How To Wire 50 Amp Rv Service

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

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Wiring a l-amp plug is non complicated because everything is pretty much straightforward and all y'all will demand is a new 50 amp breaker, RV outlet (NEMA 14-50R), electrical conduit, and a wire (6/3 judge is recommended with 8 gauge beingness a minimum). Y'all tin fix upwards your 50-amp receptacle on a pedestal like in a campground, or put one on the side of your house or garage (whichever wall will be closer to where your RV is parked).

Coming home from a long trip merely to get rolling once more would require some restocking and that includes recharging your power systems. What could be a better way, than hooking upward your RV directly into your house's electrical system to charge your batteries and become set up for another route trip?!

50 amp receptacle gets continued to 4 wires in total with 2 of them beingness 120-volt hot wires, one neutral, and ane ground. EACH hot wire will give you fifty amps @ 120 volts (or 6,000 watts):

120 volts x 50 amps = 6000 watts

And since two hot wires are there (each giving 6000 watts), it ways that in full y'all will go 12,000 watts of power:

6000 w + 6000 westward = 12,000 watt

Very ofttimes people place their plugs next to the main breaker box. Here is a good video to help you out with installation:

Installing a 50 Amp RV outlet at your home - Why Not RV: Episode ii

** Alert! If y'all are not 100% sure of what yous are doing, DON'T Do IT! Phone call a licensed electrician for assistance.

** Alert! Tell your electrician that yous will be using this outlet for your RV and the load may be unbalanced. Not all electricians are familiar with wiring specifically RV outlets and could wire your outlet for 240-volt service, so make sure your Test the outlet before using it.

Y'all demand a breaker

Yous volition need to install a double (or dual) pole l amp 120/240-volt breaker where 240-volt service volition be separate into 2 HOT feeds. In the dual-breaker, both breakers are bridged in gild for them to trip simultaneously. Some breakers have an internal bridge.

** Don't forget that working with electric panels is Unsafe, so before you offset working, make sure your main ability supply is OFF!

The wires needed

Recommended wiring usage for your RV receptacle goes as follows:

25 feet or less: viii gauge
25-50 feet: half-dozen gauge
50-100 feet: four judge

Outlet types

If you are planning to plug your RV into a standard 15-amp or xx-amp outlet, you will get only this corporeality of power to utilize:

Near RVs use thirty amp or 50 amp plugs and if the proper amount of ability is supplied, they can get the most out of their outlet. Some people think that if they volition plug in their 30 amp organization into a 50 amp outlet (via adapter), they will actually get more power.

This could exist farther from the truth. The only affair that you will get past plugging your 30 amp plug into a l-amp outlet is the ability to charge your 30-amp organisation from information technology.

On the other hand, if you plug in a 50-amp system into a 30-amp receptacle, y'all volition get ONLY xxx amp worth of ability, which in the U.s.a. (with 120 volt systems) would give you 3,600 watts of power. If you do then, just make certain you use a expert quality adapter that will reduce the power consumption of your RV in lodge not to trigger the breakers or overheat wires.

This video explains the divergence between the thirty amp and 50 amp systems very well:

https://www.youtube.com/sentinel?5=GoOR2AJGjOI

This is what a standard l-amp RV receptacle (NEMA 14-50R) looks like:

This is what a standard 30-amp receptacle looks similar:

** Alert! Do Non confuse fourteen-50R outlet with OLD appliance 10-50R outlet, which is wired differently and volition supply the whole 240 volts to your 120-volt appliance!

Very frequently RV plugs are confused with these 240-volt household outlets which are normally used for dryers. This could be a costly fault! Regardless of how big your RV is, it still requires 120-volts of power.

If you give your appliance a 240-volt current instead of a 120-volts 1, it is but going to burn it out! Improper wiring or using the wrong type of outlet is usually the cause of delivering 240-volts to your RV instead of 120-volts and the consequences could be disastrous.

Wiring your 50-amp RV outlet

Wiring this blazon of outlet is not complicated. You lot will have four terminals or screws on the dorsum of your receptacle (and sometimes they are color-coded):

Light-green last is for the ground wire

(2) Brass terminals are for HOT wires

Silverish terminal is for the neutral wire

Typically HOT wires will exist colored red and blackness, but sometimes they are BOTH black. You wire them to the brass terminals and it doesn't matter which goes on which.

Basis wire (green or bare) goes on the green concluding or the ane behind the U-shape. White (or neutral wire) goes directly beneath it, on the argent screw (or terminal).

Here is a wiring procedure:

Step #1. Training. Go your wiring accessories out! One 50 amp outlet (or NEMA fourteen-50R), a wire (#six or six-gauge is highly recommended), and a atmospheric condition-resistant box. Also, accept out your installation tools.
Step #2. Safety Outset! Plough OFF your principal power source.
Footstep #3. Finding a identify. If you don't accept vacant slots in your breaker panel, yous may need to call an electrician to get an extension installed.
Step #4. Running your wires. It is recommended to run your wires through the conduit BEFORE connecting whatsoever of the sides.
Pace #v. Connecting outlet. Connect red and blackness (or blackness and blackness) wires to the side terminals of your outlet (they could exist color-coded every bit brass). Connect the U-shaped side to bare or green wire (last could be colour-coded as green and white (or neutral wire) directly below it (silver screw).
Step #6. Connecting the breaker. Two black (or scarlet and blackness) wires go within the breaker.
Step #7. Connecting to bus-confined. Ground and neutral buses are terminal blocks (within your breaker panel) with a lot of small holes in them. This is where you put advisable wires and tighten them upward with a spiral. White wire needs to be continued to the neutral bus and bare (or greenish) wire to the footing omnibus.
Stride #8. Plow the ability back ON. Even if you lot call up you lot did everything correct, just stick a surge protector on it or check it with a multimeter just to make sure.

Hither is a diagram:

Feel free to download the PDF file for greater detail.

** Warning! Yous are using this wiring guide at your own hazard. I am not responsible for whatever of the mistakes that I could peradventure brand or improper usage of the provided information.

Here is a pin that you can salvage for quick reference .

Testing your outlet

The all-time communication that I read on the internet about testing an RV plug, is NOT to trust Anybody (including a professional that installs information technology). Anyone can brand a error and y'all may terminate up existence the one paying for that mistake.

Also, because it is super piece of cake to cheque the outlet, you cannot afford to be lazy now! You can use a multimeter (or voltmeter) to bank check for right power coming through or simply plug in a surge protector, which volition light upwards the green lite if everything is OK.

If using a multimeter (or voltmeter):

The voltage betwixt HOT wires should be = 240 volts
The voltage between HOT and NEUTRAL = 120 volts (check both)
The voltage between HOT and GROUND = 120 volts
The voltage between NEUTRAL and GROUND = 0 volts

Using your outlet

This type of outlet does give a lot of ability! Unlike with 30-amp service, with 50-amps y'all tin actually plug a lot of things in.

Merely there are all the same some pointers that are mentioned in all RV manuals, which you may ignore while just trying to quickly become on the road without reading information technology properly. This is how you connect your RV to shore power (whether at the RV role or your own business firm):

Turn off ALL appliances. Start of all, you should not try to plug in your string under load.
Turn shore power breaker or RV breaker OFF. This is of import in social club to avert adventitious electrical shock or contact flashing.
Plugin your cord. Marshal plug terminals with socket terminals and plug it in.
Plough the breaker dorsum ON. After contact is made and the plug is firmly seated inside the socket, you tin can safely turn RV breakers or shore power breakers ON.

Since this particular setup does supply a lot of ability, maybe it'southward not necessary to calculate amp usage for every single petty device onboard, simply if you like, this information is included in the article on 30-amp plug installation .