RV Checklist for Camping: Checking the Electric Supply
Dave SolbergDescription
Before plugging your RV into the campground source, it’s important to take the time to check for proper polarity and voltage. Even if you are staying at a familiar campground, it’s a good idea to check for electrical issues that not only could create appliance failure, but can cause severe damage to your RV. These could be avoided by having an RV Checklist for Camping to reference before plugging into any electrical source.
Using a simple analog voltage tester, check the outlet for proper voltage. A typical 30 amp outlet should provide 120 volts to the RV. This meter has a variance showing approximately 112-120 volts in a green or safe range and red if the voltage is to high or to low.
To check for proper polarity or wiring, use a plug in electrical outlet tester. This tester will indicate wiring condition of the outlet and tests for, ground fault interruption, open ground, open neutral, open hot, and correct wiring for hot and ground/neutral connections.
Even when you verify the power requirements are good from the campground source, it’s a good idea to plug these tools into an outlet inside the coach to make sure nothing changes during your stay.
Before plugging your RV into the campground source, it's important to check the polarity and the voltage of that campground source. That can be done easily with these simple tools here. This is a voltmeter. We're gonna simply plug it in to the campground source and we see that it's got a red and a green. Anything in the green is good. Anything in the red, we don't want to plug into it 'cause we could cause damage. Now, this does not tell me if it's grounded properly. So a very inexpensive little ground fault checker like this, plug it in. We see we're good according to the gauge on here. And this is a safe campground to plug into.
With those testers we are checking the 15/20 amp circuit. Will that guarantee the the 30 or 50 amp circuit is working properly?
Can anyone tell me if this is accurate information I received at an RV store yesterday? My motorhome is 50 amp but will rum on 30amp using one A/C. I ask I'd there was a way to plug my RV into 110 receptical? He said to use an adapter to reduce from 50amp to 30amp and use a male adapter that has 2 110 2 female plugs. He said it could be used with 1A/C and a few lights and refrigerator. Ever heard of this?
You fail to mention how to check 50 amp service which is what most of us have. Most important is just because the 30 amp plug is good is no guarantee that the 50 amp plug is wired properly.