62ham
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Post by 62ham on Feb 12, 2018 12:01:37 GMT -8
I have the question of....
My camper has a simple 15 amp house style plug (mail end) I notice most if not all camp grounds offer 30 amp or 50 amp.
would I burn out the wiring/plug if I bought an electrical adapter to plug into my campers 15 amp plug to 30 amp so I can plug into the service at campgrounds
my camper only has 2 3.5 watt bulbs and a mini fridge so I don't use much power.
thank you all in advance
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charliemyers
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Post by charliemyers on Feb 12, 2018 12:06:39 GMT -8
As long as you never draw in excess of 15 amps, you should be fine.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2018 12:10:11 GMT -8
The amp "draw" will determine the amount of energy you move along the path. So if you don't draw more than 15 amps, you will be fine. Check your appliances and whatever else you have within the trailer and confirm that all in combination does not exceed 15 amps when in the "on" position.
Also, do you have a breaker or fuse along the path that will trip when you exceed 15 amps of draw? An example might be a shorted out appliance that will draw an infinite amount of power if nothing tripped along the way. This should be a safeguard you have in place regardless of the amp service you plug in to.
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62ham
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Post by 62ham on Feb 13, 2018 8:04:38 GMT -8
Yea I have a 15amp breaker but even with everything on that's only a mini fridge, 2 3.5 watt bulbs. I'm no electrician but I feel like that isn't much power at all.
thank you for your help folks.
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charliemyers
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Post by charliemyers on Feb 13, 2018 8:09:26 GMT -8
No, that's probably not much power. But as BW mentioned if a hot wire happens to get shorted to ground somehow, it will draw current until a breaker trips, a fuse blows, or something catches on fire. It's good that you have that breaker to prevent a fire.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2018 10:24:37 GMT -8
The cord being used to connect 62ham's 15A plug to a 30A adapter, will likely not be rated appropriately. Typically 14 gauge is used for 15A and 10 gauge is required for 30A. If the draw exceeds 15A through that 14 gauge cord, things will melt in a hurry.
So in a nutshell, unless 62ham has a 10 gauge cord connecting to his trailer, a 2nd 15A circuit in his trailer would not be safe, or to code.
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62ham
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Post by 62ham on Feb 13, 2018 11:38:48 GMT -8
my cord from the 15amp plug to the box is 12G.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2018 11:46:30 GMT -8
12G is commonly used for 20A circuits and provides a level of "safety" being oversized slightly for 15A draw. Always OK to oversize but never undersize relative to the amps you are actually drawing.
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charliemyers
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Post by charliemyers on Feb 13, 2018 11:46:45 GMT -8
my cord from the 15amp plug to the box is 12G. 12 gauge is good for up to 20 amps, so you're fine for 15amp service. But if you upgrade your inlet to 30amp in the future, you'll need to get a 10 gauge cord and run 10 gauge wire from the inlet to the breaker box (because it's likely 12 or 14 gauge as well).
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Post by vikx on Feb 13, 2018 21:06:13 GMT -8
While adding the 30A plug you could just add another 15A breaker and actually make the camper run of 30A then you wouldn't have to worry about it. Mel, I need to delete the above. I will edit BW's post as well. Everyone's info is very good.
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