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Amperage Input to Motorhome

Question:

We are about to take delivery of a 1989 GulfStream El Capitaine 25′ we are in the process of purchasing.  We completed a walk through of the Motorhome just two days ago and I still have a question the business and technical people were unable to answer to my satisfaction. The ‘circuit board’ (or whatever you call it) handles 30 AMPS of power.  As a condition of the purchase the vendor  installed a generator.  On checking out the installation I discovered it generates 75 AMPS of power.  On ‘cruising’ RV sites on the internet I learned that some RV campgrounds have only  15 AMP and 50 AMP power outlets. My question is can this 30 AMP circuit board handle the 75 AMPS of power from my generator and can I plug into a 50 AMP power outlet at a campground without creating problems. I apreciate any help you can give me.

Response:

I am not very qualified to answer this one, but here goes. Your gennie’s 75 amps is probably at 12 volts, the ampere rating is normally coupled with a voltage rating. In any case, the RV circuitry is only going to draw as much current as the load demands, regardless of any headroom in the supply source.  However, the standard hookups for 50 amp shore power are completely different from the 30 amp ones. The main problem with the 30 amp limit is the wiring in the coach – it may catch fire if you use an adapter to go from 50-30 amp hookup and try to turn on both roof airs, or a roof air and the microwave.  Get a unit that is built for 50 amps to begin with so that you can stay cool in the summer and cook when you want to. David M. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – We are about to take delivery of a 1989 GulfStream El Capitaine 25′ we are in the process of purchasing.  We completed a walk through of the Motorhome just two days ago and I still have a question the business and technical people were unable to answer to my satisfaction. The ‘circuit board’ (or whatever you call it) handles 30 AMPS of power.  As a condition of the purchase the vendor  installed a generator.  On checking out the installation I discovered it generates 75 AMPS of power.  On ‘cruising’ RV sites on the internet I learned that some RV campgrounds have only  15 AMP and 50 AMP power outlets. My question is can this 30 AMP circuit board handle the 75 AMPS of power from my generator and can I plug into a 50 AMP power outlet at a campground without creating problems. I apreciate any help you can give me.

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – We are about to take delivery of a 1989 GulfStream El Capitaine 25′ we are in the process of purchasing.  We completed a walk through of the Motorhome just two days ago and I still have a question the business and technical people were unable to answer to my satisfaction. The ‘circuit board’ (or whatever you call it) handles 30 AMPS of power.  As a condition of the purchase the vendor  installed a generator.  On checking out the installation I discovered it generates 75 AMPS of power.  On ‘cruising’ RV sites on the internet I learned that some RV campgrounds have only  15 AMP and 50 AMP power outlets. My question is can this 30 AMP circuit board handle the 75 AMPS of power from my generator and can I plug into a 50 AMP power outlet at a campground without creating problems. I apreciate any help you can give me.

It just means that the generator has the capability to supply 75 amps. Your converter is rated for 30 amps and that is all you will ever be able to use at the same time in the MH. BTW that is one healthy generator. Are you sure it can supply 9000 watts. As far as campground power,  you will be able only to plug into a 30 amp outlett. That is determent by the plug on the end of your powercord. To plug into a 15amp or 50 amp outlett you will need an adapter. 15 amp is usually not enough to run the AC and some other appliance. If the voltage drops to much you can and prolly will be ruining the AC. Turn it off when it starts to labor. If you plug into the 50 amp all that will happen is that you will be limited to 30 amps max. Gert

Response:

In the annals of history it is recorded that on Sat, 14 Mar 1998 20:54:03 -0500 it was Neville Rea who stated to rec.outdoors.rv-travel: : We are about to take delivery of a 1989 GulfStream El Capitaine 25′ we : are in the process of purchasing.  We completed a walk through of the : Motorhome just two days ago and I still have a question the business : and technical people were unable to answer to my satisfaction. : The ‘circuit board’ (or whatever you call it) handles 30 AMPS of : power.  As a condition of the purchase the vendor  installed a : generator.  On checking out the installation I discovered it generates : 75 AMPS of power.  On ‘cruising’ RV sites on the internet I learned : that some RV campgrounds have only  15 AMP and 50 AMP power outlets. : My question is can this 30 AMP circuit board handle the 75 AMPS of : power from my generator and can I plug into a 50 AMP power outlet at a : campground without creating problems. No problem. Use the plumbing analogy to determine whether you should be concerned. Think of AMPs as the size of the pipe and voltage is the water pressure. The pressure stays the same (115v) but the sources you connect to are of various sizes ie., 30A, 50A 75A ( big and little pipes). A little faucet (load) on a large pipe works fine – you can open many little faucets on a large pipe without concern. When you have a small pipe and a large faucet (15A source and a 20A air conditioner) you’ll blow a fuse or trip a circuit breaker at the campground hook up. As you can see, there is no need for concern as long as the source is larger than the load. You can plug your 30A RV into a 15A source and as long as you don’t turn on enough devices to exceed 15A you won’t have any problems. To continue the analogy – watts would be the volume of water used. — Protected with spamgard(tm). Include the word "rabbit" in your subject line. Michael     http://www.liferaft.com (Last Exploration 12-14-97)

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – We are about to take delivery of a 1989 GulfStream El Capitaine 25′ we are in the process of purchasing.  We completed a walk through of the Motorhome just two days ago and I still have a question the business and technical people were unable to answer to my satisfaction. The ‘circuit board’ (or whatever you call it) handles 30 AMPS of power.  As a condition of the purchase the vendor  installed a generator.  On checking out the installation I discovered it generates 75 AMPS of power.  On ‘cruising’ RV sites on the internet I learned that some RV campgrounds have only  15 AMP and 50 AMP power outlets. My question is can this 30 AMP circuit board handle the 75 AMPS of power from my generator and can I plug into a 50 AMP power outlet at a campground without creating problems. I apreciate any help you can give me.

 Nevile, I doubt that the generator on your new rig puts out 75 amps;  that’s about 9 KW.  Typically, a rig that size would have no larger that a 6 or 7 KW which is about 50 amps.  Unless you have 2 air conditioners you probably only have a a 4.5 KW generator  (about 35 amps).  .  Most RVs with a 6-7 KW generator have 2 Air Conditioners and the generator output is wired such that half of the generator output is used to power one of the A/Cs only while the other half powers the other A/C and everything else in the RV.  That’s why you can’t run both A/Cs unless the generator is running or you are connected to 50 amp service.  CGs come in all varities from 15 amps (the older ones) to the more mdern 30 and 50 amp service.  You can plug your rig into any of these with the proper adapter. John Stone

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