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Old 06-14-2016, 09:40 PM   #1
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Need electrical help

I'm trying to get a 30 amp plug at my place to hook the camper up to. I have no available space in my outdoor box as I have a generator plug wired in. I was thinking on just pulling one hot leg of the power and tying into the generator box to power the camper. The problem is all the connectors I find online are RV female to 4 prong generator, I need RV female to generator female as my gen box has the male end. Is there such a thing? I may have to make something up from scratch.
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Old 06-14-2016, 11:37 PM   #2
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Originally Posted by dawniewest View Post
I'm trying to get a 30 amp plug at my place to hook the camper up to. I have no available space in my outdoor box as I have a generator plug wired in. I was thinking on just pulling one hot leg of the power and tying into the generator box to power the camper. The problem is all the connectors I find online are RV female to 4 prong generator, I need RV female to generator female as my gen box has the male end. Is there such a thing? I may have to make something up from scratch.
Could you not drop a sub panel off the main load center? You could use the space occupied by the generator to power the sub panel and wire in the RV 30 amp outlet and then wire in the generator.
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Old 06-14-2016, 11:52 PM   #3
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Originally Posted by sundancer 87 View Post
Could you not drop a sub panel off the main load center? You could use the space occupied by the generator to power the sub panel and wire in the RV 30 amp outlet and then wire in the generator.
Maybe if I was an electrician, I'll check into that. The front of my house is going to look like an electrical supply store.
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Old 06-15-2016, 07:03 PM   #4
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Your generator input probably goes through a switch to prevent generator power from going up the power lines. As such, no voltage should be available at that connection when on normal power.
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Old 06-15-2016, 07:22 PM   #5
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Your generator input probably goes through a switch to prevent generator power from going up the power lines. As such, no voltage should be available at that connection when on normal power.
Not when it's homemade, I just ran it straight from the box. I'm the only one who can hook it up, so I always throw the main outside before before powering up, if the generator is needed.
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Old 06-17-2016, 09:26 PM   #6
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Dawniest, you might not be an electrician "officially", but you already revealed you will tinker in it.



If your main panel is full, you can pick a couple of breakers in it and remove them. That frees up a space to put a new breaker that will actually serve as the breaker for a sub-panel. The subpanel serves the purpose of making room for having more breakers. If it is installed really close to the current panel, it really is just an expansion of breaker space.



Example: Yank a couple of 20amp breakers out. Replace them with a 60amp. Wire that breaker to power the subpanel. (using appropriate wire size)



Now that sweet new panel is a 60 amp service with a bunch of room in it. The first breakers to use this panel are the 2 you removed from the main panel.



All of this is "conceptual" only. I'm not an electrician either. Don't listen to me.
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