50 Amp Rv Plug Vs 30 Amp

If you have a 30 amp shore power plug on your rv then you are limited to 30 amps total even if you plug into a 50 amp pedestal outlet.

50 amp rv plug vs 30 amp.

A 50 amp rv plug has 2 120 volt wires 1 neutral wire and 1 ground wire. In fact it s much easier to use a 30 amp rv with a 50 amp power source than the other way around. Typically 50 amp rv s have dual air conditioners as well as the capacity to run more devices at the same time. What s the difference between a 30 amp and 50 amp outlet.

Rv 30 amp vs. If you are lucky the campsites will have a 50 amp rv outlet for you to connect directly. Conversely if you use an adapter for a. A 50 amp service rv provides a maximum 12 000 watts.

Before we look at the 50 amp service let s first look at the 30 amp service. There are a number of differences between a 30 amp and 50 amp outlet. The first most surprising thing about 50 amp vs 30 amp is that 50 amp rvs get more than 3 times as much power as 30 amp rvs. Your rv will require one or the other and fortunately there s a simple way to check which type of plug your rv has.

A 30 amp rv service is really just a glorified 120 volt single pole outlet. The difference between 30 amps and 50 amps is how many items you can run at the same time on your rv as well as how many items come installed on your rv. So that means that they did more than just increase the size of the one 120 volt wire of a 30 amp service. Even with an adapter your 30 amp service rv won t receive more power than the 3 600 watts it can handle.

Electrical outlets are labeled with a nema code designation. 50 amp surprising facts a 50 amp rv get 3x more power than a 30 amp rv. Most rv campgrounds have power pedestals or generators. For instance you will typically find only single ac units in 30 amp service rvs.

Your rv wiring connectors and rv circuit breaker panel can only pass that much current without damage overheating and catching on fire so there s no quick workaround. 30 amp plugs have three pins and 50 amp plugs have four. As we ve established above 30 amp systems deliver much less power 3 600 watts. These adapters typically cost under 20 and are available from a range of retailers.

30 amp service is more common in smaller rvs with fewer power hungry appliances. How to wire a 50 amp rv plug. The thing is that if you connect a 50 amp rv to a 30 amp power source you won t be able to use the whole potential of your rv s 50 amp electrical system. The first difference is that the amp plugs look different.

Or you may want to hook the rv to a home outlet during the inactive winter months. The female end will plug into your rv cord and the male end will plug into the campground 50 amp power outlet. I know it 50 isn t a number that s 3 times larger than 30 but the difference is huge. A 50 amp plug has four prongs two 120 volt hot wires a neutral wire and a ground wire that supply two separate 50 amp 120 volt feeds.

The 30 amp outlet used in an rv application is designated a nema tt 30r and the plug is a tt 30p.