15Amp AC pop's

[EPAZ]

Every time I plug the coach into a 15 amp outlet from the house it immediately trips the GFCI. I am not trying to run anything just top off the batteries and possibly run the refrigerator if possible.
How much current should there be drawing if everything is turned off except the Magnum Inverter/charger. Inverter is turned off.
Any help is appreciated.

[twinboat]

The GFCI is a ground fault device not a over current circuit breaker.

It trips because there is an imbalance in the wiring and it thinks that will kill you.

Its a problem with a lot of RVs, sometimes due to a dangerous issue and most times a nusence.

Find an outlet not GFCI protected or add a RV 30 or 50 amp line to your house.

[bydnar]

The shore power amperage setting must be changed. On my Magnum panel, I press the "shore" button and I can change the shore power max amperage.

[450Donn]

Like Twinboat said its quite common. GFCIs dont play nice together. One or more of your GFCIs in the RV is xausing your problem. Turn off the circuit bevore plugging in and see what happens. On this house my GFCI would trip when I plugged in. Go to the box and reset it and everything was fine till the next time.

[Old-Biscuit]

Turn off all the Individual Circuit Breakers in your RV AC Panel
Then plug in to that 15A house GFCI protected outlet
Then turn on each Individual CB in RV AC Panel one-at-a-time to ID which circuit is causing the GFCI to trip



Fridge electric elements are common source of 'leakage'


Then post results for others.

[twinboat]

Originally Posted by 450Donn

Like Twinboat said its quite common. GFCIs dont play nice together. One or more of your GFCIs in the RV is xausing your problem. Turn off the circuit bevore plugging in and see what happens. On this house my GFCI would trip when I plugged in. Go to the box and reset it and everything was fine till the next time.

GFCIs work fine together. Look at hair dryers, pressure washers and other devices with GFCI plugs on them, that plug in to GFCI outlets. They work.

Its current leakage on devices not controlled by the RV installed GFCI outlets that trip them. Converter/chargers, gas/electric fridges, electric water heaters, ........

[Dave_H]

Originally Posted by EPAZ

Every time I plug the coach into a 15 amp outlet from the house it immediately trips the GFCI. I am not trying to run anything just top off the batteries and possibly run the refrigerator if possible.
How much current should there be drawing if everything is turned off except the Magnum Inverter/charger. Inverter is turned off.
Any help is appreciated.

Had the exact same thing happen on my rig. To keep batteries charged I would unplug converter/charger from outlet in electric bay and plug converter into extension cord which was plugged into GFCI outlet. This prevented tripping GFCI outlet but allowed batteries to charge. However, the crazy thing is ever since I installed a Progressive EMS, I no longer trip GFCI outlets when plugged into them.

[twinboat]

You have a converter/charger in a diesel pusher ?

Most, including the OP have inverter/chargers installed. They are hard wired in and there is no plug to connect to an extension cord.

[Arkansas RV]

Originally Posted by twinboat

You have a converter/charger in a diesel pusher ?

Most, including the OP have inverter/chargers installed. They are hard wired in and there is no plug to connect to an extension cord.

On my 2000 DSDP I I have two Iota DLS 45 amp converters and both plug in, as far as I know it came from Newmar that way.

[EPAZ]

thanks for the suggestions, I will explore them and report back

[Solo_RV_Guy]

Hi Eric-

To expand a little bit on @twinboat 's reply:

GFCIs work by detecting an imbalance of current between the "hot" and "neutral" wires of a branch circuit. The current between the source and return (it's a *circuit*, remember!) should be identical and the presumption is that any difference in current is due to it leaking off somewhere it shouldn't. In the USA the amount of current difference allowed in 5 milliamps. Note that it doesn't matter if 3 appliances or devices have less leakage (say 2 milliamps for this illustration), but if they're all on the same branch circuit and used at the same time, the GFCI would trip. Used individually, it would not. At any rate, the current level of 5 milliamps is just below the amount that will cause many healthy adult hearts to go into defib... so this device is intended to protect your life from a hazard that will escape other types of protection like fuses and circuit breakers.


As Old Biscuit suggests, turn off all the load breakers in your RV, plug in your shore power and if the GFCI does not trip, turn on the breakers one by one until it does. Turn off all the breakers, reset the GFCI, and turn on the last breaker again. If the GFCI trips, whatever is powered by that breaker is highly suspect. If the GFCI does not trip, it means you could have multiple devices/appliances leaking a little bit each and contributing to the condition.

[twinboat]

The test just posted is a good test.

If it doesn't ID your problem, you can try unplugging your fridge.

Switching off the breaker takes the hot ( black ) line out of the circuit but not the neutral.

The fridge heating coil could be touching ground near the neutral end. It will still work but can cause a current leakage to ground even with the breaker off. Any path to ground, even on the neutral side, will trip the GFCI.

It can, and has, happened with water heater elements. Problem is they don't have plugs.
You would need to trip the breaker and remove the white wire from the element to completely isolate it.

It only takes a second to burn a hole in a water heater element, if switched on, not submerged in water. It could still heat the water but leak current to ground.

[Arch Hoagland]

Have the same problem when I plug into a 15 amp outlet at the front of my house.

I found if I first turn off the two 50 amp main breakers in my coach power panel and then plug in the power cord to my house and THEN turn the 50 amp breakers back on I'm fine.