You were saying that it appears you only picked up 2 amps going from the 20 amp outlet to the 30 (because, of course, the breaker is 22 amp) and......
You are close. you actually gained nothing (The 20 amp outlet will pass 22 amps, might warm up a bit but a 10% overload should be tolerated, hence the lack of a seperate 20 amp breaker) NOTE DO NOT COUNT ON THIS
The limiting factor in both outlets is the circuit breaker, 22 amp
Outlets come in "Sizes" Just like pants. Ever find a pair of trousers in size 39? NO, you get 'em in 38 and 40
Outlets come in 15, 20, 30, 50
The 30 amp twist lock is used for any generator big enough that a 20 amp won't cut it but small enough that a 30 amp will... In your case 22 amps.
Now there MAY (Depending on your rig) be a "Trick" you can use to get a bit more
If you have a converter that is PLUGGED in, and your generator is 220 volt, then there are two 22 amp breakers and likely a second set of 15/20 amp outlets
Run an E-cord from the the "Other leg" of the generator to the converter
Then plug the rest of the trailer into the twist lock
You get the max that way
Also works if you can break out the A/C and run it off the "Other half" of your generator.. I can do that on my rig
Nothin adds excitment like something that is none of your business John is Near Kenwood TS-2000 housed in a 2005 Damon Intruder 377
The 30 amp twist lock is used for any generator big enough that a 20 amp won't cut it but small enough that a 30 amp will... In your case 22 amps.
AHA! That explains it. Thanks for clarifying that. I was totally scratching my head on that one.
My gut tells me the converter is probably hard wired, but I'll have to look. That will involve actually figuring out HOW to look, but I haven't had an adventure in a good 30 hours, so what the hey.
Things appear to be stable now. It was a nice cool day today and we didn't run the AC, and only ran the gen for a few mins for the microwave. The batteries kept the lights on all evening without issue.
The hardware stores were closed for the 4th, so I'll have to look next week for a 30a extension.
In the meantime I topped off my fresh water tank, hauled in 110 gallons of water reloads, topped off my propane tanks. I'm ready for a relaxing weekend of listening to the voices in my head. (oh, and the wife and kid...)
Hi
I may have missed this but did you try disconnecting the battery lead and starting the A/C by itself for about five minutes to get over the starting load then reconnection the battery ground. Better yet is if one of the breakers goes to the converter and you can use that to get over the initial starting draw.
I can't tell by reading exactly what model of Champion generator you have, but the early model Champion "3500/4450" watt generators were wired kind of funny. They had two breakers, two pairs of standard receptacles, and one 120/240v twistlock. A 15a breaker protected one duplex receptacle and half of the twistlock, and a 20a breaker protected the other duplex receptacle and the other half of the twistlock.
Long story short - try the other receptacle or the other leg of the twistlock and see if your problem is any better.
If your Champion has 240v capability and does not have a 120/240 switch on the front panel, then it is one of the earlier models (the pre-"RV Ready" models) that would greatly benefit from a simple re-wire as detailed in the Chinese generator thread.
As far as starting time, How long is the 'starting' surge for AC? The unit ran from one to several minutes before tripping the breaker. I thought starting surge was only a few seconds while things got up to running speed?
My Champion is a 4600/5000w propane unit. I picked it up in March 2008. It has a 4 prong 240, a 3 prong twist 120 and a pair of household 3 prong duplex outlets. There are two independent breakers on the front of the unit, seemingly rated at 22 amps. My initial tests on the duplex outlets caused these to trip independently.
It does not have a 120/240 switch, but as it has different outlets for 120 and 240, this doesn't strike me as irregular.
As far as this trip, things have been fine. If we run on batteries long enough to let them get low I'll have breaker issues if I fire up the gen, run the AC and the converter is working hard, but if the batteries are only down a small amount they can both run without tripping the breaker. There is an internal breaker I can use to disable the converter at need, and this has served well enough for my needs on this trip.
I looked several places for a 30a extension cord yesterday, but they're not exactly easy to find. All the 10 and 12 gauge cords are rated for 15a, which is what I already have. There were some RV specific cords for 30a, but they all had pig-tails for hard wiring into the RV, rather than extension ends. I already have this, so that's no use.
We've stayed on the 30a unit cord for now and changed position of the gen for better sound muffling. That'll get us through the week. If anyone has info on a 30a rated extension cord, please send a link.
A circuit breaker will slowly heat up and trip when it is running near its maximum load, and some are more sensitive than others. As noted above, a large overload will trip it immediately, a small overload more slowly, and sometimes a load slightly less than maximum will eventually trip it. You should have more than one circuit on your generator, and should be able to rewire one A/C or the converter so you can use two extension cords and run separate items. I would guess, however, that it will be just as easy to simply shut off the converter CB, cool down with the A/C, then recharge the batteries. I think the normal A/C will draw about 12 amps running, and the charger should pull about 7 amps at full charge, so you are near your limit but should be able to get away with running everything once stabilized. Better CB's in the generator might help-I suspect it has the cheapest chinese ones available in it now.
You could also consider switching to a smaller converter such as Xantrex XADC40 with power factor correction. This converter will only need about half the power available to power it.
A small 10 amp automatic automotive charger might also be the ticket.
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