EV to RV Cheater plug

[suncoasteng]

I am noticing lots of un-occupied EV charging stations at new gas stations, retail stores and parks. On a cloudy day, my solar needs help, but I do not want to stay at RV park for the night just to recharge my batteries and run the water heater or microwave. Anyone out there know how much amperage you can pull from an EV charging station?

[azflycaster]

Here is a good article on that subject:
https://www.rvtravel.com/rv-electric...la-connection/

[Dennis C]

Good article and I agree with the author - trying to power or charge an RV with an electric car charger outlet is a bad idea. I’ve got a NEMA 6-50 outlet in my garage for my electric car charger. It’s 240V, 50A. I can’t imagine what would happen if I tried to connect my Airstream to that outlet, but I know it would be bad!

[wulfraat]

Originally Posted by Dennis C

Good article and I agree with the author - trying to power or charge an RV with an electric car charger outlet is a bad idea. I’ve got a NEMA 6-50 outlet in my garage for my electric car charger. It’s 240V, 50A. I can’t imagine what would happen if I tried to connect my Airstream to that outlet, but I know it would be bad!

For what it is worth I installed a NEMA 14-50 outlet in my garage to which I plug in my Tesla charger. It’s the same as any 50A RV service in North America - 2 hot and a neutral.

Agree, a 6-50 240v outlet would be a bad, bad idea as there is no neutral and that is native 240v.

But that’s neither here nor there.

EV commercial level 2 charging stations are not the answer due to their voltage configuration. Just buy yourself a generator if you need an additional charging source and don’t want to plug in at a campground.

[Ken G]

Most of the EV charging stations at businesses were installed to take advantage of tax credits meant to encourage EV changeover, as such I imagine regulations ban other uses.

[ITSNO60]

Installing a 14-50R with no neutral is a dirty trick. At the very least it should be labeled "Not for RV use" but in reality it should never be wired without a neutral. I have installed dozens of 14-50s for car charging but we always run a full sized neutral and we always label the breaker "EV/RV HOOKUP". Being that there are likely many installations out there where the neutral was skipped I would not risk plugging an RV into one unless you can physically verify that 4 wires were installed. Using a tester is not foolproof as the installer could have ran a jumper from ground to neutral.

PS: here's a product that could turn into a disaster in the hands of an uninformed RVer: https://www.bsaelectronics.com/produ...aided-sleeving

[wulfraat]

Originally Posted by ITSNO60;

Installing a 14-50R with no neutral is a dirty trick. At the very least it should be labeled "Not for RV use" but in reality it should never be wired without a neutral. I have installed dozens of 14-50s for car charging but we always run a full sized neutral and we always label the breaker "EV/RV HOOKUP". Being that there are likely many installations out there where the neutral was skipped I would not risk plugging an RV into one unless you can physically verify that 4 wires were installed. Using a tester is not foolproof as the installer could have ran a jumper from ground to neutral.

PS: here's a product that could turn into a disaster in the hands of an uninformed RVer: https://www.bsaelectronics.com/produ...aided-sleeving

Mine has a neutral per code.

[Dennis C]

My electrician ran a neutral wire in case of future modification, but the NEMA 6-50 outlet that was recommended for my charger by Jaguar didn’t require it to be connected.

[ITSNO60]

Originally Posted by Dennis C

My electrician ran a neutral wire in case of future modification, but the NEMA 6-50 outlet that was recommended for my charger by Jaguar didn’t require it to be connected.

There is nowhere to connect a neutral on a 6-50, it is strictly 240 volts. A 14-50 is 240/120 volts.

[wulfraat]

Originally Posted by ITSNO60;

There is nowhere to connect a neutral on a 6-50, it is strictly 240 volts. A 14-50 is 240/120 volts.

Yup. Need a 14-50 for a neutral.

Maybe you mean your electrician ran 8/4 or 6/4 line to your box but left the neutral stranded.

[Dennis C]

Originally Posted by ITSNO60

There is nowhere to connect a neutral on a 6-50, it is strictly 240 volts. A 14-50 is 240/120 volts.

That’s correct. My apologies for not being clear. The electrician ran the neutral wire to the outlet box, but it’s not connected. If I ever wanted to change the outlet to a NEMA 14-50, the wiring is there to allow it.

[Ndcctrucks]

You COULD have a transformer on your rig and step down to120 volts; it would be critical to ensure that there is a ground connection from the charger to your trailer frame (if that normally exists). You would connect the 240 volts from the charger to the primary winding on the transformer NOT connecting to the charger neutral.

50 amps at 120 volts is 6,000 volt-amps; quick search only showed 5 kV available, for about $450. You might use an auto-reset breaker rated for 40 amps.

If you do it, let us know how it worked out!

[suncoasteng]

Actually was thinking of 240VAC to 12VDC transformer to charge house batteries, or run 12V systems. 100W transformers are around $20, but that wont run the water pump.


https://www.amazon.com/100-240V-Swit.../dp/B016895YF2

[Ndcctrucks]

Yeah, 100 watts isn’t going to do much in a short time. You can get more from a solar package.