30 amp Campground Power

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by dmbecke

Can I asked then ....
Why does AS put 30 amp systems in if you can't cook and run one A/C at the same time
That appears to be a poor design IMHO

Hi

The *do* sell models with 50A service (and ~4X the power). You just have to pick one of those models.

Bob

[Bill M.]

"Why does AS put 30 amp systems in if you can't cook and run one A/C at the same time
That appears to be a poor design IMHO"

If you want to run everything at once by all means get the 50 amp.

I do not see it as poor design. I expect the designers still understand the trade off's even if the customers sometimes do not. For many years it seemed to be the standard. It is certainly adequate for a small trailer. I am actually fairly happy with our 30 amp. We run the WH on propane most of the time. The 30 amp will power the AC, the fridge, and the converter. Just no other appliances or the microwave at that time. Do not own a hair dryer. Do not really want to deal with a long 50 amp cord.

If I lived and camped in the south I would have 50 amp and 2 AC and a big generator, I suspect. Our southern time is in central Florida from Jan to April. Have turned the AC on for a few days but not many. Under a live oak tree.

[lsbrodsky]

I am certainly satisfied with 30 Amp and 1 A/C. The power cable is more manageable, the trailer was lower cost, and we have stayed some places that only had 30 amp. There might be a few days a year where 50 amp and 2 A/C's would be nice, but we just do not go camping in that kind of weather. If it is too hot to sit outside, what is the point? Yeah, I cannot get my wife to remember what is already on so that seems to be my job.

Larry

[Foiled Again]

Cook outdoors with propane, charcoal pr an induction burner plugged into the camps 15 amp power.

Get creative. You are CAMPING

If a Katrina type event ever happens in your area it will be better to HAVE skills than to try to learn them.

EVERYTHING you learn IS a survival skill - with the possible exception of learning to be a KamaKazi pilot.

[Steamy1]

Is this another argument to consider the Micro-Air EasyStart for the AC??

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by dmbecke

Can I asked then ....
Why does AS put 30 amp systems in if you can't cook and run one A/C at the same time
That appears to be a poor design IMHO

Part of the reason is just historical anomaly IMO, going back to the days when A/C was the exception, and campgrounds had fewer sites with electric hookups. Back then 30 Amps was considered a generous amount of electrical energy.

Change is slow to come . . .

[uncle_bob]

Hi

With a 30A system you have a much smaller electrical "footprint" in the trailer. That means less weight. You also have a 30A shore power cable instead of the massive 50A beast. That's also less weight / more storage.

Management comes out to "pick two items from the list ...".

If you decide to run on generator / solar, even 30A is a bit much. There simply is no practical way to "source" 12KW for a 50A setup in a reasonable fashion.

Bob

[Mollysdad]

Originally Posted by Glenn T

My 50 amp to 30 amp adaptor uses only one of the two "hot" power connections of a 50A outlet. I assume that would provide 25A as it only taps into one half of the available power.

No.
First, 50 amp power is more than a 20 amp increase from 30 amp. 50 amp power is TWO 50 amp 120 v. circuits or a total of 12,000 watts. 30 amp power is one 30 amp 120 volt circuit for a total of 3600 watts. Over three times as much!
So a 50 amp plug has 50 amps available on each leg.

The danger in plugging into a 50 amp post with a dog bone on your 30 amp cord is that you're relying on your onboard circuit breaker to protect you from overheating something, like your 30 amp cord.

[Wayne&Sam]

Originally Posted by John&Vicki

If you run the air conditioner it's no longer called camping.



Cheers,

John

It's not camping once you're towing tons of stuff. It's fun, we love it, but it's not really camping.

[SteveSueMac]

Originally Posted by Wayne&Sam

It's not camping once you're towing tons of stuff. It's fun, we love it, but it's not really camping.

Don't be a party pooper! For some people - camping is staying at a Ramada!

I was a chaperone one a tent camping trip once. ONCE! Love my air conditioned tin can home on wheels for camping!

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by SteveSueMac

Don't be a party pooper! For some people - camping is staying at a Ramada!

I was a chaperone one a tent camping trip once. ONCE! Love my air conditioned tin can home on wheels for camping!

Hi

After the first case or two of beer ... tents are fine

Bob

[DKB_SATX]

Originally Posted by uncle_bob

Hi

After the first case or two of beer ... tents are fine

Bob

... as long as you set up the tents before you opened the beer...

[dmbecke]

Lol

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by DKB_SATX

... as long as you set up the tents before you opened the beer...

Hi

....hmmm .... maybe *that's* what I was doing wrong

Could have saved a lot of money on the AS if somebody had pointed that out before ....

Bob

[Bgibbs]

We enjoy our 50 amp service. Last year, on the way to CO, we spent the night in Tucumcari, NM. It was 111 when we stopped for the day. Don't think we weren't happy to have two a/c's? I'll gladly wrestle that 50 amp cord to have a cool AS.

[m.hony]

That big black unruly snake gets even stiffer when its cold.
I've started a new routine:
Leave the big black heavy snake coiled up.
Set the entire coiled up heavy black snake over the power pedestal.
Just pick up the male/surge protector off the ground and plug in.
Uncoil just as much as you need to reach the female/trailer end- sometimes just 1 or 2 could.
Then when I get ready to go just replace the 1-2 coils and lift the entire heavy black snake up over the pedestal and stick it in the rear storage right by the power hookup on the trailer.
Do the water hose the same way.
Possibly a it OCD...

[Mollysdad]

Even though my AS will be 50 amp, I have a 30 amp cable to keep handy for the generator. It has a 50 amp female and a 30 amp male. Then, If I'm limited to 30 amps, I'll just pull that cable to the power post. It wasn't that expensive.

[thiel]

Could this be another benefit of the EasyStart? I can run AC and microwave at the same time (but I can't pile on with the water heater) on 30amp power.

[switz]

Might be an interesting test to verify the voltage inside the trailer with the A/C running and the microwave running. Then check the voltage when the A/C power cycles with the microwave running. One may find the voltage numbers are lower during the power inrush to start the A/C.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Breakers are intended to be "last resort" devices. You can and do see them misbehave. It is not a good idea to use them to measure current. I've seen a couple of fires and a number of failures resulting from using the "load it until the breaker trips" approach.

Bob