30A Appliance (240v) to 30A TT (120v) Dogbone?
I have a 30-amp 4-prong electric receptical that I would like to hook my 30A TT extension cord into. If I understand this correctly, that 4-prong receptical has 2 hot legs of 120v for a 240v service.
My question: Will a home-made adapter dogbone work for this? What I want to do is connect a 30A TT female end to a 30A appliance male end using 10/3 cord. I would hook the black wire to one of the hot clamps in the appliance plug and simply leave the other unconnected. neutral and ground would connect to their proper wires, of course.
Is there an obvious risk I'm not seeing? or a hidden one? Thanks.
RE: Which One Of These Generators Would You Get?
Set aside the question of whether Polite Campers (PC) are entitled to make, modify or break the rules in a public campground (they advocate doing all three). What I want to know is, what in the world do the PC think they're accomplishing with all this whining? Convincing people not to buy yellow generators?
I cannot imagine that anyone who would otherwise not have spent $2,000 for a 30-amp generator, would suddenly decide to do it after reading these hissy fits. Why waste the energy, then? Is there some sort of hidden signal being passed between the type of men who would spend $2,000 for a $299 generator?
RE: Which One Of These Generators Would You Get?
Well, the OP didn't say what he was planning on doing all day, or even whether he was going to camp near neighbors. I would note that his signature identifies him as in ALASKA, which would make the noise-related rants from places such as Arizona seem a bit premature.
To The OP--
If you are looking for a great generator at a great price, I suggest you consider the Champion 3500 ($299) or Champion 1200 ($199), depending on your needs. They can be found at Schucks/Kragen/Parts America, among other outlets.
Search this forum for many posts from happy Champion customers, as well as plenty more of the type of rants you've already gotten. This forum is a great source for expertise on pretty much any topic EXCEPT generators, where the mere mention of the word "Champion" causes the Alien creature to burst out of everyone's stomach.
RE: Washington's Olympic Peninsula Free Campgrounds
I agree, the Olympic Loop has a lot to offer, particularly in the way of free. Since Nelda and Swann didn't spill the beans with any specifics, I won't either. But I will say that most of the free campgrounds (no cost) are run by the Washington Dept. of Natural Resources (DNR). A determined search will get you a detailed map of them. I know there are others run by logging companies, "Rayonnier" comes to mind. I would not recommend these sight-unseen. I had a look at one of them and it had a definite odor.
Nelda--
You mentioned Forks allowed free boondocking on their grassy vacant lots. I didn't realize this. I know exactly the spots you're talking about, they're VERY nice, but since they're in the center of town, who do I call to verify this so I don't get run out on a rail?
2Oldman--
Any chance you know whether there's VZ cell service down at South Beach?
RE: In a camper during the winter...
Folks with far more RV experience than me have posted about the issues of keeping black tank and possibly fresh system from freezing in winter camping. For me that's no issue, as I don't use the commode in winter camping, and my fresh system is all in the heated cabin.
I'll confess I'm mystified as to the concerns over keeping the TT cabin warm. If you have a space heater and shore power it will be fine, even toasty. I do it under generator power, even electric heating, but I don't recommend this to the un-insane. For nights, I recommend an electric blanket, this puts the heat exactly where you want it, and saves considerable power.
I've done a good bit of winter camping and this was the first winter I even had the benefit of walls and a roof--my first TT. Believe me, ANY "3 season" TT while be plenty warm. Plumbing, that's another issue. But I've never put a skirt around my TT, and for that matter I've never dressed my hound dog up in a petticoat, either.
RE: Cheapest place to buy 30 amp extension cord.
Although I agree it's not "advisable", I did it, and the results have been surprisingly good.
First of all, check Camping World and PPL. Both have occassional $50 sales on the 50-ft 10/3 (30-amp) extension cord. This is the cheapest I have found. To make my own single 100-ft 10/3 was above $200 and to make a 100-ft 8/3 was out of this world, as I recall. Two 50's were MUCH cheaper.
I cut the female plug off one cord and hardwired it into my breaker box. I had a 30-ft 10/3 there originally, hardwired. Now, I have 50-ft right off, and when I wish, I can connect the second 50-ft 10/3 cord. Now for the results.
With a roughly 350-watt load, and my generator showing 125+volts output, my kill-a-watt shows 124 volts, using 2 50-ft runs of 10/3 cord, or 100-ft.
With a 3000-watt steady load, and a 100-ft connection to my generator, which puts out 125+ volts, I am showing 116 volts or better at my kill-a-watt. Also, reading from the panel of my Prosine 2.0, which passes ALL power through it, I am showing 119 volts with this load. I have 2 20-amp runs in my TT, and I suppose the 116-volt reading reflects the more heavily used leg, while the 119-volt reading reflects the true voltage drop over the 100-ft run. Or maybe they just disagree.
This roughly jives with the voltage drop calculators I found on the net. Ideally, a 5% drop is the maximum, and I'm just skirting that under the heaviest loads. To the plus side, the generator is putting out 5 additional volts of headroom, which I'm GUESSING can provide a buffer (oh, I'm going to hear about that).
Also, bear in mind that the heaviest loads are intermittent. Moderate loads do not pull the voltage down nearly so much.
I don't recommend this, because I have NO expertise in this. The experts have all advised you against this, many of whom are practicing electricians. However, AFAICT, the results are not alarming from a safety standpoint.
Or are they?
RE: We need advice on choosing trailer
To the OP (Bonnie/Ron/Kathy):
Look on Craigslist.com. You will find GREAT used trailers for $3,000 or even $2,000. You don't need to spend $12,000 (or even $16,000) to live the dream of travel and camping.
Spend some time to learn about it and look at a LOT of different trailers or motor homes. And save your money for the truly rewarding experiences in life, like buying $5 gasoline.
It sounds like times are a bit tough right now. There's no law that says you have to spend a lot of money to have fun. Good luck!
RE: BIG TiMe downsize!
biker--
I agree with what you're doing, and I think pocketing 10 grand is reason enough--although I think you'll be lucky to retain 5k once your whale is sold. The market for bigguns is VERY soft.
FWIW, don't brush aside the good advice you're getting here. My new (2me) TT barely stretches 17'11", but with a full frontal area I still get only 10-12 mpg on the highway. And let me explain what the difference is: At 60 I get 10 mpg, at 55 I get 12. Slow down and you will save more gas than you will by trading trailers.
As for climbing "Mt. Hood Pass", I've skied Mt. Hood most summers since they started glacier skiing in 1978. And I've never driven the incline up to Govy (3500 ft, not 6k) without having to slalom my Jeep GC between lumbering wooly mammoths inching up at 35 mph.
Well, this year with my TT I'll be lucky to do 35, but I'll bet I won't be the slowest. So why sweat it? If gas stays this high, folks will soon be towing TT's with their bicycles, biker.
RE: Solar, shade, and security
If i was going to steal something, I would much rather steal a Honda 2000. BTW, where are you camping next?
Prof, I think you will find many solar-powered RVers are simply bolting their panels down flat to the roof (using cross-brackets). While this immediately chops off 30% of the peak efficency, you get to keep your panels.
As I look at this for myself, the desire to camp in the shade sort of jumps out at me, too. So I've been looking at panels of a size that I can slip into my pass-through storage (I built a whopping big pass-through storage). Thus hidden, it should deter potential drive-by theft of the panels. As for generator theft, my Champion 3500 comes with built-in theft deterrence: no one wants to steal it.
I picture myself lugging the panels 10 yards to a sunny spot and running cable. I'll defer to the experts, but I would have to believe that long cable runs are not a big issue with solar, if you have a big enough cable. There seems to be plenty of voltage headroom on the generation side, and you're headed to a transformer, anyway.
RE: 3 ways to recharge when dry camping -- which is best?
prof--
While a bigger charger will help, there is a limit to what the battery can accept without damage or disaster. For a single battery, upgrading your charger to 30 or 40 amps is about it, and even then you're going to parboil the thing eventually.
Dixon makes a great point about the Honda 2000, only he fails to mention that on another thread he's considering spending $800 on a new A/C that he hopes the Honda can reliably power. Of course 2 Hondas and a connector will do that, but now you're talking about $2,000 for a 4000-watt (surge) generator.
Never mind what I think the best generator is at the 4000-watt price/performance point. Since you aren't talking about A/C I think your Honda is just fine, and with a 40-amp charger you've maximized your generator's charging efficiency.
Beyond that you're going to have to throw money at solar. This is what I'm considering for myself, and I'm looking at the cost of installing a solar array.
The good news is that 2 or 3 years from now solar will cost a lot less and work much better. The bad news is that if you spent the next 2 or 3 years dry camping CONTINUALLY, you will almost have amortized the cost of your solar setup vs just buying gas for your generator.
And that's if gas stays at the current high prices. The whole equation falls apart if gas suddenly drops back to $2 a gallon, which it will certainly do the day after I spend $2,000 on a "starter" solar setup.
Prosine Autoformer?
Given that the Prosine allows you to set lower and upper voltage limits for transfer to inverter, isn't this doing exactly what an autoformer does? Or even a surge protector?
I realize that instead of transforming the current it kicks over to battery, but this can have the effect of protecting equipment from bad power, right?
RE: Champion Genset 3.5 KW- Good Start
I love my Champion 3500. One day I might spend $2,000 to get the same amount of power out of a pair of Honda 2000's, but in the mean time $299 got me a GREAT generator.
CCC.
RE: Dry camping/boondocking on own property questions...
I agree with Bubby, and I think his kin are doing it the right way.
If it were me, I would purchase and have delivered a mobile home or LARGE TT, possibly park model. The key is that it would be OLD and CHEAP. Once set up on my property it would have found its final resting place, and once done with it I would cut it up and bury it in the yard.
If you are determined to live off-grid, fine, but it is a LOT more expensive. And forget any notion of the "simple" life. Off-grid you must ensure that you have enough fuel, food, equipment, etc, to get through the tough spots. For me, if there were any way to get electricity strung to my homesite I would do it and cut out fully 90% of my recurring costs. You're still going to need a reliable generator for backup, but at least you're not generating power at $1.00/kwh.
As others have said, its all do-able. It does, however, demand a daily proactive approach. Cities got so big by being so efficient at keeping us warm/cool, fed, safe, etc. Leaving the city means taking personal responsibility for all that.
As for the poor "winterability" of RV's, I think it's a matter of perspective. Having tent camped in 25 below (AK), I can tell you that an RV seems toasty warm by comparison. Although it's true that an RV is not as well-insulated as a house, it is much easier to heat, given it's small size. Your biggest concern will be ensuring that your plumbing and tanks are protected from the cold.
Good luck with this, and please post your progress. I know I daydream of doing this every now and then, and I am sure there are others.
RE: "Fuel Efficient" charging pattern?
I agree also--great info!
As for the Honda eu2000, I think if you have only one charging method, it is certainly the best one and "possibly" the most economical over time. However, two things work against it, IMO:
#1. That other generator with significantly lower purchase cost. We all agree the Honda runs more efficiently, but there are no hard figures yet--YET.
#2. Solar-generated float charge. It looks like roughly $1300 will buy you a couple of Kyocera 135-watt panels and a charge controller. Reduce outputs for efficiency loss and you're still getting an 8-amp charge, it seems.
So. I've already got a generator to run my A/C and everything else (all at the same time). But it slurps gas and could be quieter and better-loved by potential CG neighbors. Do I spend $1,000 on a quieter second generator that uses less gas, or $1300 on a silent generator that uses NO gas? Remember, I've still got that honkin' yellow thang.
Solar Power: I cry "Uncle"
I've been mulling solar power for some time now (and pestering you good folks with questions), but only lately have I really seen how it fits into the picture. Many people here seem to use solar to stretch the time between generator recharges, basically as a float charge.
So. In a perfect world I would want 15-20 amps of charging power(at the battery). But given all the variables this is a ridiculous number of panels, right? Others have said solar is something to get into in stages, so I'd like to start with one or two big panels.
--What is the "typical" 12-hour power factor from an 8-amp panel? Is it 50% (4-amps)?
--Where can I get this stuff CHEAP? Is there a source for used panels?
--What's a good controller, cheap but with room to grow?
RE: "Fuel Efficient" charging pattern?
Okay, just so I understand, does that mean letting it run on the default bulk (14.4v) and then disconnecting it as it falls off into absorption mode--this will get me 80% or 90% of the way there?
And then every week I do a full, leisurely charge?
What if I just do the bulk but change it to 14.8v?
RE: "Fuel Efficient" charging pattern?
Ha! You got me there, D!
Look, I'd love to buy a new expensive gennie, especially after springing for the new Prosine and a set of 4 batteries. But it isn't going to be a gallon less per hour savings. I know this because my 3500 uses less than a gallon an hour. Or does Mr. Honda show up at your campsite with a gas can full of savings?
I know a more efficient gennie's in my future, and working my way into 2 linked Hondas one at a time has a nice ring to it. But maybe what I really need is thirty amps of solar? And how many more holes in my head?
RE: "Fuel Efficient" charging pattern?
Hurricaneer--
Thank you, although I'm going to have to study your answer and work through it slowly.
If I understand it correctly, I can config the ProSine to do a custom charge protocol. Currently it is on "Generic Flooded". Bulk mode under generic is "30", and voltage is 14.4. Are you suggesting I program this to 14.8 volts and "80"?
RE: "Fuel Efficient" charging pattern?
Pop B--
Thank you, your response is dead on. I am spending gas to run the gene even when I'm getting very little charge out of it.
How do I know when the battery is absorbing less?
Is it DIRECTLY equivalent to the amp charge rate?
At the end of bulk mode, how much charge has gone in?
