30 AMP to 50 AMP adapter

Does anyone know if the 30 to 50 adapter actually cuts the voltage from 220v to 110v. I am in the process of wiring up my pole barn and there are thoughts of someday upgrading the camper so I thought I would wire it for 50amp and use the adapter with my current 30amp camper. Trying to save a little time and money but also do not want to fry the camper.

I does at least the one I used anyway. For hurricane Gustav I evacuated with my travel trailer and put a lincloln 10,000 watt welding machine in the bed of my truck. I had an electrician at our shipyard check the voltage coming out of my 50 to 30 adapter while plugged into the 50 amp 220v outlet on the welding machine. It was putting out 120v. Evidently the adapter only picks up one leg. I would plug your adapter into a 50 amp 220v source and check the output on the 30amp female plug with a volt meter just to be safe.

BayouDude is correct. The 50A to 30A adapter only picks up one leg of the 220VAC circuit. Even though the adapter is plugged into a 50A outlet, the total amperage will be limited by the 30A breaker in the coach.

capthowdy6 wrote:Does anyone know if the 30 to 50 adapter actually cuts the voltage from 220v to 110v. I am in the process of wiring up my pole barn and there are thoughts of someday upgrading the camper so I thought I would wire it for 50amp and use the adapter with my current 30amp camper. Trying to save a little time and money but also do not want to fry the camper.

No, the adapter does not "cut" the voltage. A 50A outlet has two 125V hot legs and a 30A outlet has one 125V hot leg. When you plug a 30A trailer into a 50A outlet via an adapter, you are simply using only one of it's 125V legs.

Thanks for the fast responses, it sounds as though I am safe doing the 50amp route with the adapter. Thanks once again, this forum proves to be a wealth of knowledge time and time again

Yeah, go 50A now. wire is cheap now when compared to trying to re-pull it for the larger load in the future. 10-2 is good for reasonable 30A runs, but you need at least 8-3 or possibly 6-3 for 50A runs. It will cost a little more for the wire now, but you'll thank yourself later.

If you set up the wiring for the 50a now, you can use a 30A RV receptacle and single pole 30A breaker instead of using a 50a recp/double pole breaker w/ a 50 to 30 adapter. There's no rule against oversizing wire if the breaker and receptacle are rated together. In the future, you can simply replace the receptacle and breaker with the 50 when needed. Just make sure you wirenut the extra hot wire so you don't put 220A over the 30A plug. Things will fry in the trailer if you do. The 30a plug only uses one hot, one neutral and one ground. The 50a uses two hots, one neutral and one ground.

Thanks guys!

We're looking to buy some property out in the weeds. I'll
probably be burying wiring for a couple of powerpoles before the gravel
is laid down (along with water and sewer), for visitors. Now I'll
just wire 50A service and let them use pigtails, mine if need be.