Upgrading for Higher Amperage Connection

[perryg114]

While I have the rear skins off fixing the floor, this would be a good time to upgrade the wiring. I was thinking of running 6 gage wire from the pig tail to the main breaker box. Eventually, I will have to put in a bigger breaker box but this will give me the option of upgrading the power in the future without comprimising anything. The rats or just time has eaten the insulation off the wireing where it goes through the aluminum skin. This may be due to AS not putting a rubber gromet through sheet metal. The sharp metal has just worn away the insulation over time. I need to replace it so might as well upgrade. Come to think of it, I have a new box with breakers already in it. Actually, I could make it work on 220V or 120V with the same box. In 220V mode there would be 120V on each rail of the box so all the 120V stuff would still get 120V. If I were running 120V supply there would still be 120V on each rail but they would both be on the same circuit. I could run 220V stuff but doubt I would need to.

I know that most camp grounds provide 30AMP 120V and some have 60 AMP 120V. Are there any that use 220V?

Perry

[Wabbiteer]

Yes - 220/240 is available, usually at a small premium price.

Upgrading the wiring sounds a reasonable thing, but what about having a separate 240 cord and plug to run the Jacuzzi?

[bryanl]

60A 120v ?

The defined RV services include 30A 120v (3600 watts) and 50A 240v split phase (12,000 watts).

You'll generally find 50A only on very large RV's and even then you'd be hard pressed to find any appliances that rely on 240v - partially because a good split phase service is still rather iffy at many RV parks. So 50 amp service is usually used as if it is 2 parallel 50 amp 120v power sources.

30 amp service depends upon 3 wire 10 gauge umbilicals while 50 amp uses 4 wire 6 gauge, which is a lot more bulky and hard to handle. The 30 amp service uses a special RV plug and socket while the 50 amp uses a more common 240v plug and socket.

[perryg114]

Well I can wire up to the junction box under the bed at least and then upgrade to the 50A service at some point. Yeah 6-4 SO cable is pretty pricey and pretty heavy as well. As it is now I can run the AC with just 15A and most of the other stuff I just can't run the Fridge and the AC off of 15A.

Perry

[DKB_SATX]

Originally Posted by perryg114

Well I can wire up to the junction box under the bed at least and then upgrade to the 50A service at some point. Yeah 6-4 SO cable is pretty pricey and pretty heavy as well. As it is now I can run the AC with just 15A and most of the other stuff I just can't run the Fridge and the AC off of 15A.

Perry

The fridge and one AC unit will run just fine on 30A RV service, and have plenty of current left over for the converter to charge the batteries and supply your 12V lighting.

If you have or are seriously considering adding a 2nd AC unit, 50A is worth it. Or, I guess, if you're a total microwave addict and need to have that running with the AC all day.

[Pahaska]

Originally Posted by perryg114

As it is now I can run the AC with just 15A and most of the other stuff I just can't run the Fridge and the AC off of 15A.
Perry

I run the fridge, the AC, and the electric water heater off 30a all of the time. There is never a problem unless the RV park has low voltage which sometimes happens in the peak of summer when the park is full and every AC is running full blast. When the voltage is really low, I just hook up my autotransformer and go to propane on the water heater. That insures good voltage for the AC.