# 50 Amp Service In 2004 28Rss - Should I Do It?



## gregjoyal (Jan 25, 2005)

Last year, now with two small kids in tow, we decided enough towing.. and we got a seasonal spot near a nice little lake, beach and 9 hole par 3 golf course. (Actually, we loved towing but my partner is a professor and wants to spend the summer months at the trailer .. and I haven't got that much holidays, so seasonal works great!)

This year we want to build a cabana (more on that in another post







), but that got me thinking about the 30amp service to our trailer. Two things:
- I do believe the fan to cool my 
- Power to additional lights and plugs in the cabana area.
- Our Carrier V Air Conditioner has always been an energy hog and often cuts out.. (having to disconnect all power to reset it). If I turn off lights and the electric water heater, this doesn't happen as often.

I've had the AC unit serviced and everything always checks out OK .. I was told that it just sucks up too much juice for the 20 amp breaker.

So I was thinking... what would it take to upgrade my trailer to use the 50 amp service at the campground? And could I then re-wire the AC to a 30amp breaker?

(and not necessarily wanting to do it myself...







)


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Do not change the breaker to the AC unit. That would be a fire hazard. You really need to find out why the trailer is pulling so many amps.

Cheaper and easier to do would be to wire the water heater to an independent circuit and plug that into your shore power separately.


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## Dub (Dec 8, 2008)

If you upgrade to 50A I want to know what parts you use as I would love to do this myself. However, in regards to your AC problem...class A's have some type of auto load switch that you can isolate a few circuits with, I can't remember for the life of me what they are called, but basically you would put your AC compressor on this circuit and if your turn on the microwave, the circuit detects the new draw and shuts off the AC until the microwave is done. This keeps you from blowing breakers. It might be cheaper and easier to install one of those vs. rewiring for 50A.


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## hautevue (Mar 8, 2009)

If the A/C unit is on a separate 20a breaker, and it keeps tripping, then the a/c unit is the culprit. In spite of what the service guys say, the A/C unit should not draw that kind of power for more than a few seconds at start-up.

One thing you might try is to substitute a 20a slo-blow circuit breaker. That breaker tolerates a 2 or 3 second overload without tripping, and allows the compressor and fan to start up. Their start-up draws in the 25 - 27 amps range, but only for a few seconds.

Another possible fix is putting a hard-start capacitor on the compressor; that helps speed up the starting and shortens the time of the 25 - 27 amp draw. This site has threads and comments about hard-start capacitors.

If the water heater AND A/C are on the same 20a breaker, I agree w/CamperAndy above that you should probably move the water heater off that breaker and wire a separate line to the water heater from your main panel. Then it would have its own breaker.

But you should not replace the 20a breaker with a 30a one. The breaker protects the wires, and I am sure they are #12 (good for 20 amps) and not #10 or #8 (good for 30 amps). (The smaller the wire number, the bigger it is and thus can carry more power.)

Upping the breaker to a 30a one is akin to what our grandparents did 80 years ago: they put a penny behind the screw-in fuse in the panel. That solved the problem of the fuse blowing, but contributed to a lot of house fires.


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## Y-Guy (Jan 30, 2004)

You've got something going wrong there, our rig has two A/C units and I can run both of them on 30amp fine as long as I don't run to much else. Now our rig does have energy management, but the fact is if you are having problems running 1 A/C and other lights there is something wrong.

Are you also running the electric water heater?

I have had a rig with a 50amp cord, yes it was nice but mostly unnecessary unless you are in a large RV. Have you tried lugging that 50amp cord around? PITA and in winter its 10x worse.


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## gregjoyal (Jan 25, 2005)

Thanks so much for the answers...

Just to clarify... I would have never put in a 30amp breaker without upgrading the wiring to the AC unit. That I do know!







I was just wondering if was a good/bad idea. From what I'm hearing, it should not be necessary.

The biggest problem with the silly AC unit is that if the compressor fails to start, it goes into an error state and the only way to reset it is to unplug shore power AND disconnect the battery. I made this easier a few years ago by putting in a quick battery shut off switch under the propane covers grounded/attached to the trailer frame.

This is what I'm taking away from this thread:

- I will replace the 20amp breaker with a new one (maybe even the slow-blow kind) just to make sure it's not the problem.
- The water heater is fine... it is on a separate circuit, and we usually run in electric mode - UNLESS we are using the AC, then we turn it off.
- Find a hard-start capacitor kit for my AC unit.
- If all else fails, get the AC unit serviced again!

So two questions...

- What would be the best place to get that 20amp breaker (dealers here in town can be so ridiculously expensive.. we don't have Camping World







)?
- And where do I even find the hard start capacitor kit? I did a search on google and it seems I don't know what to type in for searching!

Thanks
Greg


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

You can get the breaker at any home supply store like Ace, Home Depot or Lowes. Just pull the breaker out and take it with you so you can get the correctly matched type.


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## gregjoyal (Jan 25, 2005)

CamperAndy said:


> You can get the breaker at any home supply store like Ace, Home Depot or Lowes. Just pull the breaker out and take it with you so you can get the correctly matched type.


Really? I wouldn't have thought a place like Home Depot would sell them... Awesome.

Another thought .. would there be any merit in installing a new/better convert? I've always wondered if mine worked properly .. sometimes it doesn't seem my battery charges properly. Or is there a simple way to test them?

(all this trailer talk... I can't wait to go camping... too bad it's a -34C windchill out today, only -22C without the wind)


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## hautevue (Mar 8, 2009)

The 120v circuit breakers in the TTs are standard residential style ones. The trick is that manufacturers use different bases to "plug it in". Thus a GE breaker might not fit a Siemans panel, and ITE panel breakers might not fit a GE panel, and so forth.

Unless there's something on a label that says to use a specific brand of breaker (and they'll usually have the part numbers on the label), take the breaker with you to Homely Despot, Lowes, etc, or any electrical supply store, and buy one that has the same base. The breaker will have the manufacturers name on it, too. Maybe you'll luck out and find a label on your TT panel that says to "Use XX brand breakers".

The base is the back side of the breaker that plugs into the panel. I'm sure the counter guy at the electrical supply store will be of mucho help.

If you get the wrong "style" breaker, it won't fit and won't click into the panel. So don't just grab the first 20 amp breaker you see....

Don't forget: for safety, be SURE that your shore power cable is disconnected when you pop the "old" breaker out of the panel. Unless you're an experienced electrician, don't work on the panel when it's "hot".

Unscrew the wire (there will only be one) and trot off to the store.

Good luck and let us know how it comes out.


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## WWH (May 7, 2010)

I added a second AC unit and converted to 50 amp service this past summer. WHAT A DIFFERENCE!

There is now plenty of power to run anything at any time without worry of tripping a breaker or melting the 30 amp plug.

You will need to run larger wire from the pole to the power distribution panel. I purchased a Marinco shore power cord and receptical, the most expensive part of the conversion, a 50 amp power distribution panel from Best Converter, and used 8 gage wiring I already had. I also installed a Progressive Industries surge protector.

The cost was not that bad it just took some time.

Let me know if you decide to convert and need additional information.


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## outback loft (Sep 22, 2008)

WWH said:


> I added a second AC unit and converted to 50 amp service this past summer. WHAT A DIFFERENCE!
> 
> There is now plenty of power to run anything at any time without worry of tripping a breaker or melting the 30 amp plug.
> 
> ...


You need to watch out, 8 gauge wiring is too small for the 50 amp service. I am almost positive that you need to step down to a 6 gauge wire for that case. If your trailer had 8 gauge already then they oversized it for 30 amp. 8 gauge is good for 40 amp for sure, but 50 is pushing it.


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## Dub (Dec 8, 2008)

WWH said:


> I added a second AC unit and converted to 50 amp service this past summer. WHAT A DIFFERENCE!


I've only needed a 2nd A/C once when camping in Florida...I think a small Window A/C would do the trick for the few times I'd need it. However, I would love to have it for the opposite season...we do a bit of winter camping and I prefer to run my electric heaters vs. the furnace once the unit is warmed up. Two will blow the breakers in the camper, so I can run one plus some other stuff. I have been considering adding 2-3 outlets in the camper wired to an extra 20A input since most parks I visit have both 30 and 20 on the same pole. Just plug in a second wire, and then use the other outlets for the second heater, etc.


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## OutbackPM (Sep 14, 2005)

One other thing not mentioned is to check the voltage you are getting at the pole and how it varies when you put load on it.
If the voltage drops then the A/C will draw a higher current than if it were higher. Recommendations are something like 103 to 127 volts I think.

If that happens then its the pole not you


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## BamaOutbackers (Jun 12, 2010)

I upgraded my 30A 31KFW to a 50A. And I love it! Washer/dryer,second fridge.

You do need a 3/C #6 cable though. #8 is too small.


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## WWH (May 7, 2010)

outback loft said:


> I added a second AC unit and converted to 50 amp service this past summer. WHAT A DIFFERENCE!
> 
> There is now plenty of power to run anything at any time without worry of tripping a breaker or melting the 30 amp plug.
> 
> ...


You need to watch out, 8 gauge wiring is too small for the 50 amp service. I am almost positive that you need to step down to a 6 gauge wire for that case. If your trailer had 8 gauge already then they oversized it for 30 amp. 8 gauge is good for 40 amp for sure, but 50 is pushing it.
[/quote]
Sorry for the delayed response. Been on the road working too much lately. After reading your post and getting back in town to check the size wire I installed instead of relying on my memory I found there really is a reason not to trust my memory all the time. After pulling down the belly panel I did use six gage wire for the trailer and 4 gage from the house to the 50 amp receptical. I stand corrected on the wire size.

I also split the loads between the two hot legs and installed a Progressive Industries Energy management system to monitor the loads on each leg plus protect the trailer from surges.

This was the best mod I have done on this trailer so far.


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## WWH (May 7, 2010)

Dub said:


> I added a second AC unit and converted to 50 amp service this past summer. WHAT A DIFFERENCE!


I've only needed a 2nd A/C once when camping in Florida...I think a small Window A/C would do the trick for the few times I'd need it. However, I would love to have it for the opposite season...we do a bit of winter camping and I prefer to run my electric heaters vs. the furnace once the unit is warmed up. Two will blow the breakers in the camper, so I can run one plus some other stuff. I have been considering adding 2-3 outlets in the camper wired to an extra 20A input since most parks I visit have both 30 and 20 on the same pole. Just plug in a second wire, and then use the other outlets for the second heater, etc.
[/quote]

When camping in Texas in the summer the outside temp often climbs past 100 and one ac unit will not cool our Sydney fiver down to a a no sweat condition. Now the hottest part of the day is tv or nap time.


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## Sweathog62 (Jul 28, 2005)

So, I am being told that instead of a 2nd a/c unit Lakeshore will change out the 13500 btu with a 15000 btu unit on a new 298 re model for about $350 bucks. Does anyone have a clue if this is a significant amount worth the change???

Our current 23 rs will take about 1 hour to really cood down and allow one to fall asleep. I love the idea of a second unit and 50 amp service upgrade but that is well beyond this cowboy's abilitiy!!


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## Sweathog62 (Jul 28, 2005)

Sweathog62 said:


> So, I am being told that instead of a 2nd a/c unit Lakeshore will change out the 13500 btu with a 15000 btu unit on a new 298 re model for about $350 bucks. Does anyone have a clue if this is a significant amount worth the change???
> 
> Our current 23 rs will take about 1 hour to really cood down and allow one to fall asleep. I love the idea of a second unit and 50 amp service upgrade but that is well beyond this cowboy's abilitiy!!


Sorry, just noticed a thread of this very subject. Administrators: Feel free to delete this from the thread. Thanks.


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