Comp Trailer/RV power management
- Thread starter KC_Bobby
- Start date
Divemaster
somebody shut me the fark up.
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2007
- Location
- North...
You loose power from resistance that is converted to heat.
The resistance of a connector (esp. if the brass prongs are clean and untarnished) is far less than say 25 feet of 10 gage wire. Also, with the 30 amp connector having to twist, your connection is more secure.
Phil, good point in the adapters!
The resistance of a connector (esp. if the brass prongs are clean and untarnished) is far less than say 25 feet of 10 gage wire. Also, with the 30 amp connector having to twist, your connection is more secure.
Phil, good point in the adapters!
I have stuff isolated so they dont surge a single circuit. Also allows me to shut things down when not needed.
My honda 3000 can run the entire trailer minus the AC. That includes the water heater, fridge, TV, Xbox, computer, lights and sound system. If the draw get up there, I shut the water heater once it heats up the 4 gallon tank and that lasts us a long time. Then flip it back on when needed. I dont like running the fridge and AC on the generator at the same time. Even though they are on seperate circuits inside, they still feed off the same source on the outside. When those compressors cycle on and off at the same time, they kick each other in the nuts.
Contests around here dont have anything better than 15 or 20 amps available, and sometimes not even that. So,I have been thinking of splitting my circuit box into to boxes,so I can run off of 2 feeds, taking the AC onto its own feeder circuit. That way I can have the generator running the heavy stuff and the contest power running the lightweight things.
If running the AC, and the contest gives us a good 15 amp circuit, I will hook the fridge up to contest power with a 12 ga cord. This eases the load on the generator. Otherwise, if I need the AC, the fridge gets shut off for a little while(and kept closed). Having 2 feeds would make that easier.
I have two 30 amp services coming into my trailer. I have two 3000 watt generators when I have no power available. One service runs the air, the other runs the rest of the trailer. If I get one service at the contest, I'll run the trailer off of it and put the AC on the genset. If my power is iffy and I don't want the air, I can move my fridge over to the 2nd service used by the AC.
Putting in two 30 amp services over a single 50 amp service was very intentional. We are always in strange power situations at contests. At one contest, I didn't use their power at all and used both of my gensets.
Putting in two 30 amp services over a single 50 amp service was very intentional. We are always in strange power situations at contests. At one contest, I didn't use their power at all and used both of my gensets.
HoDeDo
Babbling Farker
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2006
- Location
- Kansas City
If your lights were dimming, it was your power that was bad - could have been due to the cable, or the cable just added to problem.... if you have a fridge, freezer, or other things in your garage (or on that breaker) that draw... adding the trailer was likely too much. Our garage has the outlet by our entry, the outside lights, and the garage on it, for example.
Having said that -- The 30AMP cord is the way to go. I've seen adapters melt into a pile of goo, then trip the breaker. And the heat will get worse as the power does.... this particular example was at a cool fall contest -- the power was marginal to begin with; but as everyone was firing up thier lighting, electric heat, etc. it overloaded the box, and had everyone running hot due to the poor draw. guys with cheap cables had them ruined.
If you think you are going to need a long run, you want more cable than you need anyway.... if you pull less amperage than you need and get into a low voltage scenario -- you can ruin the capacators on your fans/compressors, etc.
I even went one further - and ran 50AMP RV cable out of my Concession trailer. Todd has two 30AMP power supplies in his. EDIT: just saw Todd's previous post. The two 30 AMP setup is really slick!
Spend a little now, save alot later
Having said that -- The 30AMP cord is the way to go. I've seen adapters melt into a pile of goo, then trip the breaker. And the heat will get worse as the power does.... this particular example was at a cool fall contest -- the power was marginal to begin with; but as everyone was firing up thier lighting, electric heat, etc. it overloaded the box, and had everyone running hot due to the poor draw. guys with cheap cables had them ruined.
If you think you are going to need a long run, you want more cable than you need anyway.... if you pull less amperage than you need and get into a low voltage scenario -- you can ruin the capacators on your fans/compressors, etc.
I even went one further - and ran 50AMP RV cable out of my Concession trailer. Todd has two 30AMP power supplies in his. EDIT: just saw Todd's previous post. The two 30 AMP setup is really slick!
Spend a little now, save alot later
Sounds like you boys need to check out my Honda 6500... It ran both me and Quau in Felda. I even had the AC going, along with my rv fridge and my new commercial fridge.
I do want to get a separate line for my second AC unit in my garage. As it only works when my onboard generator is running.
Phil, I'm not sure why you can't run your AC and fridge with your 3000? It would run my whole RV and still have extra power if someone needed a line. Maybe you need a 6500 too! lol
I do want to get a separate line for my second AC unit in my garage. As it only works when my onboard generator is running.
Phil, I'm not sure why you can't run your AC and fridge with your 3000? It would run my whole RV and still have extra power if someone needed a line. Maybe you need a 6500 too! lol
I'm looking at a 6500 diesel genset and dump the two 3000 watt Kipors.
Mine will be mounted on the front of the trailer where my 3000 sits today. The weight shouldn't be a problem.
I went to Wally World tonight and picked up 30 feet of the 30 amp cord (10 gage), $42 for that. Came back outside and we had a foot of snow on the ground ... well, the parking lot and car windows were covered.
I'm going to plug it in tomorrow and see if the A/C heat strip produces heat. If so, I'll probably run some more wiring for some additional outlets.
Isolate one outlet near where we are thinking about putting in a refridge.
And run another one off an existing one so both of our work stations will have an outlet above each.
Maybe run another line so I can add a box on the outside when the weather gets warmer
I'm going to plug it in tomorrow and see if the A/C heat strip produces heat. If so, I'll probably run some more wiring for some additional outlets.
Isolate one outlet near where we are thinking about putting in a refridge.
And run another one off an existing one so both of our work stations will have an outlet above each.
Maybe run another line so I can add a box on the outside when the weather gets warmer
Its more problems at AC startup.. The generator overloads and blows its breaker when the AC kicks on if the fridge is running. I toasted the compressor in the fridge because of the AC early int he season.
and yup.. a 6500 may be next.
