hhornig
Eagle, NE
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I have a 50 amp motorhome and I turned off the GCFI circuit breaker in the house to move the coach a few feet. After I reconnected, the GCFI trips. I put on a 110 adapter and hooked up to a 110 circuit with a GCFI circuit breaker. It also trips. When I hook up to a non-GCFI circuit breaker, everything seems to work fine. It also works fine with the generator. I checked the continuity of the ground prong on the plug to the ground on internal outlets and it seems good. I also turned off the Main circuit breaker in the coach and the circuit breaker still trips. Any suggestions?
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donn0128
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Of course it works fine when not on a GFCI. You have a GFCI in the coach and you cannot use one on the main line. There is a conflict when you attempt to use two GFCI.
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larry cad
ohio
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The simple answer is that you probably have a ground fault. Checking the cord with a meter will not find the problem. The GFCI outlet tests the amps on the hot wire and compares it with the amps on the neutral. If the difference is greater than 5 milliamps, the GFCI trips. Start by turning off the breakers in the RV, one at a time, until you can plug it in without tripping the breaker. Then start working on the circuit that is fed by that particular breaker.
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hershey
Albuquerque,(fulltime) NM, USA
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donn0128 wrote:Of course it works fine when not on a GFCI. You have a GFCI in the coach and you cannot use one on the main line. There is a conflict when you attempt to use two GFCI.
I'm not an electrician by any means so I'm not qualified to argue with one, but: I'm plugged into a GFI 20 amp plug at my sons home and I have two different GFI's in my MH that control all outlets and they are working fine. WHat am I missing? Are you saying it shouldn't work???
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hhornig
Eagle, NE
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larry cad wrote:The simple answer is that you probably have a ground fault. Checking the cord with a meter will not find the problem. The GFCI outlet tests the amps on the hot wire and compares it with the amps on the neutral. If the difference is greater than 5 milliamps, the GFCI trips. Start by turning off the breakers in the RV, one at a time, until you can plug it in without tripping the breaker. Then start working on the circuit that is fed by that particular breaker.
Please note that the circuit breaker trips when the main if off. That's all circuits.
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CA Traveler
The Western States
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hhornig wrote:I also turned off the Main circuit breaker in the coach and the circuit breaker still trips. I'll assume that you meant that the house GFI tripped.
Few seem to realize that GFI can have a second detection system namely a ground to neutral fault detection that doesn't require any current flow to detect. So exactly what do you have between the male plug and rig main CB? Plugs, wire, connectors, ATS, power protector or? All are suspect. I'd start at the far end (with the plug out) which is the rig CB panel, remove the neutral and work backwards to find the problem.
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ScottG
Bothell Wa.
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hershey wrote:donn0128 wrote:Of course it works fine when not on a GFCI. You have a GFCI in the coach and you cannot use one on the main line. There is a conflict when you attempt to use two GFCI.
I'm not an electrician by any means so I'm not qualified to argue with one, but: I'm plugged into a GFI 20 amp plug at my sons home and I have two different GFI's in my MH that control all outlets and they are working fine. WHat am I missing? Are you saying it shouldn't work???
This isn't exactly correct. You are not supposed to use two GFCI outlets in series because the safety aspect the system is compromised but it will not trip either GFCI to do so.
My bet is on the fridge. Unplug it and see if it still trips - if it doesn't then replace the heater in the fridge.
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CA Traveler
The Western States
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ScottG wrote:My bet is on the fridge. Unplug it and see if it still trips - if it doesn't then replace the heater in the fridge. Good suggestion and leads to something I should have suggested. The main rig breaker is off and so no power. But the fault can be on any plugged in or connected device. Following my suggestion if when removing the main panel neutral the problem no longer existed then the problem is one of the devices/plugs/connections in the rig.
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CT_WANDERER
E. Lyme, CT
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How about a damp cable plug being plugged back in. If the system was working just a few minutes ago. You just unplugged the coach to move it a few feet and then replugged back in?
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CA Traveler
The Western States
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From many posts on these boards moisture is the leading cause of a GFI triping. Typically those areas are the refer, HW, outside plugs and then sink area plugs.
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