaker. and that mean you can run the ac, toaster and hair dryer all at once and will never come close to kicking out a breaker. i found some dude put it like this, its like 2 to the 12th power of options that you have. its wired like a house is.
thanks. dont know if this makes sense. but 50 is the only way to go.

Old Navy · 12-13-2020, 09:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beautifulday

How to deal with Winnebago Intent 30 amp? much less power than 50 amp.

Is 30 amp sufficient for Intent? how to manage electricity usage on daily basis?

Can it be changed to 50 amp?

For me, if I'm running the AC (12A), put something in the microwave (11-12A), then turn on the hot water, once the (electric) water heater (11A) kicks on, I'm over 30 amps. Add in the converter, especially if the batteries are still charging, and a few small loads and I'm way over. Knowing this, I would put both my fridge and water heater on propane if I want to use AC AND microwave. Basically, you get 2 "large loads" like AC, MW, WH, Blow dryer, toaster, etc.

NeilV · 12-13-2020, 10:57 PM

I have lived with 30 amps on my 2001 Adventurer camping extensively in Florida and the PowerLine Management System works just fine managing the 2 AC compressors, Charger, Refrigerator, Electric Water Heater, etc, etc. The only wild cards are how many coffee pots, toasters, hair driers, portable electric space heaters and such you try to run at the same time.

I also use electric heaters at times to save propane and also an electric hot plate but rarely ever trip a breaker however I am aware of the limits and do not push past them.

A worn out 50 amp outlet will also burn your plug just like the 30 amp and that is usually compounded due to resistance and low campground voltage issues and not unique to having a 30 amp service. Some may note that the 50 may not be as prone to this however that is often because the 50 amp equipment at many campgrounds is much newer than the older 30 amp and see less use than the 30 amp so less prone to being worn out or in need of servicing.

Journey39n · 12-13-2020, 11:20 PM

We have 50amp service to the coach, but many parks only have 30amp available. I would say, we stay with 30amp at least 2 months out of any given year for the past 10 years. The power line command center does a great job of shifting around power to the various big items automatically, but you have to use common sense. It can run both a/c compressors on 30amp, but you might want to make sure the HWH and the refer is on propane, you don't try to run too many toasters and coffee makers at the same time, etc. It works, you just have to be a little vigilant.

And as far as burning the power pole socket, keep a close eye on your camp voltage. If the draw in watts is the same, and the voltage goes down, your amp pull will go up, tripping breakers and burning sockets. Also, I have found that using a little dielectric grease on the prongs helps contacts and eases the removal.

Old Navy · 12-13-2020, 11:39 PM

I'm not sure if the Intent has any power management or "load shedding" ability. My TT has a very basic power center. Any load shedding is done the old fashioned way. That works for me, as I never "need" more than about 25A. We don't even bring a toaster, blow dryer or electric coffee maker, and rarely use the microwave.

Rick 99037 · 12-14-2020, 11:03 AM

I agree that with a single AC, 30 amps is all you'll need. Also if you look up how the 50 amp service is wired, you'll see it's not a bolt-in replacement on many levels. If you have a clamp around meter, or borrow one from a friend, you can check your actual current draw. (Buy a $14 cheapy at Harbor Freight for instance.)
But also in RVs, you will here the call for surge protection, because places you plug into can be miswired or provide flaky power. Here is that toy I bought for this, a Hughes “Smart” RV Surge Protector. It comes in both 30 and 50 Amp. It is modest in price, and connects to your Cell Phone via Bluetooth. With this, you will see input voltage, and your amperage draw as well on your phone. So you can see what kind of load you are pulling, as long as you're reasonably close to your unit. If voltage gets out of spec, it will also turn off the power for a time. I also like that the sacrificial surge protector component is replaceable should it fry. Commonly, the answer is replacement of the whole device should it take a hit.

https://hughesautoformers.com/product/pwd30/

jpspaz · 12-14-2020, 04:48 PM

My motorhome has 30A service with two air conditioners and a power management system. As long as you don't overload the system, you should be fine. The PM system will cut power to certain systems if it senses an overload. I always pay attention to the display if I have some things running. I noticed this summer in 95 degree heat and both A/Cs running that the plug can get a little hot but I never had anything melt. I've heard of a "soft start" device for A/C units that you can install that helps with the initial start up but I am not that familiar with it.

Beabop · 12-14-2020, 06:34 PM

If you haven't bought yet and are going full time, if it doesn't have a PM system, reconsider or you will be doing the cut air off for microwave dance.
We had a 30 amp rig with power management and it would shed loads so the heat pump could come on but much nicer when we went to 50 amp.
We have 30 amp now but this is just weekend camping when we lived in the coach 8 months a year 50 amp was best.