AC Electrical load balancer to delay compressor start on second AC?

I talked to a guy tonight in Arizona that has a toy hauler with three AC units. He has a 50 amp service to it and he says it has a LOAD Balancer to prevent two AC compressors from starting at once. I googled several different ways and couldn't find anything. I ask this as we bought a 2015 Fox Mountain 235RLS, 27ft. fifth wheel that has 30 amp service and only one 15KBTU ducted AC. It doesn't cool the bedroom well and I would like to add another smaller roof AC in the bedroom.
Anyone ever heard of such a thing? My only other option is to convert the RV to a two pole, 50 amp service, 100 amps total.

 

Years ago, we owned a 31' Hitchhiker II fifth wheel with living room and bedroom slide outs that was wired with only a 30-amp service with one 15k BTU ducted A/C unit that didn't adequately cool the bedroom in hot weather. To remedy, I installed a 13,500 BTU low profile A/C unit in the bedroom vent and wired it up through its own circuit breaker with a separate cord to run off the campground's 20-amp outlet. In the hot summer when additional cooling was needed, I plugged into the campground's 30-amp service for the 15k BTU A/C and plugged into the 20-amp outlet to run the bedroom A/C. I also made up a pigtail to split the 30 and 20 amp service when using a campground's 50-amp service outlet. It worked very well running both A/C units at the same time and even on 100+ degree days with the trailer parked in the full sun, it remained very cool inside. At night I could run only the bedroom A/C and it would adequately cool the rest of the trailer.

Bill

 

They are probably out there But 3 units? that's crazy I have 1 unit with prewire for a 2nd unit in the bedroom and they went with a 50 amp service . Sounds to me you couldn't run all three at once . Why don't you shut down the flow to the main part of the trailer ? more flow to bedroom then. Bill's way sounds like a good way to do it and keep cost down

 

Previous to the Hitchhiker II fifth wheel, we owned an Argosy (built by Airstream) 35' fifth wheel with a living room slide. I ordered it with a 15k BTU A/C and a factory prewire for a second A/C unit in the bedroom. It too was factory wired with 50-amp service. It also had factory installed washer/dryer connections for a stacked washer/dryer unit and a double pole-double throw (DPDT) switch between the dryer connection and the bedroom A/C unit to prevent running the dryer and the bedroom A/C unit at the same time. We never utilized the washer/dryer connection, but did install a bedroom A/C unit and kept the DPDT switch in the A/C position.

Bill

 

Bill my carriage is a 32' with stack w/d set up too but don't remember seeing a cut out switch. We don't have stack or 2nd ac unit

 

Motorhead, the thing you are looking for is out there or at least it was. There is a delay timer to step start two units but it is for residential/commercial I think. I would contact some of the RV mfgs., might get some info from one of them. bg

 

I did what Bill did - a second power inlet that I plug in with a heavy extension cord to the campsite's 20 amp outlet. It runs the front A/C plus an outlet in the front bedroom. That allows me to run a space heater in the bedroom when it's cold, along with the space heater in the living room. We like to camp in the mountains, and it can get below freezing even in the summertime.

 

Try a read of THIS LINK which has a section on automatic energy management systems for RVs. Our DRV Mobile Suites has both an energy management (load shedding and sequencing) system and a power protection system built into the power supply and distribution systems.

Rusty

 

This may be what you need.

Motorhead,

This may be what you are looking for:
http://www.intellitec.com/index.php/products/Energy_Management/Smart_energy_management_systems/Automatic_energy_select_switch

Apparently it's not flawless. The iRV website has a forum discussing problems, here:
http://www.irv2.com/forums/f54/problem-with-intellitec-smart-ems-50796.html

I had a device like you are describing in a 1995 Avion fifth-wheel, but I don't own that trailer anymore and don't remember who made the electrical load shedder. It worked like a charm though. Maybe Avion (Fleetwood) or some other trailer manufacturer can help you out, as previously suggested by B. G. Smith.

Good luck,
-- Loren

 

Loren, Thank you for that link! I searched and searched on the web and found ZERO.

 

Motorhead,

I know what you mean about the difficult search. I couldn't (still can't) remember the brand and model of what I had in the Avion and it drove me nuts trying to find something like it. I finally found the Intellitec unit, which is not quite the same thing but seems to do almost the same job. The one I had in the Avion would manage the power to the entire trailer, not just a single circuit.

Good luck with your air conditioning.

-- Loren