There's nothing like arriving at a campground late on a hot day, craving the use of your air conditioning. You open the site electrical panel, and hey! You find out your RV plug doesn't mate up to the receptacle in the box. It happened to us not long ago--and sadly--we were ill-prepared for the problem, and instead of having a free spot with electric, we wound up locating a commercial RV park and paying to stay in an "out of level" site. Insult to injury! How do you prepare for such eventualities?
Carrying an assortment of RV electrical adapters will help. First, you'll need to know what sort of power receptacle your rig is looking for. Most RVs use a 30-amp shore power cable (left photo).
50 amp shore power plug
Others, particularly in larger, newer rigs may use a 50 amp fitting (right photo). Still others, often on older, smaller rigs, use a 20 amp shore power plug, which looks like the typical 3-prong connector you might find on the end of an extension cord.
First, some nomenclature: The fitting on the end of your rig's shore power cord is always a "male" type fitting. The receptacle at the RV park is always a "female" type fitting. So if your 30-amp RV comes up against a '50 amp only" RV park receptacle, you'll need a 30 amp male to 50 amp female adapter. Another common situation is staying at a friend's home. Here your 30 amp RV plug won't just "plug" into a common household receptacle. You'll need a 30 amp male to 15 amp female adapter.
For you folks with older rigs with the "common" plug on it, you'll need a 15 amp male to 30 amp female (or 50 amp female) adapter. Things get a bit trickier for 50 amp RV owners. Yes, you'll find a 50 amp male to 30 amp female adapter, but getting down sized to a 15 amp receptacle might be a bit harder. You might have to go through two adapters to make the change.
With the adapter in place, there's yet one more consideration: You can "draw" only as much power as the receptacle is ready to provide. You maybe able run your air conditioner in a 30-amp rig from a 15-amp supply, but that's touch and go. You could trip a circuit breaker (on the shore power provider side of the box), or you might overload it without tripping a breaker. If you need to run "big consumer" items like air conditioners or a microwave oven, be careful. Turn the a/c unit on, let it run for a few minutes, and carefully feel the power cord where you've plugged it in. If it's hot, you're running a big risk of fire or damage, you'll need to give up on the a/c unit. If it's cool, or only slightly warm, you're probably okay, but don't try to run another big item at the same time. Shut off the a/c before microwaving dinner, for example.
For 50-amp rigs, the problem is even more magnified. You may find that some of your RV circuits work, while others might not. The same "overload" suggestions from the last paragraph apply to you, too. You can be sure you probably won't be able to run more than one air conditioning unit at once on a 30-amp receptacle.
Adapt for 30 amp shore power using RV. Top: From 50 amp. Bottom: From standard 15/20 amp.
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