# Electrical hookup questions



## luukoutbelow (Mar 1, 2007)

I just bought a 220 volt, 8 ga., 30 amp wire (60ft) and 30 amp breaker for the house so I will have a hookup in my parking spot here.  After taking a day to install everything, I was just about to hook the RV up to it when DOHH! - there is a placard on the door to the electrical wire that says: 

Hookup to 110-125 volt, 60 htz, 30 amp connection only.  Do not connect to a higher voltage.  

1. How is this possible since you need this 220 volt wire to get the 30 amps or am I wrong (as well as home depot) about this?
1a. Why then does the truck have a 8ga (assuming 220volt) wire coming out?  
2. Is there a converter or something to limit the volts coming from the house?
3. Do I need to reinstall a different wire in the house
4. What possible solutions or ideas do you electrically blessed people have :+)
5. If there are no solutions, does anyone want to come over, have a beer and watch some fireworks?  

Yall are great.

Thanks, 
Hunter


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## TexasClodhopper (Mar 1, 2007)

Re: Electrical hookup questions

You need an electrician with RV qualifications.  You almost made a very serious mistake.

Your RV has one (1) 110 Volt circuit.  It needs a source capable of 30 amps.  But you have to wire it correctly, also.

The simple answer is that you will only use half of the 220 connection from your house.


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## hertig (Mar 2, 2007)

Re: Electrical hookup questions

You need to know what the capacity of your house electrical system is.  The easy way is to look at the rating of the 'Main' breakers.  Around here they are usually either 100 Amp or 200 Amp.  Next check the breaker box for any open slots for new breakers.  These are usually at the bottom.  Lastly, see how much current is already allocated, by adding up the ratings of all the breakers which are already there.

It is very likely that the sum of the breakers is bigger than the main, because you don't run all the circuits at max all the time.  But you don't want to exceed it by several hundred percent.  So let us say that you have 200 amps, and the breakers add up to 220 amps.  Adding another 30 amps should not be any problem at all.  On the other hand, if you have 100 amps in and 300 amps of breakers there already, adding 30 more amps is not wise.

Assuming you have a space for a breaker and enough extra capacity, get a 30 amp, single phase breaker, and wire capable of handling 30 amps.  This should be easy to find, I think 15 amps is the smallest breaker you can get.  However if you can't, you can get a dual phase 30 amp breaker (the so called '220 volt' breaker) and use just one side of it.  The wire should have 2 conductors and 1 ground.  The size will depend on the distance you run it, and the type will depend on whether it is inside a wall, exposed (better to run it in conduit) or under ground.

Put a socket which matches the 30 amp plug on your RV, and you are in business.

Home Depot is not RV Depot.  You almost never run 220 to a RV.  For 50 amp RVs, you run 2, 110v circuits 180 degrees out of phase, with 50 amps on each one.  This requires wire with 3 conductors and a ground.


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## ARCHER (Mar 2, 2007)

Re: Electrical hookup questions

There are some other old posts on this subject.  Try a search to find them.  I think 30 Amp circuit breaker with 10 Gauge Wire, but check with Electrician to be safe.  I have not heard of 220 wired up for outlet outside for RV.  I've seen 30 and 50 amp circuit breakers in boxes at campgrounds.


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## C Nash (Mar 2, 2007)

Re: Electrical hookup questions

pretty good info at http://www.myrv.us/electric/index.htm


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## Perry L (Mar 2, 2007)

Re: Electrical hookup questions

Hunter,

There is no difference between 220 volt wire and 110 volt wire. The difference is in the hook up. In your house panel you will hook one wire (black) up to a single pole 30 amp breaker. One wire (white) to the neauteral bar. and The green or bare ground wire will hook up to the ground bar, if there isn't one then it will go with the white neautral wires.
hope this helps,

Perry


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## ARCHER (Mar 3, 2007)

Re: Electrical hookup questions

Size of the wire should be different......


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## hertig (Mar 3, 2007)

Re: Electrical hookup questions

I don't think so.  Wire doesn't care about voltage, just current.  The insulation on the wires would be different for a large differance in voltage, but probably not a factor between 110 and 220.


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## ARCHER (Mar 3, 2007)

Re: Electrical hookup questions

John, your probably correct.  My electric stove at home is 240 and has really big wire.  I've been told that if I wired a 30 amp line to my MH out back, I'd better use 10 gage wire, not 12 or I'd have a problem.


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## Perry L (Mar 3, 2007)

Re: Electrical hookup questions

Hunter has number 8 wire which is one size larger than needed but better to big than too small. number 10 is the correct size for 30 amps. With his 60ft run there shouldn't be much voltage drop, the # 8 will give him plenty of power for his 30 amp service at the RV
Perry


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## Poppa (Mar 4, 2007)

Re: Electrical hookup questions

Well, well, Good morning folks.
Answering the questions like this. For one you can get 50 or what ever apmerage you want from your house breaker bok just deoending on what size breaker you put in and still have 110 volys as long as you tie into one leg only.

The gauge of the wire is based on the amperage that one expects to pull through it. The heavier the guage the more amperage.

There is no convertor in the house basically you can get 120/240 and thats it.

The wire you bought should have a red, black, white and green wire. The red and black should be hooked up to the breaker one to each lead. The white and green hooked up to neutral bar. Check each leg of the plug and see if you have 120v on each hot leg.
If you do your ok. Do you need to rewire NO. Just buy an adapter at your local RV shop. The adapter is internally wired so you are only using one leg of the 220 line.


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## hertig (Mar 4, 2007)

Re: Electrical hookup questions

Poppa, just because you have 120v on each leg, you might NOT be OK.  I ran into this situation in a park in Texas.  They had installed the breaker so both legs were fed by the same side of the circuit, so the legs were in phase rather than out of phase.  The power managment in my coach did not like that, but if I had not had that circuitry and used a bunch of power, I could have caused the return wire to burn because the current going through it would have been cumulative rather than canceling each other out.

If you add a check for 240 between the 2 hots, then you should be OK.

But its a moot point, because Hunter only wants 30 amps, which only requires the Black, White and Green/bare wires


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## Johnny-O (Mar 4, 2007)

Re: Electrical hookup questions

Hunter,
First of all, you don't state the number of conductors (wires) in your cord. If there are 4 wires, go ahead and install a 50 amp circuit then get a 50 amp to 30 amp adapter. You'll need a duel 50 amp breaker for your house panel. A 50 amp receptacle and your cord ends. Be sure to get the proper style plugs for RV's. When you wire it, the red and black wires go to the 2 spades on each shied of the plug and and one to each breaker. The green wire hooks to the odd shaped terminal, a round post or will be shaped like a U located at the top of the plug.  Then to the ground buss in your house panel,  the one with all the bare copper wires tied in. The white wire hooks to the last spade in the plug, located at the bottom of the plug. Then to the neutral bar, where all the other white wires hook up in the house panel. Do NOT connect the white and green wires to the same place!!!!! The green is a ground and the white is a neutral, completely different :angry:.  The difference between a 110 & 220 circuit is the 110 has one hot lead and a NEUTRAL, plus a ground. the 220 curcuit has two hot leads and NO NEUTRAL, plus a ground. 

If you have a 3 wire cord, when you wire the plug, be sure the neutral (white) wire connects to the larger of the two spades. If your still not sure hire an experienced electrician and not the neighborhood shade tree electrician.


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## hertig (Mar 4, 2007)

Re: Electrical hookup questions

Will 8 gauge handle 50 amps for 60 feet?


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## C Nash (Mar 4, 2007)

Re: Electrical hookup questions

The charts will tell you8 gauge for 30 amp 50 ft and 6 gauge for 50 amp 50 ft.


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## C Nash (Mar 4, 2007)

Re: Electrical hookup questions



 Go to the web site I listed above and you can get a wire sizing chart


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## SnowbirdInFlight (Mar 5, 2007)

Re: Electrical hookup questions



My hubby made us a 50amp receptor for our camper at our home. Works like a charm.


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## s.harrington (Mar 7, 2007)

Re: Electrical hookup questions

Amperage determines size of wire!!!  Insulation determines Voltage!!!!  OK nuff said.  If you are wiring the 30 amp receptical to the ouside of your house/garage you will need 10 gage nm wire or 8 gage stranded wire, a 30 amp single pole single throw breaker and a RV 30 amp receptical with box(rain tight if outside).   Black is hot white is neutral and bare copper is ground.  Good luck


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## luukoutbelow (Mar 8, 2007)

Re: Electrical hookup questions

First of all, thanks for all of the help and ideas!  Thanks to yall, this forum holds a priceless wealth of knowledge.  From you, I was almost able to solve my problem.  I just happened to run across an electrical book at a store and while thumbing through it, came across the missing piece of my puzzle.  As of now, we are hooked up to the house with a 220V 10ga (sorry about the messup about having 8ga) pushing 110 volts and 30 amps to the RV.  I had help from someone familiar with electrical operations.  I dont recommed anyone without experience to do this, but if you are stumped like I was, please feel free to email me for questions at luukoutbelow@yahoo.com.  I think that I can really simplify things down to my level (for dummies).  BTW, costs totalled $150 for everything we needed.  Again, thanks for all of the help.

Hunter


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