Any electricians on the forum?

[E4 No More]

I am trading in my travel trailer for a fifth wheel. My travel trailer is 30 amp whereas the fifth wheel will be 50 amp.

 

I want to convert my current Eaton 30 amp outside RV plug set-up to a 50 amp set-up. I have a NEMA 14-50R flush mount plug, 8-gauge THHN wires in 8 feet length, and a 50 amp 2 pole breaker. It's my understanding that the black and red wires, (positive), go from each of the 50 amp breakers into the outside connectors on the plug and that they share the white wire for the negative side. This would be 50/125 to each socket on the plug.

 

Is this the correct set-up for an RV? What's got me questioning is the single pole 30 amp versus the double pole 50 amp. Essentially, going from 30/125 to 2 x 50/125.

 

The goobs at Home Depot weren't exactly confident, and I don't want to fry a $60,000 RV.

[McGarrett]

The outer "hot" terminals for your black & red wires are usually colored gold or bronze, the neutral terminal for your white wire is usually silver, and the ground is usually green. You are correct that the neutral is in the center and the hots are on the outsides. The 50 amp 2 pole breaker is correct.

 

This diagram may help:

 

http://www.generatorsforhomeuse.us/wp-content/uploads/14-50r.png

[Randall53]

It depends on your panel. If it doesn't have 2 poles for power and a neutral bar and a ground bar you can't do it without changing the entire panel out. I believe most 30 amp RV's are 110 volts only and are single pole panels. 1 pole for power and a neutral bar and a ground bar. I wouldn't attempt to do it without having the panel checked out by a qualified electrician.

Edited November 10, 2015 by Randall53

[E4 No More]

The outer "hot" terminals for your black & red wires are usually colored gold or bronze, the neutral terminal for your white wire is usually silver, and the ground is usually green. You are correct that the neutral is in the center and the hots are on the outsides. The 50 amp 2 pole breaker is correct.

 

This diagram may help:

 

http://www.generatorsforhomeuse.us/wp-content/uploads/14-50r.png

Thanks, that's the diagram that I saw and your confirming the breaker makes me feel better. :)

[McGarrett]

If you could post a pic of your panel it might help to clear up what Randall53 is talking about. You want to make sure your panel has both "hot" legs for 220 volts for the 2 pole breaker.

[E4 No More]

It depends on your panel. If it doesn't have 2 poles for power and a neutral bar and a ground bar you can't do it without changing the entire panel out. I believe most 30 amp RV's are 110 volts only and are single pole panels. 1 pole for power and a neutral bar and a ground bar. I wouldn't attempt to do it without having the panel checked out by a qualified electrician.

The panel is just a plate. The plugs easily swap out, and then I run the wires back to the fuse at the fuse box inside the flexible conduit. My question was more about the breaker than anything else. I have the correct type of breaker for the box, and McGarrett answered the breaker question.

[Randall53]

If you could post a pic of your panel it might help to clear up what Randall53 is talking about. You want to make sure your panel has both "hot" legs for 220 volts for the 2 pole breaker.

 

Exactly.... If you're panel only has 1 pole (120V) for power you can't convert it without changing the panel to a 2 pole (240v) panel. The 50 amp plug will be supplying 2 wires of 120 volts each to your panel whereas a 30 volt plug only supplies 1 wire with 120 volts. you can NOT combine the two 120 volt wires of the 50 amp plug!!! they are out of phase with each other and will be the same as a short circuit.

[Randall53]

The panel is just a plate. The plugs easily swap out, and then I run the wires back to the fuse at the fuse box inside the flexible conduit. My question was more about the breaker than anything else. I have the correct type of breaker for the box, and McGarrett answered the breaker question.

 

Alrighty then. Didn't mean to interfere.... :up:

Edited November 10, 2015 by Randall53

[E4 No More]

If you could post a pic of your panel it might help to clear up what Randall53 is talking about. You want to make sure your panel has both "hot" legs for 220 volts for the 2 pole breaker.

Are you talking about the fuse box?

[E4 No More]

Alrighty then. Didn't mean to interfere.... :up:

Not interfering. Do these help? First picture is the fuse box where I need to make some room.

[url=http://s242.photobucket.com/user/SWJewellTN/media/20151110_132329_zps2sqhvfat.jpg.html][/URL]

[url=http://s242.photobucket.com/user/SWJewellTN/media/20151110_132656_zps0esitrwb.jpg.html][/URL]

[url=http://s242.photobucket.com/user/SWJewellTN/media/20151110_132639_zpst0nxhper.jpg.html][/URL]

Edited November 11, 2015 by SWJewellTN

[Shepherd Master]

I am trading in my travel trailer for a fifth wheel. My travel trailer is 30 amp whereas the fifth wheel will be 50 amp.

 

I want to convert my current Eaton 30 amp outside RV plug set-up to a 50 amp set-up. I have a NEMA 14-50R flush mount plug, 8-gauge THHN wires in 8 feet length, and a 50 amp 2 pole breaker. It's my understanding that the black and red wires, (positive), go from each of the 50 amp breakers into the outside connectors on the plug and that they share the white wire for the negative side. This would be 50/125 to each socket on the plug.

 

Is this the correct set-up for an RV? What's got me questioning is the single pole 30 amp versus the double pole 50 amp. Essentially, going from 30/125 to 2 x 50/125.

 

The goobs at Home Depot weren't exactly confident, and I don't want to fry a $60,000 RV.

 

 

Simple question-

 

Do you have 220 at the pole? Two legs of 110?

[E4 No More]

Simple for you, maybe. LOL!

 

I know that it's a good bet that I have the cheapest contractor grade piece of crap for a breaker box that Classic Homes could possibly be putting into a house built in La Vergne in 2005. I have 220 powering the receptacle for my air compressor and welder.

[E4 No More]

If it'd help I could pull a couple of breakers out of the box, take a better picture, and post it. I can't do that until tomorrow, but I'm in no rush to get it done. I don't pick up the trailer until the 20th.

[Shepherd Master]

Pics of your box would help.

 

 

Your travel trailer is wired? complete? you are not wanting to wire the trailer, just the pole or supply?

[RED333]

8 AWG is good for 55 amps, as long as you load up to max the wire will be OK

http://www.cerrowire.com/ampacity-charts

 

A full pic of your breaker box will be a big help.

[E4 No More]

OK, guys, I'll take a few pictures tomorrow and post them.

[E4 No More]

Wire an

 

Pics of your box would help.

 

 

Your travel trailer is wired? complete? you are not wanting to wire the trailer, just the pole or supply?

I want to wire an outside box to plug my camper into during the winter to keep the inside from freezing, (it has a 5,000 BTU electric fireplace), and to run the A/C when preparing it for travel. The box is less than 8 feet from the breaker box and I'm using 8 gauge wire to do so.

[E4 No More]

Here's better pictures:

 

[URL=http://s242.photobucket.com/user/SWJewellTN/media/20151111_070910_zps8wptgbhn.jpg.html][/URL]

 

[URL=http://s242.photobucket.com/user/SWJewellTN/media/20151111_072732_zpsnfbkq9ad.jpg.html][/URL]

[Randall53]

I'd terminate the outside box first. It's not shown, but here is a good website location that will have the info your electrician, whomever that is, will need:  Your equipment should be the 50 amp 120/240 4 wire grounding type.

 

http://www.myrv.us/electric/Pg/50amp_Service.htm

 

http://www.myrv.us/Imgs/PDF/50-amp%20Service.pdf

 

 

For the house panel, you appear to have done all the hard work by running the conduit (flex, pvc, whatever) to your outside panel, but it's not shown so I'm not sure. Number 8 wire is good for 50 amps up to 25FT, so you should be good there according to you distance posted. The safest way, and I strongly suggest this, is to get an electrician to do all the terminations of the wiring. It would take less than an hour for a lazy electrician (I've never met one, but I've heard they do exist...LOL) to do this and in addition to safety, if something goes wrong then it's on them and not you. Sometimes even an electrician will turn off the main breaker (large one at the very top center of the panel) to be safe. The neutral and ground wires will have to terminate to their respective bus bars inside the panel and can be identified by the location of the other wires in your panel. These two buses are bonded at some point and some electricians mix and match these which is electrically the same, but I always kept them separate because that's the way I learned 40 years ago. Your electrician may do it either way. This can be very tricky because you'll have to feed the wires up through all the other wires to get to the bus making it possible to brush up against an energized point. The electrician you hire will probably tape up the ends of the white neutral wire and the green ground wire to do this, just in case it flops over onto on the of the existing breakers if he doesn't turn off the Main Breaker. It appears you have 2 slots at the bottom right for the 50 amp breaker so it appears that it can be installed (in the OPEN position) there and the Black and Red wire will be terminated at the breaker. After everything is terminated and the breaker feeding the outside box is closed, your electrician should check the voltages at the receptacle that will feed your RV and ensure everything is good before plugging in the RV. The above websites can be used to verify the proper voltages and correct termination.  

 

DISCLAIMER: Again, I strongly suggest you get an electrician for this. Either way, the Main Breaker should be turned off for safety. The 10 minutes it will take to reset your clocks is a small price to pay to prevent injury or property damage. It's not a hard job, but the easy jobs can bite you sometimes. 

Edited November 11, 2015 by Randall53

[E4 No More]

I'd terminate the outside box first. It's not shown, but here is a good website location that will have the info your electrician, whomever that is, will need:  Your equipment should be the 50 amp 120/240 4 wire grounding type.

 

http://www.myrv.us/electric/Pg/50amp_Service.htm

 

http://www.myrv.us/Imgs/PDF/50-amp%20Service.pdf

 

 

For the house panel, you appear to have done all the hard work by running the conduit (flex, pvc, whatever) to your outside panel, but it's not shown so I'm not sure. Number 8 wire is good for 50 amps up to 25FT, so you should be good there according to you distance posted. The safest way, and I strongly suggest this, is to get an electrician to do all the terminations of the wiring. It would take less than an hour for a lazy electrician (I've never met one, but I've heard they do exist...LOL) to do this and in addition to safety, if something goes wrong then it's on them and not you. Sometimes even an electrician will turn off the main breaker (large one at the very top center of the panel) to be safe. The neutral and ground wires will have to terminate to their respective bus bars inside the panel and can be identified by the location of the other wires in your panel. These two buses are bonded at some point and some electricians mix and match these which is electrically the same, but I always kept them separate because that's the way I learned 40 years ago. Your electrician may do it either way. This can be very tricky because you'll have to feed the wires up through all the other wires to get to the bus making it possible to brush up against an energized point. The electrician you hire will probably tape up the ends of the white neutral wire and the green ground wire to do this, just in case it flops over onto on the of the existing breakers if he doesn't turn off the Main Breaker. It appears you have 2 slots at the bottom right for the 50 amp breaker so it appears that it can be installed (in the OPEN position) there and the Black and Red wire will be terminated at the breaker. After everything is terminated and the breaker feeding the outside box is closed, your electrician should check the voltages at the receptacle that will feed your RV and ensure everything is good before plugging in the RV. The above websites can be used to verify the proper voltages and correct termination.  

 

DISCLAIMER: Again, I strongly suggest you get an electrician for this. Either way, the Main Breaker should be turned off for safety. The 10 minutes it will take to reset your clocks is a small price to pay to prevent injury or property damage. It's not a hard job, but the easy jobs can bite you sometimes. 

Thank you!

[McGarrett]

Randall's advice is spot on. Put the wires on the plug first and button that up. Kill the main and install the breaker, then terminate all the wires on that end, red and black on the breaker, white with the other whites on the neutral bar, green with the bare grounds.

 

I'm not an electrician but I play one on tv.