Managing Power/Water During The Rally
Many questions get asked every year about how to manage your power/water on a 30A hookup in the fairgrounds areas. Most of you will be camping on 30A sites, so managing your power is important, not only for yourself, but for you neighbors who are running on the same circuits.
The fairgrounds goes to great lengths to lay down water and electric in each area to accommodate the 600+ units that arrive for the rally.
If you have 50A service in your trailer, make sure you have a 50A to 30A adapter (dog bone) adapter. These can be picked up at any camping store or online. There are no camping stores near the fairgrounds, so take care of this in advance.
Due to the way the fairgrounds power boxes are wired, you will not be able to use a “cheater” adapter to connect to both a 30 amp and 15 amp plug to get more power. Those outlets are piggybacked and on the same circuit, so they are in phase and will not get you more power.
It will not be possible to run 3 A/C units on a 30A circuit, we want you to know this in advance.
If the weather's nice, open your windows to cool the inside down, this lessens the load for everyone.
It is possible to run two A/C units on 30 amp service, but you will need to use care and patience. The constant power draw of your A/C may be below 30A, but the startup current draws more and can cause issues. The key to getting both to run is to set them to Low Cool, and stagger the starts. Start one AC on low, let it run for at least 5 minutes. Set the thermostat quite low so it will not cycle on and off. Once it is comfortable(and you've waited at least 5 minutes), start the second unit. If you units are different sizes, start the bigger one first. After both are running, you can set the thermostat to where you want and let it cycle. While your rig is cooling down, minimize your power usage from other items: set your fridge and water heater to propane (if you have this option), and do not run your microwave or coffee maker with both AC units running.
If you have been dry camping or running your DC fridge while driving, the first thing that comes on when you plug in is your converter to charge up your batteries. This will be using a bit of your 30A power as well. If you trip your pedestal breaker when you first hook up, try just running one AC for a while(an hour or so) while the converter catches up and then try to start the second AC.
If you find your row or pedestal loses power, notify your area host. They will know how to contact the appropriate people to get the issue addressed.
Water connections are no usually a problem. Many sites have shared water with the site behind or next to you, so please bring a hose "Y" if you have one. Iff there is any kind of leak or issue with the water, notify your area host.