However, that trade-off may be worth it if your camping needs require that extended battery life. Almost all RVs come with a power cord to plug into the electrical pedestal at a campground campgrounds with available hookups, anyway. They come in two amperages: A 30 amp cord has three prongs, and a 50 amp has four.

While many campgrounds do have RV electrical hook ups for both 50 amp and 30 amp cords, some campgrounds have only 30 amp hookups available. Also, you want to use the shortest adapter and extension cords possible to avoid a voltage drop. Also, while an RV with 50amp capacity can be adapted to use a 30amp cord, an RV with only 30amp capacity can never be adapted to use a 50amp cord. However, you want to keep safety in mind, especially when dealing with electricity. Once your power cord is firmly plugged in, then switch them on. Not everything you plug in will draw the same amount of electricity.

Some devices run quite well on very little power, while others are big draws on your available power. Most of your kitchen appliances use a lot of electricity. If you don't know how to do either, just ask someone with experience or have an RV service department do it or show you how.

It's not that difficult, but sometimes the batteries can be a bear to get to. Not having electrical hook-ups makes our basic discussion more complicated. But we will keep it short and simple. If you have a generator, you can run your appliances just like you are plugged in. Well, it's not quite that simple, but a generator produces the same TYPE of power as a campground pedestal.

The issue is whether or not it produces as much power. If you don't have a generator, the only way to run the majority of your appliances is to use the power from your batteries. That requires something called an "inverter". Some motorhomes and higher end fifth wheels have an inverter, but most towable RVs do not.

If you are interested in more details on being without electrical hook-ups and more details on the electrical systems, keep reading.

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Otherwise, you have the basic information you need. We started our RV lifestyle with the basic understanding of RV electrical systems as set forth above. Actually, we knew less than what we discussed above. Still, we were able to go on the road and fully enjoy the capabilities of our RV. However, in time we learned a little more and the new knowledge has been beneficial in broadening our lifestyle. So we will try to pass on a little of that knowledge below.

Well, volt power is provided by the electrical pedestal at your campsite or by running your generator if you have one. Volts are a measure of the "force" pushing the electrical current through wires. Think of it like water pressure. The higher your water pressure, the more water that is pushed through.

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Obviously, volt power pushes electricity through with much more force than volt power. But with a little research I found that these are basically one and the same. For practical purposes there is no need for most of us to distinguish between the two. I will always call it volts because it makes the math we need to understand all this easier. You'll see what I mean later. Now, there is more terminology that always comes up when talking about RV electrical systems.

So let's see if we can help understand "AC" and "DC". We all learned this in our basic science classes in school, but most of us forgot it. However, in RVing it actually becomes practical and helpful to know the difference. AC is "alternating current". That means that the electricity flows in both directions.

In other words, picture electricity moving through a wire from right to left.

Then it stops and moves back left to right. It "alternates" - stopping and starting and reversing direction and moving in a wave. Of course it happens so fast, we never know it.

Need to Know Differences Between 30 and 50 Amps | KOA Camping Blog

DC stands for "direct current". This means that the electricity flows in one direction. Because DC current always flows in one direction, it stays constant. Many appliances and motors are better suited to that constant current. DC direct current is produced by batteries. So your RV batteries your volt system supply power to DC appliances like certain lights and motors. For example, motors that run electric jacks and slides, motors that run hydraulic jacks and slides, and motors that run water pumps get their power from the batteries.

Also, most built-in generators use DC from the batteries to start or crank the generator. Here is a graphical representation of the different currents. The AC current is at the top and the DC current is at the bottom. There is no need to get into the science of how it all works.

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DC was once the standard in the United States. But AC took over because it could be pushed over long distances more efficiently. Those of us that have owned houses never worried about "AC" vs "DC". In stick homes, it is all AC and we never cared much about the difference.

We just plugged in stuff and it worked. The only DC we used was whatever ran on portable batteries - flashlights, etc. The campground electrical pedestal and generators supply volt, AC power to most of your RV appliances TVs, microwaves, air conditioners, computers, blow dryers, satellite receivers, etc.

The batteries called "house batteries" or "coach batteries in your RV supply volt, DC power to non-AC appliances in your rig. Okay, I'm way out of my league here. So I won't attempt to define these terms in great detail. But it is helpful to know the relationship between volts, amps, and watts to know how much power you need to run your appliances.

Need to Know Differences Between 30 and 50 Amps

Watts are a measure of electrical power. Volts are a measure of force or pressure through an electrical circuit. Let's go back to our water pipe analogy. As I said before, Volts are like water pressure. Amps are like the water flow rate. Watts are then like the total water output produced by the combination of water pressure and flow. So, electrical power is determined by the amount of electrical current amps and the amount of force volts used to push that current. The higher the force volts or the higher the current amps , the more power watts there is in an electrical circuit. We care because we have to determine how much electricity we need to run the goodies in our RV.

These math problems help in figuring out what our batteries can do, what appliances we can run at the same time in various situations, and what future upgrades to the electrical system we might want to undertake. We usually need to know amps since most of our RV electrical knowledge is based on amps. We plug into amp, amp, and amp electricity sources. We always know volts. And wattage is usually available. It's located on the appliance nameplates or in the owners manuals. Or, wattage can be estimated by using the many online wattage tables for common RV appliances.