Did you hear about the guy who got arrested for eating batteries? He’ll be charged by morning.
OK, all jokes aside, we’d like to know: When you travel in your RV do you carry a 30-amp or 50-amp extension cord with you? Yes? No? Both?
Here’s an article from Publisher Chuck Woodbury about why carrying one of these with you might just save your day. Check it out.
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30 w/ adapters for 50 and 15.
The trailer is rated for 30, so…
Only if I’m headed to a new campground. If I’m going to one I’m familiar with, I know I won’t need an extension.
When making reservations I ask where the power pedestal is. I’ll request a site with the pedestal in the center of the site. My 50A cord is 25 feet and the plug is in the center of the 42 ft. long 5th wheel – because I position it on the site within reaching distance of the power cord. A 15 ft 6/3 AWG extension cord is $90-$100 and adds another 12 lbs. That and you have to store it. Now I do carry two fresh water and two tank flush water lines for a total 50 ft. The water connection is in my front storage bay. I’ve been at sites where the power is toward the front of the site and water way in the rear. So positioning the trailer to reach the power means the water line is more than 25 ft.
Carry a complete assortment of cords and adapter accessories to match my 30 Amp requirements. You never know if you or one of your buddies might need them. Have used them about once a season.
Yes, have only had to use the 50 amp twice, but I would been SOL without it. One Camp ground was only 2-3 feet, but I could not get any closer due to a drop off behind the coach wheels.
I only need 15 amp for my little camping trailer but carry a 30 amp because far two many times the 15 anyplace receptacles are in need of replacement. They are often burnt and loose and you won’t get a good connection which can cause problems. I guess they are not kept in good repair because most trailers need the 30 or 50 amp connection. I do carry a 15 amp plug because sometimes you have to use the plug that doesn’t look destroyed.
I carry a 25’ 50 amp. I use a surge guard to plug into the pedestal and I have run into the receptacle being installed upside down a few times. I made a 6’ 50 amp and a 6’ 30 amp for the rare times I do run into a receptacle that is installed upside down. I think I have used the 50 amp twice
Carry adapters, but no extension cords. In a class B, no room for that ‘extra’ stuff/
I carry a 50 amp extension cord but also various dog bone adapters. This allows me to connect to what is available.
30A camper. No extension for the 30A shore cord. But I DO carry two 25′ cords rated for 20A and the necessary adapters. They take up less space than a 30A cable. The few times I need those extensions are often situations where only 15-20A power is available. We just have to figure out how to make-do with less power.
Our Embassy Class B uses 30 amp but don’t really need to plug in as it has two 460Ah batteries and a second alternator. Everything is 12 volt except microwave and antenna (TV is 12 volt), so inverter is usually off, which easily saves at least 2 Ah,
The only time we need the inverter is if we use the microwave, need the antenna for the TV or are plugging in to a household plug, which is essentially never.
If battery’s do get low, we start the engine to charge them or just drive to our next destination.
No worries about faulty or damaged receptacles, no need to pay extra for a 30 amp site.
Just a note: your batteries are not 460ah. They are probably type 27, which are around 60ah. The 460 number no doubt comes off the label, and is probably the starting amps or the maximum amp draw. You’ll never need to use this, unless you’re trying to calculate how long you can run your rig from those batteries.
When I say 460Ah, I’m talking about nominal battery capacity for each of our two batteries. This would not actually be usable as the BMS is set to 15%, or 391Ah usable. Nominal battery energy capacity is 6000Wh for each battery total, or 5100Wh usable.
But all of this isn’t really important. What matters is how long you can run your appliances without having to plug in. Since our van is mostly equipped with 12v systems, we don’t waste energy having an inverter on, so have never needed to plug in. We are usually at 100% when we park for the night, and even with A/C on 90° plus days, we can go for about two or more days before we really need to charge batteries.
My coach has a 30 foot, 50 amp power cord and I honestly can’t imagine camping at a park that would need an extension cord attached to that as well for service. Maybe to use as a waterline heater?
Between the weight, frequency of need and risk of damage, I see no reason to buy an extension cord. I do carry a 50 to 30 and 30 to 20 amp dongle adapters to connect to lower amp sources though.
17 years full time- Traveling. I carry 2 – 15′ 50amp cords and various adapters. I don’t like to use a longer cord than necessary.
We have two 25′ 30-amp RV extension cords.We have seldom need even one, but when they’re needed, they’re necessary.
We’ve had a couple of pull-through sites where the electric column was way at one end or other odd set-ups. Usually, it seems this has been in campgrounds (mostly public ones) where electricity in sites has been added.
I carried a 25-foot extension cord for over a year and never used it, so it’s now at home and not taking up space. Since I’m in a camper van I can always find a way to position the van to reach the power pedestal so the extension cord isn’t necessary.
One time (and only one time!) we got all set up with our other hookups and found that we were about two feet shy with our power cord. GRRRRR. Had to un-set up just to move four feet back. This was early on in our RV days. Oh, and we didn’t have an extension cord back then either. Now we have both those two things. An extension cord – and more sense!
My Cls C came with a 30ft 30amp power cord. Since having this rv , I’ve purchased 2-30amp extensions, a 25ft and 10ft. The 25ft purchase was made out of necessity because of where I had to park to access power. The 10ft purchase was made when I found, at one of my favorite moochdocking locations, that I needed an extension but only about 4ft was necessary! (I read somewhere that you should never use a cord longer than necessary!?) I’ve used both several times, so valuable additions to my cargo. I also carry 50ft and 15ft regular 20amp extensions. Never know! And of course necessary adapters to fit various power supply connections.
Even though I have 50A service, the best deal was when we were camping with my B/L and Sis-Law a few seasons back. The campground we were enjoying was having a yard sale for the seasonal campers. My Brother-in-law takes a bike ride around to peruse the sale stuff and comes back with a 30ft 30A extension cord for me for $5. A couple of seasons later I added a 30ft 50A extension with a 30A/50A dogbone from Amazon for $67 which was a great price.
I’ve used it only twice in 20 years, but it’s been worth the cost & storage space. Now that we have a lot of solar & lithium, it would be a much smaller problem to not have electric hook ups for a few days.
I have a 50 amp cable with a 30 amp pigtail and a 120 volt pigtail
Just wondering, how long is your main power cord? My attached 30 amp cord is 50ft.
I carry a 25-foot 30 amp extension cord, and both 50 and 15 amp dog bones. I have repeatedly needed those, both at campgrounds with oddly placed pedestals, and mooch-docking with relatives.
Our motor home came with 50 amp service, however, the cord was getting to heavy and stiff to handle. It was really only needed for the 2nd compressor on the basement A/C which we haven’t ever used or needed anyway. So I replaced it with a 30 amp 25′ cord and have adapters for all the other service levels. Much easier to handle and saved a lot of weight in the storage compartment as well.
I carry two 15-foot, 30-amp extension cords. Less is more when it comes to electricity. And yes, I know one more connection adds more resistance than “none” when the power receptacle is 60-feet from the RV.
I carry a twelve foot extension cord and an RV30 to twist lock adapter. I use it for 99% of my connections so I don’t have to deal with a 30 foot cord.
That is a pretty good idea.
I was glad I had it when I stayed at the free Waylon Jenning campground in TX. I didn’t check the pedestal before I pulled into my spot fairly late in the day but when I did the 30 amp didn’t work. Fortunately, there were only two other RV in the campground and I checked the site next to me…it didn’t work either so I pulled out the extension and went to the next pedestal and finally had power. Donations were accepted so I made a donation and suggested they hire an electrician to fix the two pedestals.
I carried a 30 amp cord for decades when we had our trailers but I haven’t carried it since we got our 50 amp diesel pushers. In all the years we carried an extension I can’t remember using it more than a couple of times. Our DP has a 50 ft. cord and I figure it that isn’t long enough, then that campground doesn’t want my business. I would not want that much extension because there are power losses once you add extensions.
Have both with roll up.
I have a 30A TT and a 50 A fiver and I carry an extension cord for each. Have only had to use the 50A once.
Have a 4300 Watt generator on truck, with 30 Amp receptacle, and adapters for either one of my 30 foot 50 Amp or 30 Amp Power cords. Just in case I may use them some day. I pull a 32 foot 5’er, and stay in small county or city parks or COE campgrounds.
30 Amps only because I already have one from our class C days. 50 amp is dang pricy!
I actually have two 50 amp extensions because we stayed at a farm house for 3 months while I was still working. Only the barn had 50 amp service so I made an extension to go with the one I already had. We can cover up to 100 ft if necessary. We also carry 30 amp dog bone just in case.