RV Parks Charging

[dmurphy]

Even with a very bright moon the stars are incredibly brilliant. Cassiopeia is directly overhead.

I took off when it said 43 miles. Redding was 46 miles away. I made it easily with about 16 miles left by traveling 38 miles an hour. I put it on the charger at the best Western Hilltopper and I am bedding down for the night. Thanks all for the help!

Glad you made it to the charger without issue. And, you truly got to stop and enjoy the beauty of the universe at the same time - that’s a great reminder to all of us to slow down and enjoy life! We only get one trip on this great big hunk of rock - stop and enjoy it! Any chance you took some pictures of that beautiful sky?

 

[ewoodrick]

Incidentally the light on the charge port just does not illuminate at all with the 240 V connection, anticipating someone’s question about that.

Did you flip the breaker on?
Many RVers tend to turn the breaker off when unplugging.

 

[srs5694]

I am presently at the second RV park I have come to to try and get my Nema 14.50 working. The only charge I can get is from a 120. These people talk about 50 A I don’t know an app for me right banana Perhaps my Nemo 1450 is only good up to 30 A and that’s why they are not working anyway looks like I’m stuck here for about four hours Pardon the bad punctuation I am dictating

To address a point that others haven't explicitly addressed, the 50-amp nature of the outlet is not a problem. First, all NEMA 14-50 outlets should be wired to provide up to 50A of power (40A continuous over an extended period). The Gen2 EVSE that comes with all Model 3s will draw only 32A at most, but that's fine. Voltage (120v, 240v, etc.) is set by the supply, and whatever you plug in must be able to deal with that voltage. Sometimes that's transformed to something else, but when that's required, the device must have a way of doing that, like the "power brick" for a laptop, which converts from 120v AC to a lower DC voltage. Amperage drawn, though, is controlled by whatever is consuming power. Even plugged into the same outlet, two devices may draw radically different amperages. A microwave oven is likely to draw far more amps than a cell phone, for instance, although both use 120v (in most cases in the US). In the case of your car plugged into a NEMA 14-50, the car will draw whatever amperage it needs (normally 32A), at whatever voltage the electrical system supplies (normally about 240v, but sometimes 208v). The circuit could theoretically be wired in a way that enables it to safely provide 60A or 100A, and it would still work fine with your car drawing only 32A, just as a 120v outlet in your kitchen can provide either the amps needed by a microwave oven or the much lower amperage drawn by a cell phone.

 

[Blucenturion]

An RV park can be miswired so that it works normally for most RVs but won't charge an EV. If one stall is that way, others near it are likely to be, too.

That's because most RVs treat the 14-50 as two 50 A 120V banks, running each line to neutral, while all EVs make it a single 240V by running line1 to line2.

If the park wired both hot lines to one side of the transformer, the EV sees no power but the RV works normally.

Be damn, who knew.

 

[Blucenturion]

Did you flip the breaker on?
Many RVers tend to turn the breaker off when unplugging.

Aye, sure did.

 

[Blucenturion]

Glad you made it to the charger without issue. And, you truly got to stop and enjoy the beauty of the universe at the same time - that’s a great reminder to all of us to slow down and enjoy life! We only get one trip on this great big hunk of rock - stop and enjoy it! Any chance you took some pictures of that beautiful sky?

I just don’t have any confidence in an iPhone for astrophotography

 

[Blucenturion]

Glad you made it to the charger without issue. And, you truly got to stop and enjoy the beauty of the universe at the same time - that’s a great reminder to all of us to slow down and enjoy life! We only get one trip on this great big hunk of rock - stop and enjoy it! Any chance you took some pictures of that beautiful sky?

I may as well run out to Lake Manzanita well I’m here. Here is downtown Redding

 

[Blucenturion]

I may as well run out to Lake Manzanita well I’m here. Here is downtown Redding

I have simply got to orzangie my files

 

[brkaus]

Assuming you have a proper 14-50 adaptor on your UMC, you should get some lights if the power is working to the outlet.

If you do buy a TT-30 adaptor, like one that goes from TT-30 to 14-50 - do make sure you set the car to 24a when you use it. The car knows the max it can pull by the connector plugged into the UMC. If the 14-50 is plugged in it will pull 32a (assuming you have a gen2 UMC). Also, some TT-30 to 14-50 adaptors will not charge a Tesla and one that will charge a Tesla will not work for an RV. (If you search tt-30 to 14-50 on amazon, most of them have EV charging or RV in the title)

These folks have a TT-30 that should plug directly into your UMC - TT-30 Adapter for Tesla Model S/X/3 Gen 2 – EVSE Adapters

Either approach is fine, just make sure you get the correct adaptor and set the current properly.

 

[Blucenturion]

Assuming you have a proper 14-50 adaptor on your UMC, you should get some lights if the power is working to the outlet.

If you do buy a TT-30 adaptor, like one that goes from TT-30 to 14-50 - do make sure you set the car to 24a when you use it. The car knows the max it can pull by the connector plugged into the UMC. If the 14-50 is plugged in it will pull 32a (assuming you have a gen2 UMC). Also, some TT-30 to 14-50 adaptors will not charge a Tesla and one that will charge a Tesla will not work for an RV.

These folks have a TT-30 that should plug directly into your UMC - TT-30 Adapter for Tesla Model S/X/3 Gen 2 – EVSE Adapters

Either approach is fine, just make sure you get the correct adaptor and set the current properly.

OK, thanks. I’ll do that

 

[Blucenturion]

I don’t know why Tesla doesn’t operate it 24/7 tech Support Yesterday at the Eureka supercharger a model S owner came and said the app quit on him Of course I told him to delete and re-download, which he did successfully. So if he gets back to Florida I will feel partly responsible

 

[brkaus]

I'll add - I haven't used my Gen2 UMC much. On the Gen1 UMC the box would have a light when plugged in.

You should be able to wander around the RV park with just the cable and find an outlet that shows some sign of life w/o having to drive your car everywhere.

Charging on a regular plug is painful. If you do this a bunch, you might also consider adding a 5-20 adaptor to your collection. Gen 2 NEMA Adapters.

Many RV parks will have 5-20. you can get 16a instead of 12a. Makes a difference if you're stuck. You will also find 5-20 in some garages (fridge outlet). It looks like a normal outlet but has a "T" on one side (https://www.lowes.com/pd/Hubbell-Wh...istant-Residential-Commercial-Outlet/50171425)

 

[wws]

Sometimes a 14-50 at an RV park can be 'bad'. Like charging will be ok for a few minutes then the breaker throws. Probably worse with the Gen 1 UMC that allowed a full 40 amp draw, rather than the Gen 2 which restricts current to 32 amps. Trying a different stall at the park may reveal one that can handle the load.

I also carry in my arsenal a 5-20 adapter - which has come in handy a number of times. Besides RV parks, one can often find 5-20 receptacles in the parking lots of motels, inns, and other places. So you'll get more overnight miles than with the 5-15 adapter.

Finally, as mentioned above, a TT-30 adapter may also be handy for folks who frequent RV parks. I've seen places where there are a limited number of stalls with 14-50s, but other stalls that offer TT-30s. Some smaller/older RV parks only offer TT-30. I have one of the evseadapters adapters. Would have been nice if Tesla had offered it themselves.

 

[darth_vad3r]

For future reference, for anyone in a “waiting for trickle charge” scenario ... *if* you can conveniently leave the car and go somewhere else the car will charge faster. This isn’t a case of a watched kettle never boiling ... being in the car sucks power, even if you turn HVAC off entirely. The screen, etc. still uses power.

Worst case with HVAC you might get negative charging ... with just the fan on you’ll be going significantly slower. With just the screen on it might be a 2 mile difference after 5 hours.

Just something to consider if you can easily spend the time somewhere else.

 

[doghousePVD]

An RV park can be miswired so that it works normally for most RVs but won't charge an EV. If one stall is that way, others near it are likely to be, too.

That's because most RVs treat the 14-50 as two 50 A 120V banks, running each line to neutral, while all EVs make it a single 240V by running line1 to line2.

If the park wired both hot lines to one side of the transformer, the EV sees no power but the RV works normally.

Your post is confused. In the US, ALL 240 volt lines are two 120V line 180˚ out of phase. The hot to neutral will show 120V.

Having both hots in-phase on a 14-50 wouldn't make any sense - no 240V power at all, and only 50 A (not 100 A) of 120V available. With a standard neutral, you cannot run two in-phase 120V lines on it. (Fires, popped breakers, etc.)

It may be that the particular pedestal you were at is defective and had only one hot operating. Then you move to another pedestal. Another possibility there is a switch on the pedestal or office to select either the TT-30 circuit or the 14-50, but not both simultaneously.

BTW, how was the OP at a RV park with no manager on duty at 11:30pm? Just trying to filch some electrons without paying? And then complaining he couldn't steal as fast as he wanted? Am I missing something?

 

[darth_vad3r]

Your post is confused. In the US, ALL 240 volt lines are two 120V line 180˚ out of phase. The hot to neutral will show 120V.

Having both hots in-phase on a 14-50 wouldn't make any sense - no 240V power at all, and only 50 A (not 100 A) of 120V available. With a standard neutral, you cannot run two in-phase 120V lines on it. (Fires, popped breakers, etc.)

Well they were implying the RV doesn’t actually use 240, but rather two 120’s ... and if the RV pedestal was “miswired”, then such an RV wouldn’t notice (unless they blew a fuse by pulling too much power). e.g. Pedestal A could use phase 1 hot, pedestal B could use phase 2 hot. Overall power draw would be balanced. As long as one RV isn’t trying to use more than 25 A on each half of their 120 V outlet usage it would be fine, right?

If the RV actually tried to use 240V for anything it of course wouldn’t work.

Like what if you just connected a 60 A breaker with appropriate gauge wire 120 V supply to a 14-50 outlet with the two hots jumpered in the receptacle box. This obviously does zero for EV charging, but would “work” for an RV that just feeds one phase 120V to half its accessories and outlets and the other phase 120V to the other half. It’s essential just acting as a splitter.

 

[Saghost]

Your post is confused. In the US, ALL 240 volt lines are two 120V line 180˚ out of phase. The hot to neutral will show 120V.

Having both hots in-phase on a 14-50 wouldn't make any sense - no 240V power at all, and only 50 A (not 100 A) of 120V available. With a standard neutral, you cannot run two in-phase 120V lines on it. (Fires, popped breakers, etc.)

It may be that the particular pedestal you were at is defective and had only one hot operating. Then you move to another pedestal. Another possibility there is a switch on the pedestal or office to select either the TT-30 circuit or the 14-50, but not both simultaneously.

BTW, how was the OP at a RV park with no manager on duty at 11:30pm? Just trying to filch some electrons without paying? And then complaining he couldn't steal as fast as he wanted? Am I missing something?

My post is not confused.

You are correct that US split phase wiring starts as 240V, with a center tap neutral to create 120V.

When wiring a string of RV stalls, I've read of cases where they ran one line and neutral down of row, and the other line and neutral down the next row. This saves a little wiring cost (but I don't think it meets code - certainly I'm pretty sure hooking both sides of the 14-50 to the same line doesn't meet code. Not that this stops people.)

I suspect this may be a legacy of wiring RV parks with TT-30 connections, where each stall only has one line and neutral...

 

[Blucenturion]

Your post is confused. In the US, ALL 240 volt lines are two 120V line 180˚ out of phase. The hot to neutral will show 120V.

Having both hots in-phase on a 14-50 wouldn't make any sense - no 240V power at all, and only 50 A (not 100 A) of 120V available. With a standard neutral, you cannot run two in-phase 120V lines on it. (Fires, popped breakers, etc.)

It may be that the particular pedestal you were at is defective and had only one hot operating. Then you move to another pedestal. Another possibility there is a switch on the pedestal or office to select either the TT-30 circuit or the 14-50, but not both simultaneously.

BTW, how was the OP at a RV park with no manager on duty at 11:30pm? Just trying to filch some electrons without paying? And then complaining he couldn't steal as fast as he wanted? Am I missing something?

I’ll address your post after I’m back home.

 

[Rocky_H]

I had originally thought there was a need for the 240V in RVs, but I found out apparently that's not the case. They just have a lot of various 120V loads, but they want to spread them out across two different circuits so they don't bog one down. That is why there are a lot of weird and terrible kinds of adapter cords in the camping world, called things like a "dogbone adapter". They will take a 5-15 plug or TT-30 plug and take that single hot 120V phase wire and put it on both pins of a 14-50 outlet for a big RV to plug into. And it works for that, as long as they don't try to draw too much current, like running both A/C units on the roof.

 

[SSedan]

HVAC use is soaking up power.

Why are folks rating this funny?
Sitting in the car causing the HVAC to run is knocking the charge rate down from 5miles to something around 2.