What is required for an upgrade?
What is not?

20 amps Sorry just had to say it.

If you are converting your coach to 50 amp than it's a huge difference. 30 amp service only uses one 120 volt leg where as 50 amp uses 2 120 volt legs which gives you 240 volts however the neutral wire splits the circuit and you end up with 2 50 amp legs. 30 amp service gives you 3600 watts while the 50 amp gives you 12,000 watts. So the upgrade is huge, 50 amp is far superior.

So are you upgrading the coach? The panel wiring is the difference if that is the case.

[quote]50 amp uses 2 120 volt legs which gives you 240 volts


Help me out....I didn't think any of the motorhomes had any 240 volt appliances...

Is it that on most Chevy P-30 Chassis rigs, they only use 120 volt appliances but some of the bigger rigs make use of the 240 volt appliances?

Almost all 50-amp wired RV's use both sides of the service separately as 120 volt on each leg. I'm sure there is some high-end coachs out there that utilize the 240 volt. Perhaps the new all electric coachs that are being built now.

You wouldn't want any 240 volt appliances in your coach unless you stay at only campgrounds that have the 50amp 240 volt hook up. Plus your generator would have to have 240 volt output.

To make sure it is understood,

You can NOT tie both legs of the 50 amp service plug together, That will create one large short circuit. Just using one leg of the 50 amp plug will work for 30 amp coach service.

To convert a coach from 30 amp to 50 amp service, one would have to separate the 120 volt appliances and internal wiring (can be done fairly easy) into two separate and isolated legs. It would probably require a new main breaker box. The bigger problem would be the shore power/generator relay and the generator if the generator is 120 VAC single output only.

This conversion should be done by someone with good AC electrical knowledge and experience.

Just for info our Newell used 240vac for the washer/dryer as well as two 240vac base board heaters. The generator was 17.5KW and output 240VAC.

quote:

Originally posted by Doug Smiley:
What is required for an upgrade?
What is not?

wally 34ft monarch vanisle.what is your reason for wanting to upgrade?

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Doug Smiley:
What is required for an upgrade?
What is not.Doug i am still curious for your reason to upgrade.If you need an extra 20amp outlet for power cord and dont want to go through the house Doormans explicit drawing puts you there.to the left of his 30amp breaker install a 15 or 20amp breaker nippled to a proper receptacle,acording to code,waterproof,ground fault etc. wally 34ft monarch vanisle.

quote: .Doug i am still curious for your reason to upgrade....

The reason for me was not a practicable one rather just a query to find out whether one should, in fact, do such an upgrade and the logistics.... and getting diverse arguments not to....

Now that the topic is nearly dead I will comment. The boat was fitted with 30 amp shorepower and a 6.5 KVA genset which occasionally sees 50+ amps of output when cooking, air-conditioning etc.
I added a 30 amp shorepower inlet and new breaker panel and it really makes life easier. I could have added 50 amp service and probably been okay but; price 50 amp cables versus 2 30 amp cables, carry one 50 amp cable versus one 30 amp twice. Hold the cable and the connector and try to twist the connector after having aligned the connector.
Want more juice, add a second inlet, distribution panel etc. The older you get the happier you will be with the decision.

Two 30 amp panels with proper distribution of the coach wiring sounds interesting but where would you find a camp site with 2 30 amp outlets? Would you just use a step down with the 50 amp out let and your regular 30 amp cord for the other? Wouldn't that mean you would always have to have a site with both 50 amp and 30 amp? Also, if you have the surge protector things, wouldn't you have to have two?

I bought a unit at Camperworld that has two 30Amp male connectors on it going into a 50 amp plug that I hook my 50 amp line from the barth into it.
I would imagine if you hooked your surge protector into the box and your 50Amp cord into it all should work.

hello everyone!a big reason i got my motorhome is to be completly mobile.i lucked in and got a beautifull 34ft monarch.while i was going through my unit at Don Malcoms,200 miles south of me,i was limited to 115 volts,pigtailing from 50 to 30 to 15 amps the latter looked scrawny,yet it was enough to maintain my house batteries.i managed fine for a week,naturally i had to watch my draw,having my fridge on propane.i fired up my generator a couple of times for my microwave,and to make certain every worked right.i learned quickly to adapt to the power that i had.wally vanisle.

Need some electrical advise. We are visiting family with "Big Sally" parked in their driveway. The former owner of Big Sally,(Tom Taylor), had purchased some step-down cables/plug combinations whereas the 50 amp cable could be plugged into a regular 20 amp household outlet. This will run the lights on the interior of the Barth and one air conditioner. Was wondering if I could make a cable out of 10/3 to plug into a 30 amp (240) volt dryer outlet that my folks have in their basement. I always thought that 30 amp circuits were wired for 240v but apparently the 30 amp services at campgrounds are 120v. So if I tapped into the dryer circuit of the house I would now have 30 amps to use but at 240 volts. Would this be an issue as all the appliances in the Barth use 120V and after reading this thread apparently the circuits are set-up using one or the other of the 120v legs of the service box. Can anyone help educate me if I am on the right track?