Dogbone power adapter question

[Dan n Lisa Lund]

[size=14]Hello team! I have a new question. I bought a doggbone power adapter that goes from the 50 amp of the coach to a 110 plug that will allow me to plug the coach into a regular 110vac outlet. If I use this adapter what circuits will it power? I plugged it in and can't find what it powers. Maybe nothing? I don't know. I was hoping it would power the inverter to maintain the house batts when in storage.

Thanks, Dan[/size]
 

[Dick Simonis]

I ran my PT on 120 with minimal problems.  The charger no problem and on AC unit was OK but I had a 20 amp circuit...15 might not run the AC.

However, the MH kept tripping the GFI no mater what I did.  I think it had something to do with the Neutral and ground being tied together by either the transfer switch, inverter, or both.  My solution was to replace the GFI with a non-GFI and all was well after that.

[Gerald Farris]

 Dan,
A standard 120 volt circuit will power anything that you need up to the capacity of the circuit. If you are plugged into a 15 amp circuit, that is the maximum current that you can use, but be careful to watch the voltage if you get close to the circuit capacity. Disconnect the coach or reduce demand if the voltage drops to 104 volts or less. Also like Dick said, almost no RVs will run on a standard 15 amp GFI plug.

A 15 or 20 amp circuit will not power much in the coach. If you have used a 30 amp post at an RV park, you know how easy it is to trip the breaker, and on a standard household plug, you will only have about 1/2 of that power available. When comparing a household plug to a 50 amp RV plug, you will only have from 1/8 to 1/5 the power because on a 50 amp plug, you really have 100 amps available.

Gerald

[Larry Williams]

Ordinarily the 50 Amp circuits are divided so that the house gets power from each leg of the 50 Amp connector separately. For instance, if you have two A/C units, one is on each leg. When you use a dogbone adapter (30 or 15) those legs are fed together. So the two A/C units both can try to run on the 30 or 15 Amp circuits, usually tripping the breaker if you try both at once. Also as a prior user noted, if the dogbone is not wired properly it will trip a GFI breaker since sometimes it uses the ground wire to return some of the current instead of all through the neutral wire as it should. If wired properly the inverter/charger should operate with no problem on 15 amps circuits. Just don't try to run much else like the refrigerator and microwave on A/C.

[Les Brandt]

How coincidental!

I had one of the small 30-15 adapters. When I got the coach winterized, they accidently left the AquaHot electric switch on and when I plugged into my garage 110v outlet with my 50' 10ga cord, this is what happened...

Along with the switch, would have been the inverter/charger and fridge.

[David T. Richelderfer]

With all that heat, why did you winterize the coach?

[Dan n Lisa Lund]

[size=14]Hi David...It is defiantly not winterized. I just want to keep the batteries at capacity when I am not using it. So therefore was wondering if the inverter would run on 110. I will be either using the coach every weekend or doing maintenance on it for sure. I am still having a few electrical issues that I am trying to work through. I think my BIRD might be not working because I have a 3 to 4 amp discharge showing on the Aladin when I am rolling down road. Chassis side is great now showing about 13.9 to 14.1. Coach electrical shows a Dis 3 on the Aladin unless the Generator is running. What do you set your inverter at when driving? I have been turning it off. Not sure if this is right.

Dan[/size]

[David T. Richelderfer]

In brief, we start the generator if not on shore power, rearrange stuff so the slides can close without obstruction, stow the satellite dish and roll up the TV, pickup the hydraulics, start the engine to air up the bags to travel, shut off the engine, close the slides, check all the roof vents, windows, doors - inside and outside, reel in the shore power line if it was hooked up, hook up the toad and check its lights and Even-Brake, do a walkabout to double-check everything is stowed, closed, and otherwise ready for travel, harness up the dog, jump into the pilot's seat, check that the battery voltages are above 12.6 - that's for all 8 batteries, start the engine, shut down the generator if running, check the rearview mirrors and cameras, check the engine pressures and voltages, yell "All Aboard" - sometimes "Helms Alee," put the transmission in gear, and go.  We do not touch the inverter control panel unless it had been set to something unusual while parked.  In two years of ownership of this coach the inverter has been off only to reset/reboot it.

I'm sure I forgot a few things.  We'll catch them down the road in a few miles.   lol   We always forget something!!  We departed Jordan Valley last year with the satellite dish up... went most of ten miles before remembering what we forgot.

[Dan n Lisa Lund]

[size=14]So the inverter position is set in the "charge" mode?[/size]

[David T. Richelderfer]

My inverter's remote panel shows 4 settings for the inverter - OFF, SRCH, ON, and CHG.  I leave it set on SRCH at all times.  SRCH and ON are effectively the same.  When the coach is plugged into shore power or the generator is running, then the inverter monitors and charges the batteries as needed.  I can set the amount of amps that the inverter will allow the charging system to pull.  If I turn down the allowed amps for charging to 5a or less, then I can run the coach in a very limited fashion on a 15a to 20a shore power plug.  BTW, my coach has a 2500w Xantrex inverter.  Some RV parks do not have 50a hookups. Those parks will have 30a and again I will set down the allowed charging amps so that I can operate one of several other devices like the electric heating element or microwave or one air conditioner/heat pump.  I can set the allowed charging amps from 1a to 25a from the remote.