Getting ready to leave on another short trip on Tuesday. I borrowed a generator from a friend that I thought would run our AC, but so far Im not having any luck. The generator is a Briggs and Stratton 5550 running watts, 8550 starting. It will only run the AC for about 2 mins then trip the breaker on the generator. The AC doesnt seem to pull the generator down, but never the less it is tripping. I had a 3 prong standard adapter plugged into generator. The adapter says to not load over 15 amps. Im hoping I just need another adapter???
I tried pointing a fan on the generator to cool it, but it didnt help a bit.
Read the specs on the ginny, a lot of those ginnys will not deliver rated output at 120 volts, only 1/2 rated output at 120 Volts.
Papa Bob
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I would think that a 5,500 watt generator should put out way more than 20 amps, and your air conditioner is normally only going to need 12.5 amps.
There might be a problem brewing in the air conditioner - such as a grounded compressor motor. If you have a ohm meter, check to see if the compressor is grounded.
Yes a 30 amp power adapter is better than a 15 amp adapter plugged into a 20 amp receptacle, but the cord adapter does not know it is in-adaquate, so I would rule that out.
If the generator has a 30 amp twistlock power receptacle, try finding an adapter. You might need to make one up with parts that are sold at Home Depot. It depends on the receptacle - is it 120/240 volt with 4 prongs? Does it only have 3 prongs for 120 volts?
Is your RV 30 amp 120 volt or 120/240 50 amp service? You can adapt both to either type of recptacle, but it helps to know what the RV and the generator have when giving out advice.
If the generator has a special receptical, it will have a standard number on it - something like 14L20R and that means something to us - and those at the hardware store. In that case it is a type 14 Locking 20 amp Receptacle. Having this number helps - though it is stamped in tiny letters in the plastic of the receptacle.
Fred.
Money can't buy happiness but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche or Country Coach!
A 5550 watt ginny is 23 amps at 240 volts or two (2) 120 volt windings at 11.5 amps each, and on a lot of these ginnys you cannot combine the two windings to get the whole 23 amps @ 120 volts. You can only get 2 lines of 120 volts @ 11.5 amps each and unable to combine unless there is a switch to throw to get full power output at 120 volts. Hope I explained that well enough.
tvman44 wrote: A 5550 watt ginny is 23 amps at 240 volts or two (2) 120 volt windings at 11.5 amps each, and on a lot of these ginnys you cannot combine the two windings to get the whole 23 amps @ 120 volts. You can only get 2 lines of 120 volts @ 11.5 amps each and unable to combine unless there is a switch to throw to get full power output at 120 volts. Hope I explained that well enough.
UMM . . . Math 101 will disagree with those results.
If the generator is rated at 23 amps at 240 volts, then it can put out 46 amps at 120 volts.
My 4,000 watt generator is rated at 33 amps at 120 volts.
Yes many times you can not get the full total amperage out of one phase of the generator. Even so, you can get the full 46 amp rating - even though you will need to take that power from 2 or 3 differant circuit breakers.
The original post did not say if the generator was slowing down when the circuit breaker tripped, or what size circuit breaker was tripping. If the RV is plugged into a 20 amp circuit breaker on a 5,500 watt generator, and the battery charger is using 5 amps, the refrigerator 3 amps, and the A/C unit 12.5 amps, then it should trip the 20 amp breaker after only a few minutes.
The AC unit may be getting annoyed at all the noise and is sending bad vibes to the generator and making it shut down or maybe the neighbors are flipping the breaker. Get a quiet generator and I bet it won't happen again.
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