At Field Day 2021 we identified a use case for a larger diesel. We had a big motorhome with a broken internal (7-8 kw?) genset. These have the 50A power cords. This is really 50A of 120VAC, not really 240V per se. The little single phase 6KW generators are set up for two legs of 120V or one 240V , but the 240V maxes out at 30A. For Field Day 2021, we built a transformer to supply 120V/30A to one “RV”- nominally my 17′ Palo camper with a TT-30 plug. But we had warning of a 50A disabled RV.
These will pull 30A on a TT-30 plug with adapter. And blow a fuse/breaker above that. One serious worry is an unbalanced load on the small gensets. We have had one 100% burned out genset and one 1/2 open genset. This is not an easy or cheap fix.
One Field Day the 50A RV ran OK on our transformer via a TT-30. My camper ran via an adapter on a the 120V outlet and the GOTA station did the same. We got several GFI breaker trips on my camper and on the 120V genset outlet.
This led to the need for 50A of power. We have two gasoline gensets that can handle close to that- Pete has one- about 8KW with a TT-30. And Doug has a 10KW Honda with a California non NEMA outlet (40+ A). The little 4000DF Sportsman gensets have a TT-30 and will do their best.
A big 15KW Coleman diesel showed up at auction. It had the California outlet. And a 30A L6-30 outlet.
We brought it home. It looks like we can run via an adapter: California Jack to 50A RV
Then the L6-30 to TT30 for a smaller RV @30amps
Then 2x 20A normal 115V AC outlets for smaller loads. This genset has a regulator board (not just a run cap) and voltage/load/frequency metering. So a lot more real world Field Day load. Fuel consumption is higher than the 6KW trailers .45 >1.5 GPH.
Ham Radio Tower Trailers 