50 Amp Rig to 15A house power.

[Scootersfolks]

Looking for advice on how to connect our 50A fifth wheel (2014 Alpine, love it!) to our 15A house power while loading or cleaning the camper, and conceivably for longer periods. I have a 50-to-15 adapter I got online for $35 after reading another forum here. It screws on nicely at the camper, and then with a heavy duty 15A extension cord we are seemingly good to go. I have been talking to Keystone to make sure, though, and they seem pretty skeptical of almost any solution. First helpline person, clearly not an expert, said that they don't recommend connecting to house power at ALL, and I should get an electrician to install an RV-park quality connection at home (!!). Second was more knowledgeable and admitted there are strong reasons to need power at home, but still wanted to discourage any use of house power, said it might damage the converter or refrigerator. Said we should just use battery power to put slides in and out at home, then sort of hemmed and hawed when I pointed out that their own manual says to have shore power before using the slides.
In our former fiver, 30A, we stayed hooked up to house power many times, even for long periods, with relatively few problems, and I can't believe Keystone makes a camper that you are supposed to plug in only at campgrounds. I do understand that running the A/C and microwave on 15A shore power may be a bad idea (tho we did it freely with old camper) & that you need a heavy and short extension cord and reliable breakers in the house. But with that, it should be doable, no? What solutions have people found?

[myredracer]

What is the "heavy duty 15A extension cord"? A retail venodr can call an extension cord whatever they want but doesn't mean you are getting heavy duty wire or a quality plug or connector. I'd use min. #12 gauge. I made up a #12 ga. extension cord with spec. grade plug and connector.

As mentioned, voltage drop is always a concern no matter where you plug in and depending on what load(s) you intend to run, the wire from the receptacle back to the house panel can be a significant factor too. I recommend installing a permanent voltmeter inside your camper, either a plug-in LED or wall mounted one.

Make sure to always turn the power off before plugging in. If you don't, the converter causes pitting on the plug blades and inside the receptacle which in turn attracts dirt leading to resistance and overheating. In the very beginning, I had 2 cheapo extension cords go up in smoke in the driveway because I didn't turn the power off and the cord's connectors overheated. I ended up installing a proper 30 amp recept. & disconnect switch in the carport and #8 wire to the panel.

[time2roll]

I am sure brother is a great guy and still it is OK to get a city permit and inspection.

[Scootersfolks]

Thanks so much for all the help, folks. It's an informative thread that may be helpful to lots of folks I think. As it turns out, my crazy brother in law came over a few hours ago & talked me into running a dedicated 50A circuit through my existing breaker box, with him doing most of the work for free. Who could say no to that? So we'll have what looks like a failsafe solution here at home. These other tips should be very useful though if we find ourselves camping in relatives' driveways (as we often have) or in campgrounds lacking 30A and 50A. Again, thanks!

John K

[pianotuna]

Bill,

You have that backwards. An autoformer raises the voltage. Losses are on the order of 2%. I can successfully run my roof air when shore voltage is 96. Inside the RV voltage is 108.

[Bill_Satellite]

One at a time is key. I don't have an autoformer as it eats up amps at the cost of voltage but I can run on 15 amps if necessary. I don't like it and I really have to pay very close attention, but it certainly can be done if you are careful.

[pianotuna]

Folks are being extremely conservative. I do run my water heater on 15 amps. I do run other high draw appliances. The limitation is "one at a time".

I do monitor voltage and I do limit the amps that can be drawn.

I am fortunate to have a hybrid inverter charger. I do also sometimes add an autoformer, particularly if I plan on running the roof air.

[time2roll]

No high draw items and you will be fine. Battery charge and fridge is fine. Any 12v item is fine such as lights and water pump.

No electric water heat, no microwave, no air conditioner, no coffee pot, no hair dryer etc.

[wa8yxm]

There are rules.. and rules, and Rules (rules for everything)

The rules for Electricity are the rules from Reddy Kilowatt. (Actually he's the mascot of a power company I grew up with)

You have lots of "Stuff" in your RV. some are "BIG" ticket items, some Small, some (The fridge mostly) kind of in between

Small ticket items.. TV, Sat receiver, Fans and the converter (IF THE BATTERIES ARE FULL (Note; it can be a big ticket item if they are hungry depending on they converter)

Big ticket items: Water heater, A/C, Microwave and Converter with empty batteries.

15 Amp. forget A/C. The converter and TV's is about it, run Fridge on Gas

20 Amp. you might be able to do ONE A/C.. (Mine tripped the breaker where I am now so it's fans only for the next few days less I run a 2nd cord)
You should be able to run the fridge though..

30Amp Add a BIG ticket, possibly two of 'em but only one A/C... Good 30 shoudl run one A/C, Fridge, Water heater **OR** Microwave but not both at once.. weak 30 you will need to drop at least the fridge.

50 amp: All you can eat.

[kerrlakeRoo]

Chris Bryant wrote:
I agree that will be fine. I would say you can even use the A/C if the voltage stays good, making sure the outlet is good and tight.

If you know you have sufficient wire size, nothing else on the circuit, and yes a 8k and usually a 13.5k AC system will work. 15k is iffy.
But again you must have a good feed location and no extra draws on the circuit. Even the Charger/converter needs to be switched out until the AC is up and running.

[CA_Traveler]

IMHO The minimum plug you should use is a 20A plug on a dedicated 20A CB and here's why. The 15A plug is typically one of several on a 20A CB. If any other plug on that circuit in the house is using power then the voltage is already reduced before you plug in the RV.

So you run the risk of lower voltage and while checking the voltage is a great idea loads do change. So do you really want to watch a voltmeter all day?

So lower voltage is much more likely on a 15A plug than 20A, 30A or 50A plugs.

So Keystone is right even if they have no clue as to why they are suppose to say what they did.

And yes I have used 15A plugs at friends house in spite of the above.

And here's another wrinkle: My house has 8 outside and garage plugs on a GFCI with a 15A CB and 270' of 14 gauge wire. When I plugged in my saw in the last plug it would not cut hot butter. And this circuit is 100% to code and meets 0% of my expectation for reasonable loads but saved the builder a few bucks. If there had not been a 20A plug on a dedicated 20A CB nearby I would have installed one. I did installed a 50A plug for the RV.

[ford_truck_guy]

WE visited friends up north last summer and stayed in their rather large driveway for 3 days.
I plugged into their house 110 outlet that was dedicated for their garage, I have a Voltage regulator that I plug into my outlet inside, it monitors the voltage coming in,, I was able to turn the water heater to LP, and still run 1 AC along with most of the lights.. since the lights are all LED, they really did not add up to much...

[AllegroD]

When using adapters, I like to recommend dogbone style over the hockey puck style. Seems the hockey puck heats and burns up much faster.

[Chris_Bryant]

I agree that will be fine. I would say you can even use the A/C if the voltage stays good, making sure the outlet is good and tight.

[pianotuna]

Monitor the voltage. Keep it above 107 and all will be well.