Storage Electrical Question

Cocoa Rebel · 02-26-2022, 01:06 PM

Hi all,

I really appreciate all of the knowledgeable folks in this forum. This is probably a basic question, but being a medical professional, I have a healthy respect for electricity.

I am a 2022 Vista rookie and I have standard household outlet in my indoor storage space. The RV is of course 50 amp. Is there a way that may be best and safest way to connect this in order to precool the fridge???

Or what would be the best suggestions in addition to putting a large ice block and refrigerated foods prior to leaving???

Thank you so much in advance for the support and assistance.

Ann, RN

Wyatt · 02-26-2022, 01:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cocoa Rebel

Hi all,

I really appreciate all of the knowledgeable folks in this forum. This is probably a basic question, but being a medical professional, I have a healthy respect for electricity.

I am a 2022 Vista rookie and I have standard household outlet in my indoor storage space. The RV is of course 50 amp. Is there a way that may be best and safest way to connect this in order to precool the fridge???

Or what would be the best suggestions in addition to putting a large ice block and refrigerated foods prior to leaving???

Thank you so much in advance for the support and assistance.

Ann, RN

This indoor outlet. When does it get power? Off of shoreline/generator and or the inverter?

Do you have a 120v residential refrigerator? If so, what is that plugged into? An outlet you can get to easily?

Do you have power somewhere nearby, like your house, where you could run an extension cord to your RV the night before? If so the simplest way is to get a 50amp adapter cord and plug in the RV just for the refrigerator to run.

DavidM · 02-26-2022, 02:04 PM

I think that the 2022 Vista has a 12V compressor fridge of 10 cu ft. So no 110V AC current is required at all. But you may run down your batteries if you leave the fridge on for long, particularly if you are cooling it down from ambient temperature.

So get a 15A to 50A adapter and plug it into your home 110V outlet and connect it to your RVs shorepower cord. Make sure the A/C or any large loads are off so you don't pull more than 15 amps and that the use/store switch is on which will let the A/C to the converter keep the batteries up. Then start the fridge and leave it on this way overnight. You can then load up food in the morning and go.

David

wyocamper · 02-26-2022, 02:26 PM

Like David said, just get an adapter and plug in to the available outlet. This is exactly what I do at home, except that mine is 30A. I have an adapter that you can pick up at Walmart and that allows me to chill the refrigerator and heat the hot water tank prior to leaving on a trip. Just don't try to run the A/C on that.

be happy · 02-27-2022, 03:40 AM

Like others have said get the adapter thats made to go from 50amp plug to standard house outlet plug.

One thing you may find is by plugging into your house outlet, if that outlet is on a GFI outlet it may get tripped. Just a thought

Good Luck

Wyatt · 02-27-2022, 10:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by be happy

Like others have said get the adapter thats made to go from 50amp plug to standard house outlet plug.

One thing you may find is by plugging into your house outlet, if that outlet is on a GFI outlet it may get tripped. Just a thought

Good Luck

Very true. Refrigerators don’t do well on GFCI outlets. That’s why, building codes for homes in a kitchen DO NOT require one.

Wyatt · 02-27-2022, 10:49 PM

Not sure what you meant by,

“ I think that the 2022 Vista has a 12V compressor fridge of 10 cu ft. So no 110V AC current is required at all.”

powercat_ras · 02-28-2022, 07:07 PM

Your refrigerator uses 12 volt power. Your Vista has a unit called a converter / charger that takes 120 volt AC and makes 12 volt power to supply the 12 volt loads and to supply 12 volt power to the coach battery to recharge it and maintain it's charge.

When you connect your RV to AC power from shore or generator, unless you flip off the AC circuit breaker labeled CONVERTER it will use around 500-600 watts AC to start, and then will adjust to match the actual load plus some more to recharge or maintain charge on the coach battery.

So to plug in and run the refrigerator, if you don't turn on other AC loads in the RV, plan on the outlet getting a 500-600 watts load, that will drop to much less if/when the converter/charger decides the batteries are above 80% charged.

Finally if you have to plug into a garage outlet that is GFCI protected, chances are it will just work and the GFCI won't trip. But if it does trip...

You can make an adapter with a male grounded plug and female ground socket to go between the plug on your 50A to 15A adapter and the GFCI socket. You connect the neutral and the ground on the socket to the neutral on the plug. You connect the hot on the socket to the hot on the plug. There is no connection on the ground pin on the plug.

If you make this adapter be sure to label it USE ONLY FOR THE RV. Don't try to use it to defeat the GFCI tripping with anything else you plug into the garage besides the RV.

Cocoa Rebel · 02-28-2022, 08:37 PM

Hi all,

I greatly appreciate all of the answers. The outlet in the indoor storage space has a regular household outlet and I don't think it has a GCFI. I bought one of these:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

From all of the suggestions, do I need another adapter to go from 50A to 30A??? And another adapter from 30A to standard outlet (as I used to when I had my Class C???

I appreciate it much!

I just don't want to blow electrical stuff!

Ann

**macnut** · 02-28-2022, 10:28 PM

I use one just like that when my RV is in storage. I make sure the AC and other heavy loads are off. It can run the frig and keep the battery charged with no problem.