50 or 30 amp - R-pod Owners Forum

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mcarter

podders Helping podders - pHp

Joined: 07 Apr 2016
Location: Greenbrier, TN
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Posts: 3419

Topic: 50 or 30 amp
Posted: 31 Jan 2019 at 6:28pm

Lostagain,

Understand. Happy for your decision. Mine is to continue to use my adapter, which has been sold for years. I only use when necessary and have NEVER had an issue. I'll accept the risk. Like I do every other risk. If my life was about risk, I'd never get on the highway.

Mike Carter
2015 178
" I had the right to remain silent, I just didn't have the ability."

mcarter

podders Helping podders - pHp

Joined: 07 Apr 2016
Location: Greenbrier, TN
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3419

Posted: 31 Jan 2019 at 6:40pm

SH,

+1 - I agree with you, I check things also. No issues. It's about being a camper who inspects, checks and limits risk.

Mike Carter
2015 178
" I had the right to remain silent, I just didn't have the ability."

lostagain

Senior Member

Joined: 06 Sep 2016
Location: Quaker Hill, CT
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Posts: 2591

Posted: 31 Jan 2019 at 6:41pm

Sounds reasonable to me. If you use care in not overloading the circuit, you will probably be fine for as long as you use an RV. But it is good to know of the issue so you can use care not to run too much stuff at the same time.

At my advanced age, I've decided that skydiving is not in my best interest, though it may be in the interest of Dr. Orr, my orthopaedist, or the local funeral director. On the other hand, while we're here in Colombia, there are lots of very remote places I plan to visit, though some say it's risky. One risk I always try to avoid is getting stuck on an escalator. It's really embarrassing. ;--)

Never leave footprints behind.
Fred & Maria Kearney
Sonoma 167RB
Our Pod 172
2019 Ford F-150 4x4 2.7 EcoBoost

StephenH

podders Helping podders - pHp

Joined: 29 Nov 2015
Location: Wake Forest, NC
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Posts: 6297

Posted: 31 Jan 2019 at 9:08pm

Originally posted by lostagain

I confess, I'm not going to go out and buy a 50A dogbone for the off chance that the 30A plug ain't working. I'll get by with the 20A or battery and not worry about it. It's not that I'm risk averse, but more that I'm a minimalist and don't need many electrons.

I use a CPAP machine and when the weather is cool and the furnace is running, I don't want to run on batteries alone for several days and risk running out of power. While we frequently stop and operate on batteries for a few days in mild weather, when it is really hot or cold, I would like the option of plugging in. I'm not going to go out and buy a 50A to 30A dog bone either. The one time I needed it, the RV campground supplied it. The 20A would work for cold weather. However, in hot weather, it is better for my wife and her asthma to have power for the AC. 20A would work, but if I am plugged in and paying for it, I would prefer to run the AC and run the microwave as needed or also run our induction cooktop or my coffee maker at the same time while also running the water heater on AC. 20A just would not suffice for that.

StephenH
Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,...

ouR escaPOD mods
Former RPod 179
Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS

GlueGuy

Senior Member

Joined: 15 May 2017
Location: N. California
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Posts: 2634

Posted: 31 Jan 2019 at 9:22pm

Originally posted by lostagain

Sounds reasonable to me. If you use care in not overloading the circuit, you will probably be fine for as long as you use an RV. But it is good to know of the issue so you can use care not to run too much stuff at the same time.

If you're going by stuff plugged into your R-pod, you will never overload the 50 amp outlet, and you will never overload the 30 amp cord because the R-pod main breaker is 30 amps. As long as the power cord and the wiring between the R-pod outside plug and the main panel are in good shape, you are as good as gold.

bp
2017 R-Pod 179 Hood River
2015 Ford F150 SuperCrew 4WD 3.5L Ecoboost

lostagain

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Joined: 06 Sep 2016
Location: Quaker Hill, CT
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Posted: 01 Feb 2019 at 6:46am

StephenH, you have a very important need for power and for you, using the 50A dogbone makes sense. I count my blessings that so far, I don't have health issues that necessitate a consistent supply of electric power.

Never leave footprints behind.
Fred & Maria Kearney
Sonoma 167RB
Our Pod 172
2019 Ford F-150 4x4 2.7 EcoBoost

StephenH

podders Helping podders - pHp

Joined: 29 Nov 2015
Location: Wake Forest, NC
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Posts: 6297

Posted: 01 Feb 2019 at 9:42am

Originally posted by lostagain

StephenH, you have a very important need for power and for you, using the 50A dogbone makes sense. I count my blessings that so far, I don't have health issues that necessitate a consistent supply of electric power.

Thank you. My point exactly. One must do a risk/benefit calculation. For us, the benefit far outweighs the risk. For others, the risk/benefit ratio is completely different. That is also why I opted for dual-6V batteries (and learned our first night out on our first long trip that I can't run the refrigerator on 12V even with those dual 6V batteries). So, I also run the refrigerator on propane while traveling and only switch to 110V when it is available.

StephenH
Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,...

ouR escaPOD mods
Former RPod 179
Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS

offgrid

Senior Member

Joined: 23 Jul 2018
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Posts: 5290

Posted: 01 Feb 2019 at 8:35pm

"There is absolutely nothing that says the fire would be in the Pod, unless it had to do with your cord storage. The fire would be in the power cord, if and only if the scenario was met. There is much more risk to fire when using extension cords to power your Pod. Not denying risk, but miniscule compared to other causes of fire in RVs."

mcarter, perhaps we are not in agreement after all. There is certainly a scenario that could cause a fire in the pod. I explained it. The 30A rated conductors between the trailer connector and the trailer circuit breaker inside the pod are not protected from seeing currents up to 50A and could overheat and cause a fire if a fault occurred somewhere along that cable run, as could the 30A rated power cord and the connectors themselves. If that happened the internal cable overheating is of course much more likely to cause the trailer to catch fire than the cord is.

Re the statistics, clearly this is a low probability event. I don't think anyone disputes that. Since the details of electrical fire causes are not well reported, there may or may not have ever been an actual case, but that doesn't mean it can't happen, it only means its unlikely.

I found an article which reported that there are about 6000 RV fires annually in the US, about 35% of which are caused by electrical problems. RV's are used on average about 20 days a year, and there are about 10 million RV's in the US so that gives an overall probability of having an electrical fire of any type of around 0.001% per day of RV use.

Pretty small number. But for comparison the equivalent number for sticks and bricks home electrical fires is about 8% of that, so sticks and bricks houses are much safer from electrical fires than RV's. Makes sense because RV's have batteries, generators, tighter clearances, 12 and 120V circuits, are subject to wire and connector vibration and chafing, etc.

The important point here is that the reason both numbers are low is because we have a rigorous set of standards that home electricians and RV manufacturers have to follow. The code making panels (I've been on one) are not doing risk/reward calculations using actuarial statistics for the value of human life because their job is to prevent injury and death. When there is a reasonable solution to improve safety they adopt it. In this case, they do this by providing a warning against connecting a 30A trailer to a supply rated higher than 30A.

I choose to acknowledge this warning and not do it, but I've experienced personally and professionally the kind of faults that could cause fires here, and I so rarely use hookups that that doesn't produce any hardship for me. If I did use hookups frequently and started running into problems finding 30A connections I would buy an inline 30A circuit breaker and cable assembly which would keep me in compliance when connecting to 50A.

That's me, we're all grownups here and can make our own decisions.

1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft
2015 Rpod 179 - sold

furpod

Moderator Group - pHp

Joined: 25 Jul 2011
Location: Central KY
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Posts: 6128

Posted: 02 Feb 2019 at 8:03am

Again, yes electrical fires happen.. your statistical average is for all electrical fires. 12v.. yes 12v, is the number one cause of RV fires. By a large margin actually.

Again, looking through the RVIA data, I can find NO report of a fire caused by a dogbone. That data only goes back 14 years, and of course only covers what gets reported to them by dealer members, but.. well.. as much as some seem to worry, for most people, it's a nonissue.

Not using hookups at all, ever, still doesn't insulate you from the possibility. In fact it leaves you open to the number one cause of RV fires.

GlueGuy

Senior Member

Joined: 15 May 2017
Location: N. California
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Posts: 2634

Posted: 02 Feb 2019 at 10:54am

Originally posted by furpod

Again, yes electrical fires happen.. your statistical average is for all electrical fires. 12v.. yes 12v, is the number one cause of RV fires. By a large margin actually.

Might be related to the fact that for a given wattage, the current on 12V is 10X what is required at 120V. Amperage is what heats up wires.

bp
2017 R-Pod 179 Hood River
2015 Ford F150 SuperCrew 4WD 3.5L Ecoboost