You who have those big and shiny rigs that suckle up only to 50 amp outlets can sometimes be a bit miffed when you roll into the "only available" RV park and find 15 and 30 amp circuits--but nothing for 50 amper users. Sure, you can plug in the 30 amp female - to - 50 amp male converter plug, but you're still limited to pulling that maximum 30 amps. Camco says they have an answer: They call it their "Power Maximizer." Think of it as a two-way tap that pulls that 30 amp juice and adds that other little guy, the 15 amper, for a total of 45 amps available power. Yeah, it's not 50 amps, but it's a whale of a lot more than 30!
Here's the fine print: It works only circuits that are wired with a capacity to match the breakers; and it won't work if plugged into a GFI protected circuit. Street prices look to be around $55, but you'll be looking in all the odd places: Try J.C. Whitney on-line. It doesn't look like Camping World has jumped on board for this one yet. And speaking of on board, sorry you boat users, this product is ONLY for RVers.
19 comments:
If you're planning on relying on this gadget, you should be aware of what is really going on. The 15A plug on the adapter must be going into a SEPARATE circuit from the 30A one, otherwise, you're still going to be limited to 30A. To know for sure, see if there are separate circuit breakers on the pole for the 30A and 15A sockets. If so, they are on separate circuits. Also, note that 45A is not "almost" 50A. A 50A hookup is actually two 50A circuits, which is why there are four pins instead of three on the plug. Thus an RV that requires a 50A hookup, actually expects to have a total of 100A available to run everything. The way to handle this is to know what the various devices and systems in your RV draw and see if you can do with 30 or 45 at a time, or need the whole 100.
I am not an expert on this but it seems to me that if you run 45 amps thru a power cord that is only capable of carrying 30 amps you are asking for heating issues on the cord or the connections. Not a problem unless you actually try to use all 45 amps for an extended period of time, then they would probably heat up?
It says that it won't work on a GFI protected circuit. Almost every campground/park we go to any more have GFI protected service. Only those that have not been upgraded in the last few years still have the unprotected circuits. Looks like a waste of money to me.
This article is very misleading.
First this is not new. Camping World and others have been selling a version of this for years. I own one.
Second, a 50 Amp RV has TWO 50 Amp service circuits, for a total of 100 AMP. This device can provide up to 30 for one service circuit and 15 for the other. In other words, you can run a couple of major appliances on one circuit and a single major appliance on the other. Worse, if one of those appliances is an air conditioner, the 15 circuit plugged to the 15 AMP socket on the power pedestal may overload.
Third is that in reality there are VERY few campgrounds left that don't have GFI circuits. That means this device will normally be dead weight in the storage box.
If you frequently go to a campground that you know does NOT have GFI circuits you might get some use from one of these. Still you only get up to about 45 amps and that is not even close to the standard of dual 50 AMP circuits.
Not New - PPL & camping world has been selling them for awhile - called "cheater adapters", although the $55.00 looks good. Remember, a true 50 amp connection supplies 2 50 amp legs. At best, one of these devices supplies one leg at 30 & one at 15/20/30, depending on what the second connection is rated at.
This device can also overload the neutral of the RV & campground in some situations - some campgrounds do not allow them.
When was the last time you saw a 15 or 20 amp outlet at an RV park that wasn't GFCI protected?
As a 50a RV connection is actually providing a total of 100a (two power legs of 50a each), this "solution" is more of a money maker for the seller than anything else, particularly with the listed precautions and actual added risks to the power pole and the user.
A double pole 50amp breaker will not give you 100A. It is a 240v, 50a breaker if either lag draws 50+ amps it will trip both lags. The only problem using one of these adaplers would be if the 120v/30a circuit and the 120v/20or15a is on the same lag you will not be getting 240v to your panel in your RV. If you have 240v equipment in your RV it will not operate.
I bought my RV 5 years ago and one of the "cheaters" was included.
I used it frequently at my home, plugged into 2 twenty amp circuits.
It worked great.
Once I pulled in to an RV park with 30 amp only, but was able to plug in to my 30 amp and the 30 amp for the empty site next to me that shared the same post, at 110 degrees outside two air conditioners were necessary. I was happy. You are all correct most parks have GFCI on the 15/20 amp, rendering the cheater useless.
Bob
This idea is deceiving. You cannot add up two circuits to increase how many amps you can draw. On the 30 amp side you still have a 30 amp breaker and if you exceed 30 amps it will blow. If the other side is either 15 or 20 amp the breaker will blow when you exceed that level. You will have two separate circuits rated at the amps they are plugged into. It will depend on how your RV is wired whether this thing will work. You could have a 30 amp circuit and a 15 amp circuit which run separate devices but you would have to know which device was on which circuit to know how much load you could put on either circuit. When you plug into 50 amp circuit you get two legs - each with a 50 amp breaker so nothing blows until you exceed 50 amps on either side. Example: It may be possible to wire the RV so that one AC is on one side and the other on the other circuit. But if both ACs are on the same circuit you stll cannot run both ACs at the same time. If the draw on the combined ACs exceeds 30 amps the breaker will blow. OR - the RV may be wired so the ACs are on what would now be the 15 amp side - that might mean the breaker would blow even if only one AC was on. The reason this will not work on a GFCI circuit is there would be a common neutral and a common ground - this would cause the GFCI to blow. You would have to find a way that the two circuits are completely separate and isolated from each other or the GFCI will blow. They do not even have to be on the same GFCI - they just have to share the neutral which by design would cause the breaker to blow.
To help understand how it works, The power you need is pretty much the product of the voltage (120 volts for 15, 20 or 30 amp campground outlets) times the current rating. The 50 amp outlet is 240 volt (actually 120/240) so a 50 amp gives you max of about 12,000 watts (240x50) vs a 30 amp of about 3600 watts (120 x 30).
There are a few footnotes for the purist such as the standard outlet may actually have either a 15 amp or a 20 amp breaker. Also for some loads like motors, the voltage times the current will be a little more than the watts for reasons that are beyond this post.
The GFCI issue would prevent this device from working and the only workaround I can see would involve a transformer and be expensive and a hassle.
If the 120/240 voltage thing is confusing, think of two batteries connected like in a flashlight. You could use a meter to read 1.5 volts across each battery or 3 volts across both batteries. Same idea.
sparky
In addition to the technical reasons this likely will not work, think ethically too. You pay your fee for a space and utilities. Electricity costs the CG money. You pay for 30amp and try to get 50amp. Why do you think they call this a "Cheater box"?
Most newer "50" amp motorhomes have an EMS (energy management system). This system looks for 240 volts and when it sees 240 VAC, it lets you run up to 50 amps on each of two circuits. If the 30 & 15 amp breakers are on the same phase (very likely) the EMS will NOT see 240 VAC and therefore will limit draw to 30 amps. I once stayed at a CG that had 50 amp breakers but they cheated and wired both poles with the same phase, therefore the EMS only saw 120 VAC, therefore limiting my usage to 30 amps. The EMS does this to protect the RV from too much draw on the neutral as mentioned in an earlier comment.
Bruce Jenna,
If you stay at a place a month or more you will more than likely pay electric separate.
Bill
holladay@ymail.com
ps I have been living in an RV for over 20 (twenty) years. CA to TX
Bruce Jenna
If you stay in a place for a month you will generally pay ADD +for kwa used. So you are not totally correct.
Bill
holladay@ymail.com
ps I have bee living in traver trailers and fifth wheels for over 20 (twenty) years.
Hope everyone that uses these adaptors realize that if they wreck any electrical components at the RV park THEY ARE LIABLE. You buy 30 amps that is ALL you paid for. If your neighbor get hurt you are responseable. This is really asking for trouble and you are breaking your agreement with the RV park when you purchased your site.
DONT BUY THIS. GFI circuits are everywhere....It's the law. It is a waste of money!!!!!!!!!!!!!
While everyone knows that RV camping can be very exciting and fun, it can also go down hill fast if you are not up to date on what you should be doing. There are people who think they may know everything about RV camping until they realize their RV isn't really up to par. This could end up leaving them stranded roadside while everything seems to be malfunctioning.
I found a perfect solution from JTB Manufacturing.
http://jtbmfg.com/
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