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Living large on 20 Amps
Been 10 days at my in laws in Western Massachusetts plugged into their 20 Amp house hold outlets. Have Magnum 4000 watt inverters, set them to 20 Amp shore power. When Cruisair, refig, coffee maker, ect are running and exceeding the 20 Amp limit the inverters switch to load share and keep the breaker from blowing. After the load drops below 20 Amps, only Cruisair running (approx 12 amps) or only coffee machine running (approx 10 Amps) Load share turns off and power goes back to shore line.
Full disclosure:
I have the 50 Amp cord split into two 30 Amp cords that are stepped down to two 20 Amp Non GFI outlets. I am very conscious of how many loads I am putting on each line and how long I am putting the load on each line.
The load share on the Magnum inverters is a huge asset and makes things work seamlessly as long as you don’t get to crazy in your power consumption and don’t use the load share to long. The longer you use the load share the more Amp’s the charger has to use to replenish the battery’s, I.E. less Amps to run other things. It’s a balancing act.
Chuck
2000 Featherlite H3-45
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Leesburg, FL -
9 Replies
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That’s a beautiful area Chuck. I grew up in New Hampshire, I know Western Mass well. Do you have any part numbers for your splitter setup?
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Mike:
Here is the like to the Amazon page for the part I purchased. NOTE: This will not work if either 20 Amp outlet is a GFI.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007H5WUGI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
You are correct, It is beautiful here in Western MA, well at least in the Summer. Florida boy don’t do snow LOL
Chuck
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You don’t find many true 20amp circuits and breakers in a house; most are 15amp. I tend to see 20amp circuits/breakers in garages and shops. IMHO all circuits/breakers in bathrooms, kitchens, and garages should be 20amp; I will spec multiple 20amp circuits.
I presume Chuck is plugged into two different 20amp circuits on separate breakers.
It takes some effort and a willingness to learn how our coaches use electricity to be able to run the coach on less than 50amp/240 volt shore power to a big KW generator.
This is good information for new coach owners.
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Dick:
You are correct, I did have to make sure the 20 Amp outlets were on separate breakers. Good catch.
Chuck
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You were fortunate. You’re 2/3’s of the way to 30amp!
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One place where those splitters come in handy are at places where the 15 or 30 amp power outlets are in a long string. Most of the time they were wired with one phase to one box and the other phase to an adjacent box, etc. We see this at places like remote Elks Club RV areas. If no one is next to you the splitter will allow you to get 15 or 30 amps on each side of the coach. Be sure to unplug out of courtesy if someone comes in and wants to park in the space where your splitter line is plugged in.
Jerry
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I was thinking of making my own, The kind I am looking for with the Marine plug to the bus, and two male 20 amp 3 prong are over 2000 on Amazon.
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My Country Coach has two thirty amp marine plugs and one fifty amp marine plug with a switch to switch between either two thirty amp inputs or one fifty amp. I keep the cords onboard, but have never used it yet. Nice feature to have though.
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That’s how my ’88 was setup as well. The switch between 30 and 50 burned up so i removed the old 30 amp wiring which left 1 50 amp cord with a gap in the middle. Itnwas the prefect place and space for a built in 50 amp Surge Guard from Camping world.
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