Thor Forums

[lwmcguire]

Originally Posted by TurnerFam

for your electrician: it's simply a RV 50amp outlet wired to your panel at a 240v double-pole 50amp breaker....

for your RV: it's 240v incoming thru your shore cord, and your RV's Main Panel will use it as needed... especially since your own RV's Main Breaker is also the exact same 240v double-pole 50amp breaker...

Do you have any 240v appliances in your RV? Probably not, so your RV's main panel will only have individual 120v breakers...

regardless of whether your RV has a 'need' for 240 volts or not doesn't come into play when you ask your electrician to install you a 50amp outlet at your home - it's a simple 50amp 240v outlet. The industry has a standard for this type of plug, and it matches exactly the mail end of your RV's shore power cable.
(Don't confuse your 50amp RV service with more common 30amp RV service, which is only 120 volts, and uses a different plug configuration, and is only 30amps of power. This is actually the one that many electricians can easily and accidentally get wrong - they wire this 30amp service as though it is for a 240v clothes dryer, which is completely incorrect.)

"North America.....'split phase electrical service'
This three-wire single phase system is common in North America for residential and light commercial applications. Circuit breaker panels typically have two hot wires, and a neutral, connected at one point to the grounded center tap of a local transformer. Single pole circuit breakers feed 120 volt circuits from one of the 120 volt busses within the panel, or two-pole circuit breakers feed 240 volt circuits from both busses. 120 V circuits are the most common, and used to power NEMA 1 and NEMA 5 outlets, and most residential and light commercial direct-wired lighting circuits. 240 V circuits are used for high-demand applications, such as air conditioners, space heaters, electric stoves, electric clothes dryers, water heaters, [edit: many RVs and Motorhomes], and electric vehicle charge points. These use NEMA 10or NEMA 14 outlets that are deliberately incompatible with the 120 V outlets.

Wiring regulations govern the application of split-phase circuits. Since the neutral (return) conductor is not protected by a fuse or circuit breaker, a neutral wire can be shared only by two circuits fed from opposite lines of the supply system. Two circuits from opposing lines may share a neutral if both breakers are connected by a bar so that both trip simultaneously ([4]NEC 210.4), this prevents 120 V from feeding across 240 V circuits."

Great overview