Rv 30 Amp Vs 50 Amp Service

A 30 amp rv can handle up to 3 600 watts.

Rv 30 amp vs 50 amp service.

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

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. At face value it sounds like a 50 amp rv service has just 20 amps more power for use. To facilitate the larger loads placed upon the newer rvs the 50 amp service was brought out. 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.

But it actually has so much more. The formula is 30 amps x 120 volts 3 600 watts. 50 amp surprising facts a 50 amp rv get 3x more power than a 30 amp rv. Conversely if you use an adapter for a 50 amp rv you ll be limited to 3 600 watts.

I know it 50 isn t a number that s 3 times larger than 30 but the difference is huge. When you have a 50 amp connection you really have a total of 100 amps of electrical 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. Look at a 30 amp plug you will see 3 connections.

A 50 amp rv plug has 2 120 volt wires 1 neutral wire and 1 ground wire. 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. Look at a 50 amp plug you will see 4 connections. Even with an adapter your 30 amp service rv won t receive more power than the 3 600 watts it can handle.

The first thing needed to use a 50 amp rv plug in a 30 amp socket is an adapter. Rv 30 amp vs. You can go one step further by looking at the power distribution center in your rv. A 50 amp service rv provides a maximum 12 000 watts.

On the other hand large rvs usually have 50 amp service to power their more lavish setups think double ac units washer dryers etc. 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. A 50 amp plug is really two 50 amp circuits. So that means that they did more than just increase the size of the one 120 volt wire of a 30 amp service.