HI:You can buy a 220 volt to 110 volt adapter. I bought one yesterday when I ran into a 220 volt situation and needed to hook up. Camping World or any good RV store probably has one. One side of the plug is just a dummy so as to give you 110 volts at 50 amps. Plug it into the 220 and your 30 amp plug into the other side and you are in business. Use a heavy, commercial type extension cord. Bill
I know that you are not going yo install anything, but here is a website look here that helps to explain AC circuitry as it relates to RVs, in layman's terms.
Perhaps it will help you to understand some future situations.
Dave & Mary
Isabel (a cuddly little Boston)
Buddy (The Beast) another Boston
2005 Itasca Suncruiser 35A
2003 Jeep Liberty
If it's listed in the Yellow Pages, the government shouldn't be messing around with it.
Take a few minutes and see how many AMPS you could be using in your RV's 50 or 30 AMP electrical systems. It's surprising how fast the AMPS usage can cause your breaker in your unit or the campground to "trip". Knowing the AMPS of all the electrical appliances in your RV can help you manage electrical use and prevent the inconvenience of 'WHY DID MY BREAKER TRIP ". This list includes the typical appliances used and the average amps required to operate them. .
Air Conditioner 15,000 BTU---12.20 Amps
Computer & Printer---.07 amps
Curling Iron---06 amps
Electric Frying Pan--10 amps
Food Processor--6 amps
Hair Dryer---8 amps
Ice Maker--4 amps
Iron---10 amps
Radio--.80 amps
Toaster---8 amps
VCR---1 amps
Refrigerator---7 amps
Battery Charger 6.20 amps
Converter 5.50 amps
Electric Coffee Pot 9.00 amps
Electric Hot Water Heater 12.50 amps
Freezer 6.40 amps
Heating Pad .05 amps
Inverter 16.0 amps
Microwave Oven 12.5 amps
TV 2.0 amps
Vacuum Cleaner 2.0 amps
Washer/Dryer - 2 piece 16.0 amps
Space Heater 12.5 amps
As an example, take an average morning -if you start your air conditioner and your hot water heater is on, then start your coffee pot, make some toast, turn on the TV you're at 55 amps when all appliances are operating. You are at the Maximum!
Plus, if you also cook your bacon in the microwave at the same time when everything else is on...LOOK OUT! Many RV's have a switch so that you can run only the microwave or the water heater at one time -BUT SOME RV"S DO NOT HAVE THIS FEATURE so you now have a problem.
Most electrical products show how many watts or amps it takes to operate the product printed on the product itself or in the instructions. If it shows the watts - divide the watts by 120 (volts) and that gives you the amps. To get the watts - Multiply the amps by 120 (volts)
It's worth your time to take an inventory on the "AMPS" each of your electrical appliances uses. Then you can manage your total usage at one time and this greatly reduces the ...risk of tripping breakers.
* This post was
edited 06/21/08 07:11am by 85Eagle *
havedreamwilltravel wrote: Okay...thanks. The amps/volts thing really confuses me
Bill Nye (The Science Guy) once explained it like this:
Volts = pressure
Amps = flow
Think of a garden hose. If you have low water pressure, you won't get the flow of water you want. (Even if you have good pressure, you won't get the flow you want if you have a skinny hose.)
With electricity, it's electrons flowing instead of water. 220 volts pushes those electrons with too much force for devices designed for 110 volts.
Thank you for a clear explanation. What is a watt?
This is our second post here. After 40+ years as RV'ers, that is one of the biggest reasons that we always have a generator. We have seen more than our share of crappy campgrounds with bad hook-ups and low power sorces. We are always prepaired for any electrial situation. Thats another reason that we dry-camp when ever possible. We hate to waste good money on campsites with marginal electrial. You can be sure of one thing, if a campground is an old one, which most of them are, and its going to be a very hot day, everyone will want to run their A/C's. Its not going to happen. When everyone is trying to run their A/C, the campground just can't handle that type of a load requirement. Yes, generators are expensive. Espically if you buy the top brand quite ones. But when it comes to our comforts, we don't spare any expense. The last thing that we want is to pay to be in a campground with full hook-ups, and not have enought power to run our A/C any time that we want to. If you had a generator, you wouldn't be needing to have this post in the first place. And you wouldn't be needing any electrial from any of your friends either. Isn't that why we all wanted fully self-contained RV's in the first place? If you can't run everything in your RV, on your own, then your are not truelly self-contained. We like the fact that we never have to depend on anyone, or any place for our power needs. Good Luck. Happy Camping. Dan & Jill
1997 Ford F-250, H.D. Extended-Cab, Short Bed, 7.3 PSD, K&N Air Filter, 5000 lbs air bags w/on board compressor w/guage, SuperChips Tuner/Programer. 1996 Nash 24fter 5er, 15K "Lil" Rocker Hitch w/BedSaver, Twin EU2000i Gen's W/Kit. Nam-Vet, 33 Months.
havedreamwilltravel wrote: Thanks everyone. I have a better handle on the amps/volts thing. This is why there are electricians for these jobs and why the layperson should not attempt electrical anything!
As it stands, we're still trying to decide what to do. We have until August so i'm sure we'll change our minds more than once till then!
Now here we have the smartest person on the forum!!!!
My ten plus years experience as a former electrician tells me that 99% of laypeople know NOTHING about electricity and shouldn't even change a broken receptical. Most of all, they shound NOT be posting their half-baked, totally wrong, and VERY DANGEROUS ideas about how to wire electrical devices on ANY public forum!
Good luck resolving your problem havedreamwilltravel. As has been mentioned (a few people got it right), a 20 amp, 120v circuit from the house without any other heavy load on it should do you just fine.
At home, my trailer is plugged into a 20 amp circuit with a 100 ft 12 ga (NO smaller!) extention cord. I can run my A/C off this setup and the voltage drop through the cord is well within the acceptable range for the A/C unit. The voltage drops from 118v at the house to 113v at the trailer with the A/C running. The manufacturer of my A/C unit (Dometic) specs 103v as the minimum SAFE running voltage.
Paul (Mouse)
2007 Flagstaff Shamrock 17 Hybrid (heavily modified for boondocking and winter camping).
2007 Dodge Dakota Quad Cab 4x4, 4.7L HO, factory tow, 3.92 gears.
Equil-i-zer Hitch, Prodigy.
Yamaha EF2400 Generator (quiet, cause I care!)
havedreamwilltravel wrote: Thanks everyone. I have a better handle on the amps/volts thing. This is why there are electricians for these jobs and why the layperson should not attempt electrical anything!
As it stands, we're still trying to decide what to do. We have until August so i'm sure we'll change our minds more than once till then!
Now here we have the smartest person on the forum!!!!
My ten plus years experience as a former electrician tells me that 99% of laypeople know NOTHING about electricity and shouldn't even change a broken receptical. Most of all, they shound NOT be posting their half-baked, totally wrong, and VERY DANGEROUS ideas about how to wire electrical devices on ANY public forum!
Good luck resolving your problem havedreamwilltravel. As has been mentioned (a few people got it right), a 20 amp, 120v circuit from the house without any other heavy load on it should do you just fine.
At home, my trailer is plugged into a 20 amp circuit with a 100 ft 12 ga (NO smaller!) extention cord. I can run my A/C off this setup and the voltage drop through the cord is well within the acceptable range for the A/C unit. The voltage drops from 118v at the house to 113v at the trailer with the A/C running. The manufacturer of my A/C unit (Dometic) specs 103v as the minimum SAFE running voltage.
The initial question of my post got lost long ago - when all I was asking is whether 220 would run the air and that was cleared up quickly by telling me no, it would fry it. I never ever was going to do my own electrical, never wanted to, never intended family to add anything or do anything and just had a simple question - could I plug into a house outlet to run the A/C on our trailer in a very hot town with no campgrounds nearby for 1-2 nights while we our way home from South Lake Tahoe.
Somewhere along the way - the initial intention of my inquiry got lost and now I need to wire everything, hire electricians, buy generators we can't afford and make family change wiring to accomodate us
Now....i've gotten my answer so really, no more electrical posts or help is needed. We can allow this post to die a natural death. Thanks to everyone who helped!
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