Staying in driveway

[Russellvh]

My brother in law has invited us to stay in his driveway for a week while visiting. We have a 50amp 5th wheel. What would he need to do or what would I need to buy (dog bone etc.). To give us electricity for AC, to charge the batteries etc.
I’m not an electrician or very tech so simple languages please.

 

[Chargerman]

Unless he has a RV connection you will only be able to plug into a standard wall plug. Depending on his wiring that will only give you 15 or 20 amps. You can purchase an adapter to get you down to this size but be aware that you will only be able to run your charger and maybe your fridge if you
have a residential one.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

Depends on your brothers house

 

[Kevin D Pem]

Depends on your brothers house

Ok let me explain!

My brother's house has a dryer outlet in the garage. A dryer wip and handy box + a RV receptical was all that was needed.

No not 50 but enough when conservative!

 

[Trav_lr]

A 15/20 amp to 50 amp dog bone should be OK for AC, nothing else though.

 

[BGMAC]

A 15/20 amp to 50 amp dog bone should be OK for AC, nothing else though.

Depending on the draw and size of your ac it could melt the connection on the adapter as I did mine running one ac, but it was the 15k btu on. It usually the starting that gets you. I decided to put soft starts on both of my ac’s.
I can run the smaller one, but litterly cannot run anything else.

I do want to say, my brother had a homemade adapter where it had 2 110 inputs and a 50amp connection output. The idea was to plug each 110 input on sepperate circuits from the house.
He used it and I guess it worked.

 

[Rollin Ollen]

My brother in law has invited us to stay in his driveway for a week while visiting. We have a 50amp 5th wheel. What would he need to do or what would I need to buy (dog bone etc.). To give us electricity for AC, to charge the batteries etc.
I’m not an electrician or very tech so simple languages please.

We plug into the house clothes drier socket. This works for us but we have a long 50 amp extension cord.

Darrell

 

[Wemustrv]

My brother in law has invited us to stay in his driveway for a week while visiting. We have a 50amp 5th wheel. What would he need to do or what would I need to buy (dog bone etc.). To give us electricity for AC, to charge the batteries etc.
I’m not an electrician or very tech so simple languages please.

It sounds like you are set if you can get a dog bone adapter for 50 - 30 for the dryer plug (verify plug type so you get correct adapter) you should be fine. Before I installed my 50 amp plug at my house I used a 10 gauge extension cord in a 20 amp outlet with adapter. I was able to run one AC unit and both fridges and whatever I needed inside without issue. I ran this way for several years.

 

[Jireh Financial]

We have stayed at a few campgrounds where only 30 amp was available. In our 2019 HR 35K we could run everything except the second roof AC. The 30 amp would handle one at a time. Our residential frig would never work enough to make ice in the driveway. Probably lost enough juice down the long cord. Does he or you have a portable generator with a 30 amp receptacle?
Ken

 

[Russellvh]

We have stayed at a few campgrounds where only 30 amp was available. In our 2019 HR 35K we could run everything except the second roof AC. The 30 amp would handle one at a time. Our residential frig would never work enough to make ice in the driveway. Probably lost enough juice down the long cord. Does he or you have a portable generator with a 30 amp receptacle?
Ken

No generator but our refrigerator is just a Norcold 12 amp. Plus, if necessary we can use his house refrigerator.

 

[DKRITTER]

We have spent many nights in the parking lot of our sons business when we go home.

You really only need access to 3 things for your RV.

1. Electricity: Many ways to skin this cat. You said you had a 50amp trailer.

Ideally you would plug into a 50amp RV plug your BIL had installed for you. You might need an extension for this. This way you can run everything you need/want w/o issue.

A 30amp plug Simple, you need a 50 to 30 dog bone. Now you have a max of 30amps available. You’re now in what I call the OR mode. You can run 1 air conditioner or the other or a hair dryer or the electric water heater and so on.

A 15 or 20amp plug same as above but most likely not the air conditioner. You’ll need another dog bone.

Get a generator see everything above Plus they need fuel and they are loud.



2. Fresh Water

Again, ideally you can hookup to a faucet. You might need an extra hose or two. We carry 150 feet of hose and have used all of it a time or two.

You have some sort of storage tank just fill it up and live off of it. Learn/teach conservation.

3. Waste water

Again, ideally your BIL has setup a full hookup parking space for you to use. Not likely

You have a grey and black tank, conserve all the tanks fresh, grey and black make them last for the week.

Get a macerator. We have a Flojet if I ever need to replace it we’ll get a Sanicon 300 and 100’ of ¾” water hose. This works but you need to find a cleanout or a toilet. Then you need to stand there and manage the end of the hose.

After staying at our son’s business off and on for a couple of years we decided it was too much hassle and started using a nearby full hookup RV Park. I had always given him about $20 a day to offset expenses and hassle.

We have all the equipment as we boondock several times a year still, but it’s only a few days at a time and a 10K generator in the MH makes a huge difference.

 

[LMHS]

Plugging Your RV into Home 120-Volt System - RV Tailgate Life

Plug your RV into your home's 120-volt electric system between trips. No dead batteries plus a cold fridge before your next road trip.

rvtailgatelife.com

RV Electric

 

[Russellvh]

Thanks DKRITTER. Lots of great info here.

Thanks to all for the input.

 

[Bob K4TAX]

I would be careful using a dryer outlet. Some old codes have 3 wires, L1, L2, and ground. The newer ones, new code, have 4 wires, thus L1, L2, Neutral, and Ground. The dryer in both cases is 240 volts but the 4-wire system has a neutral in addition to the ground. This is much safer if one uses an unbalanced load between L1 and L2.

Everything in your RV is 120 volts, thus the likelihood of an unbalanced load is quite high.

Bob