House power

[TheLooks]

All 50 amp RV plugs are 240 vac. Please read to the end of this article.

How to Install a 50 amp RV Outlet (Diagrams in PDF) - Electric Problems

169 169Shares How to Install a 50 amp RV Outlet (Diagrams in PDF) Wiring a 50-amp plug is not complicated because everything is pretty much straightforward…

electricproblems.com

 

[MemoriesByTheMile]

I have wondered why there is so much chatter/noise about this outlet type. Seems straight forward, 2 hot, 1 neutral and 1 ground. Breaker is double pole.

Check the outlet after wiring to confirm it is done.

How have people wired it wrong?

 

[TheLooks]

Yes, many have wired the 30 amp plug with 2 diagonal blades for 240. There are several plug configurations and it is confusing to the public at large. Even some electricians have got it wrong.

 

[DKRITTER]

Again tread lightly.
A dryer plug is 220, an electric water heater is 220, most welders are 220.
In a 50A RV you have 2 breaker boxes each 110V . Again use someone who knows what they are doing.

 

[TheLooks]

Again tread lightly.
A dryer plug is 220, an electric water heater is 220, most welders are 220.
In a 50A RV you have 2 breaker boxes each 110V . Again use someone who knows what they are doing.

This is just wrong. It takes two 110 legs to make 220. The fact that there are no appliances in an RV that use 220 does not mean it is not there. A 220 breaker just picks up 110 from each side of the box and you have 220. If you so desired you could put a 220 dryer in your RV. If you put your meter on the 2 hot legs of your 50 amp plug you will get 220/230/240. It depends on what the power company is putting out. Sometimes it reads 112 on each leg and you will have 224.....sometimes it will read 121 and you will get 242.... spiking and sagging.

How to Wire 50 Amp Service for an RV

Although a 50 amp service for a recreational vehicle, or RV, is connected to four wires and uses a four-prong plug, it is still a three pole service with only hot, neutral and ground connections. It is different from a conventional 120 volt service in that there are two 120 volt hot feeds, or...

itstillruns.com

 

[Rich W.]

Again tread lightly.
A dryer plug is 220, an electric water heater is 220, most welders are 220.
In a 50A RV you have 2 breaker boxes each 110V . Again use someone who knows what they are doing.

With 50amp service there is nothing to worry about. The outlet has two hots, a neutral, and a ground, as @MemoriesByTheMile said, and as long as its wired correctly, the RV will do the rest, as each hot is connected to its own bus bar in the on-baord panel, each with its own set of breakers, usually one group for the higher amperage stuff (AC units, elec dryers, etc) and one group for the lower amperage stuff which can also be supplied by the inverter running off the hosue batteries.

Where people get in trouble is with 30amp services, mistaking a 240v residential outlet (dryer, stove, welder, etc) for a 30amp RV service. Since the outlets are different, there should be no way to mix these up, but people make mistakes, and was thought to be a 30amp 120v RV service with a hot, neutral and ground, is actually a 240v outlet, as referenced by @DKRITTER with two hots and a neutral. The only way to plug a 30amp RV into this type of service is if someone has used the wrong outlet, but it happens. And with very unpleasant consequences.

So as @DKRITTER says, find someone who understands the difference before proceeding. As @TheLooks said, even electricians have made the mistake.

 

[TheLooks]