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Old 06-12-2019, 10:51 AM   #1
KC
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Pure 3 energy system question

Hello all i have a question about running the AC while plugged in to 15amp shore power? Can you still run AC?

Camping at a state park that just has 15amp service, its very hot, can you leave your RV plugged in and still run roof AC?

Thank you

KC
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Old 06-12-2019, 05:21 PM   #2
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Doubt it. Unless it is a very, very small AC unit. Every AC unit in 3 RVs that we have had is 30 AMP.
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Old 06-13-2019, 01:35 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KC View Post
Hello all i have a question about running the AC while plugged in to 15amp shore power? Can you still run AC?

Camping at a state park that just has 15amp service, its very hot, can you leave your RV plugged in and still run roof AC?

Thank you

KC
Possibly.

-- Be sure your fridge is on gas, not elect.
-- Make sure your converter is not charging your batteries. If you have batteries that are discharged to say 50% or you have a weak battery that the converter is trying to charge, the converter may be pulling 4-6 amps of 120V AC power.

Also, it is best if you have a way to monitor your 120V AC power. A multi meter is great, but something like this works great. https://www.amazon.com/Eversame-80-3...gateway&sr=8-2
It just plugs into any AC outlet.

Then give it a try. If the voltage doesn't drop below about 108V to 110V you should be good to go.

In the past I have run a single roof A/C on a diesel pusher motorhome on 15amp power.

Of course if the campground power is already low, say 110 volts and you try to run the A/C then it probably won't work. Or if the campground wiring is too small then you won't be able to run the A/C. The voltage monitor will show the low voltage so you will know that is the problem.
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Old 06-26-2019, 04:47 PM   #4
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As a last resort you could invest in a portable air conditioner that runs off of 110. The type that exhaust the heat via a hose out a window and collect the water from the humidity in a container .
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Old 06-30-2019, 09:13 AM   #5
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I run my large AC on 120v 20A all the time! Sure its plugged into a 15A duplex outlet, but on a 20A breaker. The unit doesn't need a whole lot of amps to run. It's the starting of the compressor that requires the higher amperage. That though, is only temporary, less than a couple seconds.
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Old 02-23-2020, 07:09 PM   #6
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Go to the Volta website and I’m pretty sure the answer is yes you can run the AC while on 15 amp shore power. The system uses the inverter when the load is over the shore power setting, so it doesn’t blow the circuit breaker on the 120 volt shore cord.
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Old 02-23-2020, 07:25 PM   #7
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This is a time when we get into several calculations and several of those are setup to allow a pretty big safety margin. We get a 30 amp cord and setup but that is allowing for safety plus some slack for extra. Also we get a bit of time on the 15 amp breaker before it heats and trips- -if it is close. So my short answers is that you can likely do it but with the added care of not using anything else if you can avoid it. Most likely the result will be a tripped breaker and no damage to other electrical items. Many don't look at their home voltage often enough to catch it going way low at times.
Rural areas where there are lots of dairy barns will often have low voltage when all the milk coolers kick in at near the same time.
Not the best thing for motors that need the power when starting but it isn't a sudden death situation either.
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Old 02-23-2020, 10:14 PM   #8
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I run one at my house, but it is on a 20amp circuit breaker. If you run anything else other than the AC you are pushing the maximum on a 15 amp circuit.
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Old 02-24-2020, 04:21 AM   #9
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To be able to run a single 15,000BTU air conditioner on a 15amp 120V circuit:

-- NO EXTENSION CORDS. Exception if you have a RV 30amp extension cord then that is OK.

-- Your 30amp or 50amp RV shore power cord must plug directly into the 15amp outlet using the 'dog bone' adapters, i.e. no extension cords.

-- Turn your fridge to propane. The gas/elect fridge pulls 3-5 amps of 120V AC power when running on AC.

-- If you have more than a single house battery (larger RV's may have 4 or 6 golf cart sized batteries) be sure your batteries fully charged. OR turn off the house battery charging system. Your house battery charging system can pull anywhere's from 3 to over 10 amps of 120V AC power if the batteries are pretty well discharged.

-- Don't use any 120V AC appliances. A flat screen TV is fine and powering laptops or charging phones is OK.
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Old 02-24-2020, 10:00 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by al1florida View Post
To be able to run a single 15,000BTU air conditioner on a 15amp 120V circuit:

-- NO EXTENSION CORDS. Exception if you have a RV 30amp extension cord then that is OK.

-- Your 30amp or 50amp RV shore power cord must plug directly into the 15amp outlet using the 'dog bone' adapters, i.e. no extension cords.

-- Turn your fridge to propane. The gas/elect fridge pulls 3-5 amps of 120V AC power when running on AC.

-- If you have more than a single house battery (larger RV's may have 4 or 6 golf cart sized batteries) be sure your batteries fully charged. OR turn off the house battery charging system. Your house battery charging system can pull anywhere's from 3 to over 10 amps of 120V AC power if the batteries are pretty well discharged.

-- Don't use any 120V AC appliances. A flat screen TV is fine and powering laptops or charging phones is OK.

This sounds like words of experience and pretty close to being very right. Sometimes we miss details and it gets us in trouble. But the reason for some things is clear if we think about it a bit. We know we are pressing our luck to run AC on 15 amps, so we need to cut it down as much as we can by not using things we really don't need if we want cool air!
Extension cords are a big issue as they do two things that are bad when we are pressing hard. The added length and sometimes too small size both add resistance and that lets some of the power from getting through. Part of it becomes heat and may melt the cord!
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