EMS-HW50c worth it?

[Gimpyknee]

SOOW is very useful in many applications. I have a short piece of SOOW that has a L14-30R (240v/30a) receptacle at my vacation house. It comes off the outside breaker box on the side of the house. I can plug my 50 amp Reflection into it with an inexpensive L14-30P to 14-50R generator adaptor and run everything in the trailer. https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters...dp/B076ZTZMHM/

First of all, my apologies for "necroposting" - as this thread is several months old. However, it is one of only two on the entire board I can find that specifically mention the L14-30.

There's an outlet in my shop building with the L14-30 twist lock receptacle. The breaker box has it labeled simply as "saw." My wife says that 20 years ago her brother plugged their camper/trailer into the outlet and ran everything fine. It looks identical to the 30amp outlet on my Craftsman 6500w generator. I metered it this morning, and found two separate hot sides at a nominal 120v (+/- 2v).

These are the same outlets, right? Properly wired (ok, maybe that's an assumption) 30amp service in my shop. Using the adapter you linked above, I should be able to hook my 50amp 2670MK up to shore power, and probably most everything except the 2nd AC (and whatever else is on that leg), right?

Thank you!

[Jerryr]

Scott,

I have good news for you. If it’s properly wired ie hot to hot = 240 volts, ground to hot 120 v, neutral to hot 120 v, you should be able to run BOTH AC units with the adapter. The AC units are usually wired to opposite 30 amp legs. Each ac unit will draw about 14 amps max.

I run my 50 amp plugged into my 30 amp, 4 wire dryer plug at home and run both AC units. My EMS shows max 14-20 Amps per leg with both AC units and converter running.

[Gimpyknee]

Thank you!!! DW is going to be excited!

[Gimpyknee]

Well, in the end, it didn't work out for me. I looked too fast at the outlet, it's actually a L14-20, not L14-30. Still two-leg 120v service, but on a smaller breaker. I thought I was being clever - replaced the 2-pole 20A breaker with a 2-pole 50A breaker; removed the L14-20 outlet and replaced it with a NEMA 14-50R. I was pretty happy with myself - until I plugged in the tester/surge suppressor from Progressive - and it showed an open ground. Dammit.

While I can replace light switches and plain old 15A outlets, obviously this job is above my paygrade. I ran my hurricane generator yesterday and today so DW could have AC while she organized the interior, but I'm calling an electrician to properly install a 50A pedestal. I don't want to fry the trailer in my first week. At least I was smart enough to plug in the surge suppressor/tester before plugging in the camper.

[gbkims]

I was pretty happy with myself - until I plugged in the tester/surge suppressor from Progressive - and it showed an open ground...At least I was smart enough to plug in the surge suppressor/tester before plugging in the camper.

Glad you did that.
The 4 wire outlet and the 4 wires are the key: Ground, Neutral, L1, L2.

[RickLight]

A 30A breaker will probably require a fatter wire. Hiring a pro sounds like the smart move!

[Wehaveyour6]

So instead of making a new post I'm going to piggy back off of this one since it pertains to wiring. Should I wire the EMS before or after the auto transfer box?

[orbiker]

So instead of making a new post I'm going to piggy back off of this one since it pertains to wiring. Should I wire the EMS before or after the auto transfer box?

Before. The most challenging part of the install is fitting into the mall area and putting the fat wires into the small holes.

If you include in your signature your model of your rig many answers will be easier for others. KEN

[boyscout]

So instead of making a new post I'm going to piggy back off of this one since it pertains to wiring. Should I wire the EMS before or after the auto transfer box?

Before, as @orbiker has said. Here are a couple of additional bits of un-solicited advice.

We installed our HW-50C first in a Reflection by cutting the main power cable that runs from the connector on the side of the trailer to the electrical panel, and inserting the HW-50C into that cable. Then we traded in the Reflection. After removing the HW-50C to keep for our new trailer, it was surprisingly expensive and a pain to install quality butt connectors to safely reassemble the heavy 6ga cable in the Reflection. To install the HW-50C in the new trailer, instead of cutting the factory input cable I bought another short length of it, not very expensive. I detached the factory cable from the input connector on the side wall of the trailer and attached the new cable to it, then inserted the HW-50C between the new cable and the factory cable. If we need to remove the HW-50C for any reason I'll remove the original factory cable from it and re-attach it to the input connector on the side wall, easy-peasy.

If you haven't decided where to install the little monitor that shows what the HW-50C is doing, here's another bit of unsolicited advice. I wanted to install it in the controls cabinet inside the trailer. However it became too complicated and was instead installed inside the water control closet where the Nautilus panel is located. I have thanked myself many times since for failing at the initial cabinet installation attempt, because the monitor is easy to see as soon as I power up the trailer at a campsite. I flip the park's breaker and then watch the monitor while it examines the power before releasing it to the trailer. I haven't yet had any need to look at the monitor after we're plugged in and set up. Seems to me that's a better location for it, outside in the utility area, than inside the trailer. Also a heck of a lot easier to install!

Good luck.

[orbiker]

I did the cut and install method in our 2018 374TH-R Solitude. The controller is upside down to make the wires reach. I also wanted to put the remote screen in with the all the other buttons, but that was not going to be easy. I just put the remote screen through the return air whole and mounted it to the floor.




Having the remote inside will let you know what amount of power is being drawn by each leg. If on a 30A service, this helps a lot.

The little remote above the EMS remote is for the converter. KEN