I want to power up at my home, and in my shop I have an 220v female outlet. It takes a three flat pronged male plug. One is ground, two at angle are power. Out of my Barth compartment is 4 prong male 30ft. power cord, and my question is, can I use the adapter cord that came with the coach, that is female 4 prong and male three prong and plug into my shop 50amp. 220v outlet? The adapter cord 3-prong male end is marked 30amp. 125v? I am really stupid when it comes to electricy, and need someones help. I am thinking this 125v adapter is to be put in a 125v outlet, and not the 220v in my shop????? Don't everyone laugh at once as the world will hear. I know how to laugh at myself though. Thank you. Dale

When we plug in at home, we have a 50 amp outlet so that's no problem but it's in only one location and sometimes the cord won't reach. Then we put the 110 adapter onto the 50 amp
(or 30 amp) and just plug into 110. It works just fine except you can't run everything at once or more than one or two major things, like one AC and something esle but NOT two AC's and not the microwave etc. It does just fine with the refrigerator too. Good luck. There are those here who know far more than I on the electricity topic.
I will be interested to see the responses.

Dale, As you surmised, the 50 amp is 240v and the 30 amp is 120v. The 50 amp plug for your welder should work just fine for the coach. I put in a 30 amp travel trailer plug at my house since I didn't have the capacity to do the 50 amp. It works fine except that you cannot run both Ac's at the same time.

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William B. Goodwin

The simplest is to use an adapter to convert your 50 amp cord to 30 amps. Then use an adapter to convert that to a regular 120 volt connection.

There is a 50 to 20 amp adapter made that will do this in one step. Perhaps your RV dealer can get it from Stag-Parkway if he doesn't have it in stock.


http://doitbest.com/shop/product.asp?mscssid=A1389FM0MTPV8NUH8SQAXJNUC3 S6DKRF&dept%5Fid=1030&sku=533499


This will run most everything except both air conditioners at the same time.

Your 220 volt three wire outlet is not really good for your 50 amp trailer. It has two hots and one neutral. An RV 50 amp setup has two hots, a neutral and a ground. You could cobble it up, but you would be violating the code. The code does not like neutral and ground piggy backed.



[This message has been edited by bill h (edited September 13, 2003).]

Bill, I have 12 diff. adapters and one takes me from the coach 4 wire down to a three wire that would plug into my 50amp. 220v garage outlet. I think my garage outlet is normally a dryer configuration, but it is hooked to a 50amp. circuit breaker at my 400amp. service panel. Are You saying I should not do such, but instead should use an adapter that takes the four main line down to a regular 110v male plug, and plug same into a regular 110v outlet???? My outside outlets are 20amp. Thank you Bill and Bill W.

Short answer:

Do NOT plug your coach in to the 220 volt outlet. Reduce it down and use the regular household outlet. It will work like Nuevomex said earlier.
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Long answer:

Do NOT plug your coach in to the 220 volt outlet. I am surprised it will fit. Usually the house receptacles have a flat slot for the neutral/ground, rather than a round one for the RV ground. We don't have an electric dryer, but both my welder and plasma cutter have 3 prong 220 volt receptacles (each is different), and neither will accept an RV plug.

Note: In the US, the NEC used to permit the 3 wire circuit to be used for stoves and dryers - namely, three conductor wiring, with a ground wire doing dual duty as a neutral. As of the 1996 revision to the NEC, this is NO LONGER PERMITTED


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I would suggest that you be safe and either consult an electrician on site or purchase and learn how to use a multimeter. If you decide to use a multimeter, here are a couple of guidelines:

On a 50 amp receptacle, the right and left are hot, and are 220 volts when read between them. However, I doubt your coach uses 220 volts. Usually, one hot powers the whole coach except the rear air conditioner, and the other one powers the rear air conditioner. Think of it as two 110 volt circuits. The top and bottom are ground or neutral, the flat slot being neutral, the round being ground. There should be 0 volts between them. Either side (hot) should read 110 volts between either top or bottom(ground or neutral).

On the 30 amp RV receptacle, the angled terminals are hot and neutral. (If you look at the receptacle with the round ground hole at the top, the left slot is hot. The meter should read 110 volts between them. The round terminal is ground, and there should be 110 volts between it and hot, and 0 volts between it and neutral.

Thank you....This is just another reason I like this site so much. Dale