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Old 07-11-2018, 09:08 AM   #1
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30 to 45 Amp Shore Power Upgrade

I have upgraded my Vista 27N to be able use 45 Amps Shore Power. This allows me to use microwave or hot water heater and air conditioning at the same time and never trip a 30 Amp shore power breaker.

I did this by looping the power for the Microwave and Hot Water Heater that feed from a breaker to a Energy Management Box thru the basement power compartment. When operating from generator or with only 30 Amps shore power the plug and socket are connected together as shown. Took a couple of hours and about $ 20 worth of parts, given I already had the 12/3 extension cord and adapters.



When I have a 50 Amp outlet , two 30 Amp outlets, or a 30 + 15 Amp outlets available I unplug the connection shown above and connect the plug above to a second shore cable, a 25 foot 12/3 extension cord, and just run it out the basement the same way as the 30 amp shore cable.



At the pedestal end, when I have a 50 Amp outlet, I use this 50A to 30A + 15A adapter that I made by modifying a 50A to 30A with a fuse protected additional 15A outlet.



At the pedestal end, when a two 30 amp outlets, I use a Camco 30A male to 15A female adapter on the 2nd 30 amp outlet.



When at a pedestal with 30A and 15A outlets I just plug in the ends of the two cords.
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Old 07-11-2018, 10:12 AM   #2
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Interesting. We have a 50-amp RV. I did purchase one of those 50-amp pigtails that has 30-amp and 15-amp "combiner" cables. At home I can plug the 30-amp section into out 30-amp receptacle in the garage, and then run a 15-amp power cord from a non-ground fault plug inside a room in our garage that contains the water heater/water softener.

This allows me to run both A/Cs in the driveway.

However, it can't be used on a ground fault circuit because it always trips the GFCI. So, it's worthless to me at a campground.

But your system - though not applicable for a 50-amp RV at a 30-amp pedestal - looks like a great solution and safer too.
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Old 07-11-2018, 04:10 PM   #3
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Nice creative solution. Nice clean work as well. I've seen a lot more 30A + 15A pedestals than 50A pedestals in the places we usually camp (state parks and the like). So far I haven't had an issue running my basement air on 30A even with the water heater and microwave but maybe I've just been lucky, and can't say for sure whether all three were ever running at the same time.
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Old 07-28-2018, 05:04 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by creativepart View Post
Interesting. We have a 50-amp RV. I did purchase one of those 50-amp pigtails that has 30-amp and 15-amp "combiner" cables. At home I can plug the 30-amp section into out 30-amp receptacle in the garage, and then run a 15-amp power cord from a non-ground fault plug inside a room in our garage that contains the water heater/water softener.

This allows me to run both A/Cs in the driveway.
Winnebago has always set their coaches up so that you could run both ac's on 30a. Is than no longer the case??
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Old 07-28-2018, 09:11 PM   #5
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I have done a similar addition to my 30 amp Vista. Has worked well in hot weather and freezing weather.
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Old 07-29-2018, 07:35 PM   #6
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Winnebago has always set their coaches up so that you could run both ac's on 30a. Is than no longer the case??
Mine's a 30a and I have no problem running both air conditioners plus one other high-draw device, like the microwave or the hot water heater. I upgraded my rear air to a 15k BTU unit when the 13.5k died and it takes more power. This is the first time I've seen the appeal of a 50a coach.
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Old 07-30-2018, 07:30 AM   #7
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Several years ago I bought a 50-amp pigtail with two 30-amp plugs, either of which I can adapt to a 15 or 20 amp outlet. Alternatively, I have a 30-amp extension cord that gives me the option of plugging into an adjacent unused 30-amp socket. As others have noted using such a pigtail will trip a GFI protected outlet which I avoid. A modern 50 amp campground socket should be able to deliver 50 amps per leg, but my Itasca Sunova 33C has NEVER needed even 30 amps per leg even while running both air conditioners, microwave/convection oven, water heater, coffee maker, TV, satellite receiver and refrigerator.
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