Obtain 120V 30 amp from 120/240 30 amp generator outlet

rick p

I've recently bought a generator that doesn't have a 120V 30 amp outlet like my previous ones. It has a 4 wire 120/240 30 amp outlet and some 120V 20 amp outlets. I would like to run my RV air conditioner with 30 amps and have wired the proper plug, but using only one of the hot legs. It appears to work fine, but I'm not sure that what I have done provides 30 amps. If not, how can I get the desired voltage and amperage? The manual doesn't address this at all.
Rick

rjniles

What you have done is providing 30 amps at 120 volts. It is no different than the 50 amp to 30 amp "dog-bone" adapters the RV dealers sell to allow a RV with a 30 amp/ 120 volt supply cable to plug into a 50 amp / 120/240 volt electrical supply. Actually your set-up is better since you are not connecting to an supply with a greater amperage than the plug you are using.

Also, all the RV 110 volt AC units I have seen are 20 amp. You could run a 20 amp extension off the 20 amp receptacle on the gen set and plug the AC into the extension. If your RV has a 30 amp cord set the make a dog-bone adapter to let you plug the 30 amp cord into a 20 amp receptacle. I do this when I have my RV at home and I want to work inside and have the AC running. If you do this do not try to run anything else at the same time or you will trip the breaker on the gen set.

J. V.

You have 30 amps available the way you connected it.