Community Forums

randy1207 · 01-13-2010, 02:51 PM

I have just taken delivery of a new 2010 Journey 40L and am having a problem with the inverter tripping the GFI on the shore power outlet when plugged in at my house. I have been able to narrow down the culprit to the inverter by turning off all the circuit breakers in the coach and then one by one turning them back on saving the inverter until last. The moment you throw the circuit breaker on to the coach inverter, the GFI trips on the home outlet. I've tried this both on a 20 amp and 30 amp outlet. If I plug the coach into the 50 amp outlet at the house that doesn't have a GFI on it, it works fine.

I've tried changing the actual electrical extension cord as well as the adapters to see if there is a problem and the inverter still trips the GFI. I also tried setting the inverter battery charge limit as low as zero and to no avail with the GFI still tripping.

I've talked with Winnebago service support about this and they seem to be baffled as well. It sounds like something is not wired correctly in the inverter.

Anyone else have any experience with this happening when plugged into a GFI outlet?

Randy & Mike
Murphy (the spoiled chocolate lab)
2010 Winnebago 40L
2006 Chevy HHR toad

Fredo · 01-13-2010, 04:20 PM

Randy, if I'm reading your post right, you are plugging into an GFI outlet for shore power usage. If you have access to a non-GFI outlet, use that and it should work. I was using a GFI protected outlet at my son's house and when the surge protector would go through it's 2 minute plus time for proper electrical use, when the switch box clicked on, it would trip the GFI. Moved to a non-GFI outlet and no further problem.

It works similar to plugging a TV into a GFI protected outlet and using a remote; the remote will trip the GFI.

Fred Dahlman
03 Adventurer 35U
03 Ford Windstar w/Brake Buddy

Luv2go · 01-13-2010, 05:23 PM

A lot of inverters will trip a GFI even when working normally. I actually had to rewire a 30A pedestal with a non-GFI breaker temporarily so our coach could use the shore power at a campground recently (our inverter cannot be easily bypassed, it powers the whole coach).

Stewart

smlranger · 01-13-2010, 05:30 PM

I'm suggesting the load increase caused by the inverter is just too much for a 20amp GFCI outlet. From the other responses, doesn't sound like there is a wiring problem.

If you have access to a 50 amp outlet, why would you want to use the GFI outlet?