electric issues

[Luckiest Dre]

Friend of mine keeps his motorhome in an enclosed storage unit that provides 1, 15amp 110V plug. He reduces his 30amp cord with an adaptor and will keep his refrigerator running so when he is ready to go it is already cool. He will occasionally keep the air conditioner going as well.
I have now rented space in an adjoining stall and was going to, at the very, least keep it plugged in to keep the batteries topped off. I have 50amp service. The plug provided is a ground fault plug and as soon as my reduced plug is even close to it the thing pops. Is it possible that the size of the wires are enough to do this? Last time I used the coach at a campground I had no problems.

["007"]

Here is a link for shotting a ground fault problem.
Before you plug in electric cord unplug refrigerator than plug in cord to outlet.
You may have a defective electric element for fridge if you have it on AC Mode.
If you had a surge protector may trip that also.

[vermilye]

Here are my suggestions for finding & fixing GFCI problems:

The bottom line is that it should be possible to plug your RV into a GFCI protected receptacle without tripping it. If it trips, something is wrong, and it should be corrected. I know there are those that will give all kinds of reasons why it is OK, but it isn't.

If the fault is between a hot & the ground, it is fairly easy to find. Shut off all your secondary breakers, plug the RV into a GFCI receptacle & turn on the circuit breakers one at a time. If one of the breakers causes a trip of the GFCI, you have found the circuit causing the problem. Typical faults include moisture in a receptacle, a bad hot water or refer element, a bad appliance, or a loose connection (although a loose connection that causes a low resistance hot/ground fault should trip the breaker rather than the GFCI). If the problem circuit has individual appliances plugged into it, unplug all of them & plug them back in one at a time to identify the problem appliance.

If the campground or home GFCI trips with all the breakers off, you have a neutral/ground fault.

A neutral/ground fault is a bit more difficult to find because shutting of the breakers won't prevent the GFCI from tripping, so finding the circuit is more difficult. If your or anyone else has modified circuits in the RV, it is worth checking that the neutral & ground have not been intentionally combined anywhere in the RV. The only place the neutral should be tied to the ground is at the campground or home service entrance. If you tie it in the RV, the campground (or home) GFCI will trip.

Ground/neutral faults can also happen unintentionally. Again, a failed hot water heater or refer element can cause a fault as well as water in a receptacle, a screw hitting a wire, etc. The problem is an RV will function normally with a neutral/ground fault when plugged into a non-GFCI receptacle. This may be why some feel there is nothing wrong. In a worst case situation, if the RV ground pin (or any part of the grounding system, RV or campground) fails, a neutral/ground fault will place the chassis & most metal in the RV at the neutral potential. This produces a shock hazard to any real ground such as the campground water pipe, the RV parked next to you, etc. It also causes another interesting problem - The neutral current is split between the neutral & the ground. Again, with a failed RV ground, you might receive a shock disconnecting your water line from the campground faucet!

Finding a ground/neutral fault involves digging into your breaker panel. If you are not comfortable doing this, leave it for an electrician. If you want to do it yourself, unplug the RV, make sure an inverter or generator is not powering the panel, and shut off all the breakers, including the main. Disconnect the neutrals (white wires) one at a time (don't include the main). With a neutral disconnected and all the breakers off, plug the RV into a GFCI receptacle. If it trips, the problem is not that neutral. Reconnect it, & try another. Eventually,you will find the neutral that, when disconnected, prevents the GFCI from tripping. Follow that neutral to identify the circuit, and check the circuit for the problem. Again, this may be more than a non-electrician wants to get into, but I don't know a better way to find the problem.

[Luckiest Dre]

Sounds like I have a problem. With all of the breakers off the GFCI still pops. I recall that when we first reduced the 50 down to a 30 we had no electric service. As it happens the washer and dryer was turned off on the panel. I started flipping switches and when the W&D switch was on we had power to the coach. Looks like the place to start!

[SoundGuy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luckiest Dre Sounds like I have a problem. With all of the breakers off the GFCI still pops. I recall that when we first reduced the 50 down to a 30 we had no electric service. As it happens the washer and dryer was turned off on the panel. I started flipping switches and when the W&D switch was on we had power to the coach. Looks like the place to start!

I'm curious what you found out. I'm writing a 12-part series of articles about RV electrical safety at www.NoShockZone.org that teaches you how to read a volt meter, check for hot-skin issues, properly size extension cords for various loads, and in general learn why you get shocked. These articles are all written in layman's language so that anyone should be able to learn enough to identify and avoid shocks and electrical damage to their RV.

Mike Sokol