Rv 30 Amp Vs 50 Amp Service

Look at a 50 amp plug you will see 4 connections.

Rv 30 amp vs 50 amp service.

Even though the receptacle found in your rv is rated at 120 vac the 50 amp shore power is actually a 120 240 vac four wire service. Even with an adapter your 30 amp service rv won t receive more power than the 3 600 watts it can handle. On the other hand large rvs usually have 50 amp service to power their more lavish setups think double ac units washer dryers etc. 50 amp surprising facts a 50 amp rv get 3x more power than a 30 amp rv.

These special plugs are often referred to as dogbones since the round plug shapes on either of the cord resemble a bone one might give to a dog. 50 amp rv service. So that means that they did more than just increase the size of the one 120 volt wire of a 30 amp service. When you have a 50 amp connection you really have a total of 100 amps of electrical service.

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. Rv 30 amp vs. Look at a 30 amp plug you will see 3 connections. Whereas the 30 amp service was a 120 volt service yielding 3 600 watts of power the 50 amp service is a 120 240 split phase service.

A 50 amp service rv provides a maximum 12 000 watts. 70 amps more than a 30 amp plug. A 30 amp plug is just one circuit and that circuit is 30 amps. If you have a 50 amp rv you will want to get a dogbone that has a 50 amp female to 30 amp male.

At face value it sounds like a 50 amp rv service has just 20 amps more power for use. But it actually has so much more. I know it 50 isn t a number that s 3 times larger than 30 but the difference is huge. The formula is 30 amps x 120 volts 3 600 watts.

The acronym vac stands for volts of alternating current which means the voltage is constantly changing from 0 volts up to 120 volts positive back down to o volts then it goes to negative 120 volts and then back up to 0 volts. You can go one step further by looking at the power distribution center in your rv. A 50 amp rv plug has 2 120 volt wires 1 neutral wire and 1 ground wire. If you exceed the total 3 600 watt capacity or the total 30 amp capacity it is highly likely the 30 amp breaker in the rv or the 30 amp breaker at the campground pedestal would trip.

The first thing needed to use a 50 amp rv plug in a 30 amp socket is an adapter. 50 amp plugs have two 120 volt hot pins a flat neutral pin and a round ground. A 50 amp plug is really two 50 amp circuits. To facilitate the larger loads placed upon the newer rvs the 50 amp service was brought out.