Community Forums

ksk5568 · 07-24-2013, 07:38 PM

Class A motorhome and I am pulling a trailer, when I plug the life line of the trailer into the motorhome it pops the breaker.

I can plug the trailer into my house and it works great.

Any clue why it would pop the breaker of the motorhome?
Thanks

djbmsu · 07-24-2013, 07:41 PM

Some more information would be helpful
what is the lifeline ? is it 120V or is it 12V
plugging it into house power says it is 120V
which breaker is tripping ?

siggy · 07-24-2013, 07:47 PM

Possibly a week breaker?

ksk5568 · 07-24-2013, 07:51 PM

It is a 30amp 120volt line. Using an adaptor to a 15amp extension cord. When plugged into the house, so far it works fine before and after the weekend. Last weekend, when plugged into a 15amp recep on the coach, it continued to trip the coach circuit. We also plugged it into a 15amp circuit on a stand alone generator and it tripped the gen breaker also.

JFXG · 07-24-2013, 11:58 PM

Just off the top of my head, if you plugged it into an outlet in your garage, its possible that was a 20A circuit. If so, then something in your trailer is drawing slightly more than 15A.

RV Wizard · 07-25-2013, 02:46 AM

You are probably plugging into a GFI circuit. If so you have current leakage that needs to be addressed.

brandonklink · 07-25-2013, 05:41 AM

I solved this problem by putting a 30 amp RV plug in my storage bay. If you have an extra space in your panel it's very easy to do. You need to watch your amps though running all three ac and the trailer is a lot of amps so when I do it I limit what I run in the bus

wa8yxm · 07-25-2013, 11:12 AM

I too wonder is it popping a breaker or a GFCI (Sometimes they are combined). Also, I assume it is a 15 amp breaker .. your house may have 20's.

Some converters can trip a 15 amp breaker when they first fire up.

rumrunnerxx · 07-25-2013, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RV Wizard

You are probably plugging into a GFI circuit. If so you have current leakage that needs to be addressed.

This is my guess as well. Let us know how you fix the problem.

milasman · 07-25-2013, 12:47 PM

GFCI do not pop in an over amp situation, but the circuit breaker would. GFCI measure amps in and amps out, if there is a difference, it will trip.

chawkins99 · 07-25-2013, 12:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by milasman

GFCI do not pop in an over amp situation, but the circuit breaker would. GFCI measure volts in and volts out, if there is a difference, it will trip.

More accurately, current in, current out.

milasman · 07-25-2013, 12:55 PM

Concur, yes correct. Doing to many mental things at once. Current would be amps, GFCI can trip with as little as 4 to 5 milliamps difference.

ksk5568 · 07-25-2013, 09:12 PM

Yes, the coach outlet is tied to a GFCI circuit and it seemed to take out the entire circuit. It tripped a 20 amp circuit on the stand alone generator, but there was another cord plugged into the gen circuit. I don't think anything was running off that cord though. Maybe the house is 20 amp, but I'm only trying to run lights in the trailer. THe trailer is set up with a main breaker and 3 separate circuits; overhead lights, receptacles & outside lights. This weekend I will have to do some more specific testing with a stand alone gen to see if the issue is amps or volts related since it works ok off 100 feet of extension cord to a house outlet. Ugghhhh. Thanks for all the input and advice!! Much appreciated.