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Last Updated on October 7, 2024 by Paul Clayton
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What Size Generator For 50 Amp RV?
RVs are pretty complicated by themselves. But there’s one more thing about RVs that confuses newbies quite a bit—the electrical service.
Key Takeaways:
-
- Understanding 50-Amp RV Service:
- A 50-amp RV service provides up to 12,000 watts of power (50A x 240V), sufficient for most high-demand RV appliances.
- It differs from the 30-amp service (3,600 watts), which offers significantly less power and limits the number of appliances you can run simultaneously.
- Choosing the Right Generator:
- A minimum of a 6,000-watt generator is recommended for a 50-amp RV, but your actual needs depend on the appliances you run simultaneously.
- Appliances have a starting wattage (higher at startup) and a running wattage (lower when operating), so the generator should meet the startup wattage demands of your highest-power appliance.
- Optimizing Power Consumption:
- Instead of adding up all appliance wattages, optimize generator size by considering which devices you will run simultaneously and starting them one at a time.
- A 2,200W generator, for example, can run an AC unit and a refrigerator, and it has room for additional small appliances.
- Leave Room for Power Spikes:
- It is recommended that you choose a generator with 500 watts of extra capacity to handle power spikes and avoid tripping the breaker.
- Parallel Generator Operation:
- If a single generator doesn’t meet your power needs, consider running two generators in parallel. Just ensure they support this feature and are the same model.
- 50-Amp Receptacle:
- Ensure the generator has a 50-amp receptacle or install an adapter to connect it properly to your RV.
- Understanding 50-Amp RV Service:
Thirty amperes, 50 amperes – what do these numbers even mean? How do you determine how much power you need to run your RV’s appliances?
Let’s be fair; this isn’t a topic that is too easy to grasp, but once you wrap your head around it, things become pretty simple.
Today, to help you become more proficient in RV electrical stuff, we are going to overview what the 50-amp service is. Then, we’ll dive deeper into power generators and describe how to choose a proper one for your RV.
So, what size generator for 50 Amp RV? We would recommend a 6,000 watt generator at a minimum, but your requirements might differ based on how many appliances you’re using at any one time. If you’re running a microwave, TV, refrigerator, AC, while charging a laptop, you might find your wattage requirements are higher. Read on for more in-depth analysis.
What is a 50-amp service?
RVs with 50-amp service have a plug with four wires—two 120V wires, a ground wire, and a neutral wire. When you connect the plug to a power generator, you can draw either 120V or 240V (2 x 120V).
For some perspective, let’s also look at the 30-amp service. This service not only has a weaker amperage but also has a slightly different plug structure. A 30-amp plug has three wires: one 120V wire, one ground wire, and one neutral wire.
Now, what does this difference mean for power delivery?
One definition of the ampere expresses it through the relationship amperage = wattage/voltage. With both 50-amp and 30-amp services, we know the amperage and the voltage (2 x 120V for the 50-amp and 120V for the 30-amp service). By rearranging the formula, we can calculate their maximum wattage.
So, the wattage of the 50-amp service will be 50A x 2 x 120V, which is 12,000 watts. The wattage of the 30-amp service is much lower—30A x 120V = 3,600 watts. This is crucial for understanding what we are going to describe next.
Can you plug a 50-amp RV into a 30-amp power source?
Campgrounds very often have power sources prepared for RVers, but they are mostly rated at 30 amperes. So, a common question among newbie RVers is whether or not they can power their 50-amp RV with a 30-amp power source.
Well, if you have an adapter, the answer is yes. But even with an adapter, you won’t be able to fully utilize the potential of your 50-amp service.
Remember the wattage of the 30-amp service? It was 3,600 watts. And if you have RV appliances with a total wattage of 12,000 watts, what do you think is a 30-amp service going to deliver the required power?
The answer to this question is no. So, when hooked up to 30-amp service, you are severely limited to what appliances you can use in your RV.
The circuit breakers on most campgrounds are designed with a tolerance of plus/minus 20%. With such tolerance, trip the breaker would take between 2,880 watts (80% of 3,600 watts) and 4,320 watts (120% of 3,600 watts).
This means that at campgrounds with 30-amp service, you shouldn’t forget that you can’t use all the potential of your RV’s electrical system. Plus, if other people are hooked up to the campground’s service, you will get less power than 2,880 – 4,320 watts.
So, no matter how much you need all of your appliances, you will have to run them one by one (or alternatively in small groups) to avoid damaging the campground’s electrical system.
What size generator is needed for a 50-amp RV?
We’ve determined that 50-amp service can work with up to around 12,000 watts. But does this mean that you need to buy a 12,000W power generator? No, you don’t necessarily need to buy such a powerful unit.
The power required for your generator will depend on the kind and number of electrical devices in your RV. It will also matter whether you will be using them all simultaneously.
For some perspective, let’s have a look at the following chart made by Honda:
| Appliance | Starting wattage | Running wattage |
| Microwave oven, 650/800/1,000W | 1,000/1,300/1,500 | 1,000/1,300/1,500 |
| RV refrigerator | 600 | 180 |
| Blender | 850 | 400 |
| Electric grill | 1,650 | 1,650 |
| Coffee maker | 600 | 600 |
| Blender | 850 | 400 |
| TV: | ||
|
300 | 300 |
|
120 | 120 |
|
190 | 190 |
| RV air conditioner: | ||
|
1,600 | 1,010 |
|
2,800 | 1,800 |
|
3,300 | 2,000 |
| Satellite receiver | 250 | 250 |
| Radio | 50-200 | 50-200 |
| Two-way radio | ||
|
360 | 360 |
|
840 | 840 |
|
960 | 960 |
| Hair dryer | 1,900 | 1,800 |
| Laptop | 200-250 | 200-250 |
These are some general numbers just for reference, and you shouldn’t completely rely on them when choosing the best generator for your RV. You will need to consider the starting and running wattage of the equipment that will be running in your RV. Instead, we will use these figures to explain some essential things.
How do you choose the proper generator wattage?
Before going forward, we think we should clarify the starting and running wattage thing. This confuses a lot of newbies, and you should understand the difference between them.
Equipment almost always consumes much more power at startup than when running. Electric appliances need a lot of energy to start up, so startup wattage is higher than running wattage.
You will need to consider this when choosing a power generator. Even though the appliances won’t need as much power when running, your generator must be able to provide the necessary startup wattage to turn them on.
This is why buyers are advised to base their decision on the startup wattage rather than the running wattage.
Now, let’s get back to choosing generator wattage.
Some people may think that to determine the necessary generator wattage, you just need to add up the wattages of the equipment in your RV. This is one way of choosing a power generator, but it is extremely inefficient.
Let’s consider the following example. Suppose your RV has these appliances:
| Appliance | Starting wattage | Running wattage |
| Microwave oven, 650W | 1,000 | 1,000 |
| RV refrigerator | 600 | 180 |
| Flat 46 inch TV | 190 | 190 |
| 11,000BTU air conditioner | 1,600 | 1,010 |
| Satellite receiver | 250 | 250 |
| Laptop | 200-250 | 200-250 |
Now, it would make sense to add up the starting and running wattages and get the minimum power rating that your generator should have. In this example, if we were to add up the numbers, we’d get about 3,840W starting wattage and about 2,830W running wattage.
This isn’t too much, so it actually may be feasible to get a 4,000W power 
generator and not think about power optimization too much.
What if you have a second AC unit with a BTU of 15,000? Or what if you also want to buy a grill? If we add their numbers to what we’ve just calculated, we’d get 8,790W starting wattage and 6,480W running wattage.
These numbers are much more serious. A generator with such power ratings would be much more expensive, bulky, and costlier to run than a 4,000W generator. You may even be unable to find a generator with such a rating and be forced to run a two-generator setup, which isn’t always the best option regarding space and noise.
So, what could you do to optimize your RV’s power consumption and get a more reasonable generator for a better price?
You’ve probably noticed that when we calculated the starting and running wattages, we assumed that all of the appliances were started up and running simultaneously. However, this doesn’t happen often when RVing.
Think about it: Are you going to run your microwave all day? Or the laptop? Heck, the only thing you will be running all day will probably be the RV refrigerator! Thanks to this, you may be able to go for a much cheaper and more compact generator than you would if you based your decision on the plain total of your stuff’s power draw.
So, to make a more efficient decision, you would need to approach the issue more intelligently.
Suppose you must always run your RV’s refrigerator and AC unit. The rest of the equipment is not needed all the time, so you can use it only when necessary.
First, you will need to consider the starting wattage of your appliances. It is more efficient to start appliances one at a time. So, unless you need to start multiple appliances at once, take the appliance with the highest startup wattage.
In our case, it is the AC unit with its 1,600 watts of startup power. If your generator has 1,600 watts of power, it can start any appliance one at a time. It will even be able to power multiple less powerful appliances, but it won’t start up the AC and the refrigerator simultaneously.
At the same time, your AC and refrigerator consume around 1,190 watts when running, so a 1,600W generator is more than enough to run them. However, you would need a beefier generator if their combined running wattage was more than 1,600 watts.
In our case, 1,600 watts still wouldn’t be enough to start any of the other devices, even one by one. We need to make some adjustments to our calculations to do so.
Among the appliances that are left, find which one consumes the most 
power at startup. In our case, it is the microwave. If your generator can start while the AC and the refrigerator are running, you can start any of the other appliances one at a time or even in a bunch.
Suppose you are starting the microwave while the AC and refrigerator are running. In that case, you will need 1,190W (the combined running wattage of the AC and the refrigerator) plus 1,000W (the startup wattage of the microwave), which is 2,190W.
So, to make the described configuration work, you would need a 2.2KW power generator.
If you have a generator that delivers these figures, you can technically run your AC unit and refrigerator with anything else. With the remaining power, you could start and run the microwave or use your laptop. There would be enough power to run your TV, satellite receiver, and laptop simultaneously!
Of course, when calculating wattage, you would need to consider the wattage of your appliances, in what sequence you will be starting them, and how many will be running simultaneously.
Leaving extra room for appliances
In our last example, we figured that the generator must have a wattage of 2KW. While this is technically enough to run your configuration, you should get a generator that can deliver more than that.
There is this thing called a power spike. When it happens, your equipment’s power draw can suddenly jump up. If your generator isn’t able to provide the appliances with power at this moment, its circuit breaker will trip.
You can restart everything, but a better option would be to have a generator with some spare power. We recommend having a spare 500 watts in your generator.
Parallel generator operation
Did you know that you can connect several generators to receive more power? This can be very useful for RVs with 50-amp service since it’s pretty difficult to use them to their full potential with just one generator.
If you need more than one generator to satisfy your power requirements, look for generators that support parallel connections. Otherwise, they won’t work with each other. Also, keep in mind that no more than two generators of the same model can usually run in parallel.
50-amp receptacle
Not all generators are made equal. When choosing one, ensure it has a 50-amp receptacle on its output panel. Otherwise, you will have to get an adapter to hook your RV’s 50-amp plug into whatever your power generator has.
Final words
Several factors need to be taken into account when determining the size of the generator for a 50-amp RV. First and foremost, the RV’s power requirements must be considered. A 50-amp RV typically requires a generator that can produce at least 4000 to 4500 watts of power to operate the RV’s systems and appliances effectively.
However, the exact power requirements may vary based on the specific appliances and systems installed in the RV, including air conditioning units, refrigerators, microwaves, entertainment systems, and more.
Secondly, the type of generator also matters. Conventional generators can provide much power but are generally louder and less fuel-efficient than inverter generators. Inverter generators, on the other hand, are quieter and more fuel-efficient but may not provide enough power for larger RVs.
Lastly, the generator’s size is also critical to its portability. A more significant generator may provide more power. Still, moving around can be more challenging, while a smaller generator may be easier to transport but may not provide enough power. Therefore, it is crucial to balance the generator’s size with its power output and portability when choosing a generator for a 50 Amp RV.
Now that you hopefully understand what 50-amp service is and how to read wattage, you should be able to pick the right power generator for your needs. Remember to follow our guidelines, research how much power your appliances need, and choose correctly.
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