Husky 5000 Watt Generator

[The Flintstones]

Hi All
Typing this on wifes blackberry so forgive errors
How do I hook up to the above generator with the four prong 20 amp recepticle and is the 5000 watt enough for a/c. I would have searched but too difficult.Still no power at home after hurricane Ike and want to cool off in our AS
Thanks
James

[RoadKingMoe]

Your Airstream and its air-conditioner are 120VAC. Your generator is 240VAC x 20 amps = roughly 5,000 watts. That can be split into two 120VAC x 20 amps = 2,400 watts each circuits. Yes, there is a way to wire the four-pin 240VAC outlet to do the split, but frankly, I'm surprised the generator doesn't already split them into two duplex outlets, each with 120VAC at 20 amps. A duplex outlet is like a household wall outlet and has two sockets for plugging 120VAC things into, one on top of the other.

The sockets for a 15 amp 120VAC outlet has two vertical blade slots parallel to each other. Sockets for 20 amp 120VAC have a T shaped slot on the left side. You can use a 15 amp male plug to 30 amp female NEMA travel trailer adapter to plug your Airstream into a 20 amp 120VAC socket. RV stores have these and they're sometimes called "dog bones". The most you will be able to draw from the generator is 20 amps/2,400 watts, so don't have anything else of significance turned on in the trailer (a few of the 12 volt lights won't hurt).

[juel]

Yes, 5000W is big enough to run your A/C. I'm sorry but I don't know about the "4" prong 20 amp plug. If your gen has the 30 amp plug-in, that's what you need to use. Running an A/C on a 20 amp circuit would be a little bit of a strain. Most 5000W gens have multiple plug-ins to allow you to run your larger items. Good luck down there.

[azflycaster]

Did some surfing and found this picture.

This fits the description you gave. If the round 4 prong connector is 20 amps, it is most likely 240 volts. Two hot 120 volt legs, one neutral and a ground. You would need an adapter to separate the two hot legs (only use one) along with neutral and ground. The same 20 amps should be available at the 120 volt plugs since they are 20 amp outlets. This would be very marginal for running your AC.

[RoadKingMoe]

The picture above shows what I previously described, two 120VAC duplex outlets with 20 amps each. There is no way to combine their amperage, nor to get more than 20 amps and 2,400 watts from the four-pin outlet, because the two duplex outlets and the two "legs" of the 240 volt outlet are 180º out of phase with each other with respect to neutral. If you try, you'll be putting a dead short across 240VAC.

[jwgreen]

I have the same model generator with the identical receptacle configuration. The 4 pin round socket is for an extension cable. Mine came with a cable with a plug that matches the receptacle and then breaks out to 4 regular 20 amp standard outlets. One outlet should be fine to just power the A/C. You do need to put a load on the other winding of the generator so that it will regulate properly. I used several 100 watt lights and that brought the voltage and frequency down to the safe range.

John Green

[mustang]

Hello and sorry to hear about your bad luck.

Simply put yes That unit is plenty to run your A/C in your A/S

Plug it in to the regular outlet and moniter your voltage.

I did it for 3 days same wattage different make gen set.

[The Flintstones]

I think I understand, I used the 20 amp cord that came with it to splice in to our breaker box. If I get another one of those cords and just plug directly in to that cord it will give me the power I need right? Thanks for all the reply's
James

[azflycaster]

Originally Posted by The Flintstones

I think I understand, I used the 20 amp cord that came with it to splice in to our breaker box. If I get another one of those cords and just plug directly in to that cord it will give me the power I need right? Thanks for all the reply's
James

I don't think so. The most you can get from the generator as I understand it is 20 amps.

Basically your generator has two 20 amp outputs. One output goes to one set of household plugs and 1/2 of the round plug. The other output goes to the other set of household plugs and the other 1/2 of the round plug.

If you tie together two outputs from the same set, you are still limited to 20 amps. If you connect the two different outputs together, the results will be very bad. You might just blow breakers in the trailer or on the genset. You could also cause damage to electrical devices in the trailer. The two different outputs are out of phase with each other and can not be tied together.

Phase A - 120 volts x 20 amps = 2400 watts
Phase B - 120 volts x 20 amps = 2400 watts

[RoadKingMoe]

Yes. As I wrote in another thread about the Yamaha EF2400, 2400 watts is adequate to power the AC in most Airstreams. 2400 watts is what your 5000 watt generator is rated to output on a single 120VAC, 20 amp circuit. However, as said, it's worth monitoring the voltage. Inexpensive generators are sometimes overrated.

And yes, if your 240VAC "splitter" has four 20 amp 120 volt outlets, you can leave one connected to the house and use one of the remaining three for the Airstream. One of those three is on the same circuit as the house and using it would put the Airstream on the same circuit as the house. Not what you want to do. Either of the other two remaining outlets can be used for the Airstream.

I should also warn against using an extension cord connected between the trailer cord and the breakout cord. This may cause the voltage to the trailer to drop too low.

[The Flintstones]

Thanks again for the replies, how do I monitor voltage and what do I look for?
James

[RoadKingMoe]

Many RVers use something like this plugged into an inside outlet. Note the reviewer of this item compared it to a good Fluke meter with great results. Don't count on that always being the case though. Have an electrician with a good True RMS multimeter check the accuracy of the one you get. You can also use a cheap multimeter from Radio Shack, Lowes, Home Depot, etc, but I'd still check them against a known good professional meter.

[Alice&Billis]

Sorry for the trouble you are having right now. We were out of power for a remarkably short 14 hours in Tyler, Texas. We were ready because we knew the winds were coming. I have the same configuration but with 1-240 volt plug and 1-120 volt duplex. Hooked up the Airstream with an adapter I got at Wal-Mart that converts the 30 amp park plug to fit the standard 120 receptacle. The other half of the duplex receptacle went to a heavy duty power cord that kept the freezer and refrigerator in the house going. Even with 5700 Watts, I noticed that after a time that the Air conditioner would start up full blast and then quickly power down cause it couldn't find the power it needed. Not ideal for a long term situation but for the short term it worked and we were comfortable through the hot night. Generators certainly are thirsty devices!!! After the experience with Rita/Katrina and power gone for 8 days in our area I heard a lot of generators running throughout our neighborhood.

Thanks to others on the site who explained the issues and how the power is distributed.

[mustang]

Shut you main breaker off!!!


If you are connecting to your house, and plugging in to a recepticle. If not you will blow your Gen Set when the power comes on, unless you have, and Isolator set up. You also dont want to waste energy by bleeding it back into the lines

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by mustang

Shut you main breaker off!!!


If you are connecting to your house, and plugging in to a recepticle. If not you will blow your Gen Set when the power comes on, unless you have, and Isolator set up. You also dont want to waste energy by bleeding it back into the lines

It's also dangerous for the lineman that thinks the power is off, and electrocutes himself with the electricity you are providing.

[The Flintstones]

Thanks again for all yall's help you guys are great as always. Yes we shut the main breakers off. The linemen are working on our power this morning it should be back on this evening. We have been sleeping in the AS with the ac which has been nice. Luckily it really has not been that hot overall. We were really fortunate that things were not much worse for us, we have seen a lot of great people helping one another.
James

[RoadKingMoe]

We're still off here since 2PM EDT Sunday a week ago. You had a 36 hour head start on us, so maybe if you get yours on today, we'll have ours on Tuesday or Wednesday! LOL!

Glad to hear you're close and things were not worse for you!

[Pick]

I had one of those 5000 watt construction type generators, a Campbell Hausfield. It would NOT run the Coleman A/C on my coach. The voltage would drop down to 98 volts and trip the breaker in the A/S. I now have a Generac 7500 watt genset with the 30 amp 120 outlet and it works great.

[Tom Bray]

You may be able to rewire the generator so that it has both circuits in parallel. DON'T DO IT AT THE OUTLETS - LOTS OF FIRE AND SMOKE.

Basically a generator is a motor being run backwards. Many motors will run on either 120V or 240V depending on how they are wired. Generators are the same thing.

First, look in the manual. Next, try contacting Husky Technical support.

A quick look at the schematic will tell you if the unit can be rewired.

Tom Bray