need help understanding the 50amp service

hi my name is michael, i recently bought a 200 heartland big horn 3600rl and im not sure how to tell if its a 50amp or 30amp service is it 120v 22v 240? i ask this because i want to hard wire it from my panel in my barn 125ft undergound to a post by my camper, what kind of wire do i need?

Hi dougherty771,

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum.

Some of the characters dropped out in your message, so I'm guessing a bit as to what you have.

But if the shore power cord has a plug with 4 pins, it's 50 amp. 3 pins is 30 amp.

50 amp trailers plug into a standard NEMA 14-50R receptacle which is wired like a 240V oven receptacle in your house. There are 2 hot legs used independently inside the trailer. So everything inside the trailer is 120V AC (other than the 12V DC stuff).

30 amp trailers plug into a NEMA TT-30R receptacle which is specifically designed and wired for RVs. It is 120V only. Although it looks a little like a 30 amp receptacle for a household dryer, the household dryer receptacle is wired for 240V. It's unfortunately quite common for electricians to take a TT-30R receptacle and wire it for 240V by mistake, because they're used to dryer receptacles. If you plug into 240V, you will cause quite a bit of damage to your trailer.

Take a look at our owner-written Electrical User Guide. It explains all this in some detail with pictures and drawings to help make it clear.

50 amp service normally uses awg 6 wire, but 125' is a pretty long wire run. Depending on what type of wire you use and whether enclosed in conduit, you might be able to run awg 6. If you're not sure, you should probably get advice from a licensed electrician on the right wire for your situation.

At 125 feet you might get by with #4 copper wire. But because it is a long run you could always protect that wire by using a double pole 40 amp breaker rather than a 50 amp double pole.

Peace
Dave

we used #6 to run 185 ft with 40 amp double pole breaker in shop panel and pole have been this way for 5 years full time with know problems. the most amps the I have seen on either leg is 28 amps in the summer with a/c on. 50 amp service is 50 amp per leg. total 100 amps.

dougherty771 said:

hi my name is michael, i recently bought a 200 heartland big horn 3600rl and im not sure how to tell if its a 50amp or 30amp service is it 120v 22v 240? i ask this because i want to hard wire it from my panel in my barn 125ft undergound to a post by my camper, what kind of wire do i need?

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Your Bighorn has a 50 amp service. Hire an electrical contractor (IBEW preferred) sit back relax and enjoy a job well done.

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#6 copper for the two hot legs and the neutral. # 10 for the ground. 50 amp two pole circuit breaker. No worries.

Maybe this will help: [FONT=Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif]https://crushtheroad.com/how-to-wire-a-50-amp-rv-plug/[/FONT]