Campsite hookups for car camping

[Melissa]

I want to camp in my car at a campground with electrical hookups so that I can use my cpap machine while I sleep. 

I've never used utility hookups at a campground before. Can I plug regular household appliances into it, or is it a special kind of plug/power for RVs? 

I understand that it will be 50amps instead of the regular household 120 (or something like that) so I can't run as much stuff and I have to keep track of how many amps my appliances use.

But do I need a special type of power cord or inverter to use the power that will be available?  Any help would  be appreciated! Thanks!

 

[Water Dog]

Campground pedestals typically have two or three different configurations of plugs. Almost always at least a 120 volt 30 amp ( which you don't need) and a regular household type 120 volt 20 amp. Just have a standard heavy duty extension cord with you, and you should be good to go.

Welcome to the Forum..

 

[SeilerBird]

I've never used utility hookups at a campground before. Can I plug regular household appliances into it, or is it a special kind of plug/power for RVs?

All campgrounds offer 110 volts that is exactly the same as the 110 volts supplied to your house (although the amperage may be a bit different, that won't matter for this discussion) so you can use any 110 volt household appliance in a campground. 

I understand that it will be 50amps instead of the regular household 120 (or something like that) so I can't run as much stuff and I have to keep track of how many amps my appliances use.

You are mixing apples and oranges here. 50 amp is much different than 120 volts. The voltage is 110 (some people call it 120) . I am not going to confuse you here with a detailed technical explanation, I will leave that to others. but you don't have to worry about how many amps your appliances use since you will only be plugging a few household appliances in at one time.

But do I need a special type of power cord or inverter to use the power that will be available?

Most campgrounds have two different outlets available at the pedestal you will be plugging into. Some have three outlets. One would be a 20 amp like you are used to seeing in your house, one will be 30 amps and sometimes you will find a 50 amp. The only one you will need is the 20 amp outlet. If you run into the rare campground without a 20 amp outlet then you would need a 30 amp to 20 amp reducer, which is available dirt cheap at Walmart, Amazon or Home Depot:

http://compare.ebay.com/like/200668182229?_lwgsi=y&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar

 

[Molaker]

Most, not all, but most campground power pedestals have regular 120 vac 15 amp outlets as well as the special RV plugs.  If not, there are adaptors for converting 30 amp RV power to 15 amp (regular power) connector and also adapters for converting 50 amp service to 30 amp service.  Both are usually available at WalMart and, of course, RV centers.  But regardless of the need to adapt, as Water Dog said, bring along a good heavy duty standard power cord.

As for worrying about how much power you are using, it will not be necessary (unless you plan on running an air conditioner and microwave along with your cpap).  The 50 amp & 30 amp services are both 120 vac.  All you really need to do is adapt the connector to 120 vac 15 amp.

Worst case scenario, if you have difficulty making a connection for your cpap, I would expect most neighboring campers would be happy to assist or even permit you to plug into their RV.

 

[Melissa]

Thanks everyone, for the great information! I'm re-assured. This particular campsite offers 50amp service, so I might just bring a 50 amp to 20 amp converter just to be sure, along with my standard heavy duty outdoor household extension cord. 

Eventually I will need to understand all this power stuff, since my husband and I are toying with converting a van into a camper.  Can anyone suggest a good resource for learning this stuff? We will probably end up hiring an electrician just to make sure we're safe, but I'd like to know enough to design and budget for the camper.  I'm a little intimidated by the safety concerns related to both propane and batteries.

What I'm getting so far is that, roughly speaking, amps measure the quantity of electricity available/being drawn.  Volts are like the intensity of electricity, or maybe just a different type of delivery of the electricity. 12 volts is always dc, like in a car, and 110 volts is always ac, like in a house.  I have no idea what watts are.

I'm sure this has been discussed on this forum many times already. Can anyone point me to a good thread?  A website?  A book?  Thanks!

 

[Carl L]

Eventually I will need to understand all this power stuff, since my husband and I are toying with converting a van into a camper.  Can anyone suggest a good resource for learning this stuff?

May I suggest the RVForum.  ;D  I think we have beaten almost every aspect of RV power almost to death in our Tech topics and in the library.  Just start browsing.  If nothing comes to view, ask a question.

What I'm getting so far is that, roughly speaking, amps measure the quantity of electricity available/being drawn.  Volts are like the intensity of electricity, or maybe just a different type of delivery of the electricity. 12 volts is always dc, like in a car, and 110 volts is always ac, like in a house.  I have no idea what watts are.

Volts:  yes that's it.  We try to clarify what we are talking about by usuing the notation 12VDC or 120VAC.  (The standard for household current in the US is now 120VAC.)  A Watt is a unit of power, the production of energy per unit time.  It is defined as 1 joule/second. You could think of it as 0.00134048 Horse Power -- or you could not, if you don't want to.  :  In electrical terms it is 1 amp thru 1 volt.  (amps X volts).

The woods are full of texts and handbooks on electricity.  the 12 Volt Doctor is a good reference on direct current wiring and concepts.

 

[DearMissMermaid]

If you know where you are going... call the campground and ask them about the regular 110 plug in the utility post. So far I've seen them at all but 2 campgrounds, but then again, those 2 places catered to RV's only and no car camping allowed. I am pretty sure anywhere you can tent camp or car camp with electricity, it will come with the regular 110 outlet, but you can always call ahead to find out.

Then you can take your coffee pot and whatever else you desire if you aren't running everything at once. I recently bought a heavy duty cord that had 3 outlets built into it. Very handy where I am camping, so I can have lights, fan and crockpot outdoors all plugged into the same heavy extension cord.

 

[SeilerBird]

If you have 110 volts and you plug it into a 20 amp circuit that means that in theory you have 2200 watts of power available for use. I get that by multiplying 110 x 20.

 

[Lou Schneider]

What I'm getting so far is that, roughly speaking, amps measure the quantity of electricity available/being drawn.  Volts are like the intensity of electricity, or maybe just a different type of delivery of the electricity. 12 volts is always dc, like in a car, and 110 volts is always ac, like in a house.  I have no idea what watts are.

Voltage is electrical pressure - like the pressure in a water system.  Amps measures the quantity of electricity - gallons per minute in water terms. Watts is how much work the electricity is doing, and is found by multiplying Voltage x Current, or Pressure x Quantity.  If you have an appliance that uses 5 amps at 120 volts, it uses 600 watts.  Or you can work it the other way, dividing the Wattage (600 watts) by the voltage (120 volts) to get 5 amps.

What's important is to make sure the Voltage you're plugging into is correct - 120 volts like at your house, not 240 volts.  The amperage will work itself out, as it's determined by what you've plugged in.  Just don't try to use more Current than the circuit can provide.  It's fine to draw 1 amp, or 5 amps, or 10 amps from a 30 or 50 amp outlet.  But you'll trip a breaker if you try drawing 30 amps from a 20 amp outlet.

120 Volts AC (Alternating Current) is what you have in your house.  Your car uses 12 Volts DC (Direct Current) for it's electrical needs.  12 volts DC is also what comes out of a battery.  Most of an RV's electrical stuff is 12 volts so it can run on the battery when you're not plugged into shore power.  Things like lights, fans, the water pump, etc.

When you convert your van into a camper, you'll want to do things like have circuit breakers to protect the inside wiring from shorts, install a Converter to run your lights and charge your batteries from it's 12 volt output when you're plugged into 120 volt shore power, etc.

Feel free to ask questions as they arise - we're a friendly group!

 

[John From Detroit]

Most campgrounds have 15/20 and 30 amp outlets in the box, Some 20-30-50.

That said I do stop at one CG where there are only 30 amp outlets and another where SOME sites only have 30.. (And some only have 15/20)  the standard household outlet is a 15 or 15/20.

If you are worried an adapter with a TT-30 plug and a 15 amp outlet works in those "one outlet" sites.. Rare though they are, and the adapter is low cost.

This is the one time that I do not suggest a "Dogbone" type but rather a "Hockey puck" type adapter.