220VAC Moochdocking Adapter

[Chuck.N]

We'll be moochdocking at a friend's house in Florida soon. He has a 220VAC dryer outlet available for our use, should we be able to use it.

Has anyone on here successfully fabricated an adapter that would allow connection of our 110VAC 50A RV system to a household 220VAC outlet? If so, can you kindly share the wiring diagram?

Any other tidbits of information you can offer up are appreciated. I don't know if he has two separate 15A circuits available, but if he does, that's a possible option. However, the preference is the 220VAC solution, if it can be done.

TIA!

[BobLandry]

You can not make 220V by combining two 110s. What you want to do is easy if you know what you are doing, dangerous to you and your rig if you do not.

[fez111]

You can not make 220V by combining two 110s. What you want to do is easy if you know what you are doing, dangerous to you and your rig if you do not.

I concur. Most 220 volt dryer outlets DO NOT have a NEUTRAL (white wire) connection! Do not, under any circumstances, try to use the bare ground wire as a neutral. That is very dangerous.

[jkwilson]

I concur. Most 220 volt dryer outlets DO NOT have a NEUTRAL (white wire) connection! Do not, under any circumstances, try to use the bare ground wire as a neutral. That is very dangerous.

4 wire has been code for something like 20 years, so the old style are becoming less common.

[Chuck.N]

You can not make 220V by combining two 110s. What you want to do is easy if you know what you are doing, dangerous to you and your rig if you do not.

I don't want to make a 220V connection. I'll have a 220V dryer connection available that I'd like to split into a 110V 50A RV style connection.

[jkwilson]

I don't want to make a 220V connection. I'll have a 220V dryer connection available that I'd like to split into a 110V 50A RV style connection.

You probably can with some caution.

Dryer plugs are a little confusing because there are two options.

They used to be 3-wire 120/240 with ground and neutral connected together. This has led more than a few poorly informed folks to wire the outlet wrong, and you’ll also see some wired this way with the ground wire straight to a water pipe. You are kind of on your own determining if you have the right wiring on these.

Since about 2000, there has been a switch to 4-wire 120/240 outlets. These are much less likely to be mis-wired.

If he has two 15A (or 20A) circuits available, you can use each of those to power one leg of your rig, but in most cases you’ll be limited because most items in the RV are on one of the legs.

[Jerryr]

If he has a properly wired 4-wire 14-30R dryer outlet you can use this adaptor. https://acworks.com/products/ev-adapter-ev1430ms-018

The risk is the outlet MUST have a separate NEUTRAL and GROUND wired at the outlet. 4-wire dryer outlets were required on new construction starting around 1996. Before that 3-wire dryer outlets were the norm and they did not have a neutral. So if the house was built before 1996 you may be out of luck.

I use that adaptor at my house to connect my 50a Reflection and can run almost everything on the RV without exceeding 24 amps per leg. I just don’t r in the. Water heater on electric and run it on propane only.

If the dryer outlet is a 3-wire outlet or a 4-wire outlet without a neutral it will not have a Neutral and that will destroy the RV appliances.

[Chewwi]

. . . 4-wire dryer outlets were required on new construction starting around 1996. Before that 3-wire dryer outlets were the norm and they did not have a neutral.
. . .
If the dryer outlet is a 3-wire outlet or a 4-wire outlet without a neutral it will not have a Neutral and that will destroy the RV appliances.

Properly wired 3 wire dryer connections DO indeed have a neutral connection. They just don’t have a separate ground. The ground connection on the dryer was bonded to the neutral connection, so that the single wire served both functions—as the neutral current pathway and as the grounding pathway.


2020 2600RB,
2017 Silverado Crew Cab 1500, 6.2L

[Jerryr]

Just to add on, my 1996 built house had a 3-wire dryer outlet. Fortunately they ran 10-3 w/ground Romex from the breaker box to the outlet. I had the wires reconnected to a 4-wire 14-30R receptacle reconnected using current code, connecting the white to neutral and bare to ground on both ends.

[Chuck.N]

Thanks for all the comments and ideas. I found this on Amazon, and it looks like it might work. I sent it to my friend to compare to the dryer outlet.

https://www.amazon.com/Conntek-EV143.../dp/B00STD8CXC