Keep Tripping Breaker

[SteveR]

Originally Posted by cavie

you do not want to be plugging your RV into a GFI circuit anyway. Your 30 amp or 50 amp service is not GFI protected. Run a dedicated non-gifed RV circuit.

Not possible as it is a public storage area. I had no issues until last week after 8 months using the same GFI plug. l have done this for years with several coaches all were 50A.

[AZDave]

As Hohenwald45 said, switch mode power supplies are known to create this problem. Since it was working before something has changed or failed. Go through and unplug everything you can TV, micro, entertainment center, coffee pot, sat. dish controller etc. and then see if it trips. If not plug them in one at a time until it pops and you have the problem appliance. One of the folks in my storage had this problem and it turned out to be a cell phone charger he had left plugged into an outlet.

[SteveR]

Originally Posted by AZDave

As Hohenwald45 said, switch mode power supplies are known to create this problem. Since it was working before something has changed or failed. Go through and unplug everything you can TV, micro, entertainment center, coffee pot, sat. dish controller etc. and then see if it trips. If not plug them in one at a time until it pops and you have the problem appliance. One of the folks in my storage had this problem and it turned out to be a cell phone charger he had left plugged into an outlet.

If the dealer cannot find anything wrong with the ATS/Surge Guard then I will do this when I get it back in a couple of weeks. They are absolutely hammered with coaches to repair...12 week parts lead time seems to be the major issue they say.

[Scooter363y]

You say that there are other campers plugged in at your storage area. Run your cord over to one of those other outlets that work. If it doesn’t trip it then the gfci is bad. I have seen those go bad/weak and needed replaced. If it pops the gfci then the problem is in your camper.

If you’re tripping the ground fault circuit that is one problem if your tripping a breaker that is something entirely different.

Breakers are not rated to carry the full amount of rated current. I think it is only rated to carry 80 % of the rated load for a long period of time.

Try that and work safe
Scooter

[JemezKen]

I had the same sort of problem on my rig. We had just returned from a short trip where we successfully used shore power. When we got home, I tried to plug into my house power to recharge batteries and run a heater. Popped the gfci the instant I plugged into the rig. I tried my circuit in my wood shed, which was higher amps. Same thing. Continuity checking my plug I found my ground was shorted to the white wire. Killing all breakers and disconnecting all 120 VAC items, same thing.

What I found when I opened my power distribution panel was one bare ground wire running to the ground terminal strip, PAST the terminal strip connecting all the white hot wires, was just barely touching the hot terminal strip. Relocating that ground wire away from the hot terminal strip fixed my short. Everything good now.

Apparently, vibration from driving gradually shifted the ground wire allowing it to touch the hot terminal strip. Easy fix - lucky find.

[augerdogger]

I have had this happen when you have 2 CGI in series. This happened when I plugged in my RV that had a built-in CGI at a fairground that had CGI breakers at the pedestal. When I had my RV storage building wired the electrician wired the CGI's in different outlets in series and they would instantly trip. Tried to use SurgeGuard with RV that built-in SurgeGuard and they did not play well together.

[rebfan]

Originally Posted by SteveR

We have the coach on 15A power with everything I can find turned OFF including:
Oasis Power--OFF
Refrigerator-OFF at breaker
Charger set to 5A
Power shed--On
Input Power-Auto with max. amps of 15
12V disconnect engaged
Floor Heat--OFF on all


Despite all this the GFI (public storage area) the breaker pops within second of plugging in the coach. It has been fine until recently. I changed to two other outlets from the same master box and they do the same thing so I doubt it is a bad GFI. Power cord is the same as I have been using for weeks and there is no apparent damage to it.


My plan for tomorrow is to remove the cord reel and take that apart and look at the transfer switch. The transfer switch will transfer power when the genset is on; had to run it today to recharge my batteries.



Any other ideas?


Thanks in advance.

As previous reply suggested,turn off all the breakers in the coach,then turn them back on one at a time till the breaker trips. Had similar problem with my TT and turning off breaker to converter fixed the problem

[Charlesland]

GFCIs will trip if there is a short between neutral and ground. 30 and 50 amp outlets and gen sets are not gfci protected. Happy hunting.

[AlfaDude]

Lots of speculation here, but I believe your batteries are too low and the 5 amp setting is not keeping them charged sufficiently. I encountered this same dilemma driveway surfing on a 15amp GFCI outlet. I had also set my charger setting at 5 amp and that was good for a couple of days until it started tripping the breaker. Not the ground fault but the breaker itself. After I independently charged my battery string and went back to normal settings, I was good for a couple of days until it started tripping again.

[Jeffsammons]

Turn all the breakers off in your coach. Plug the coach in to the storage outlet. Turn your breakers on, one at a time, until you trip the gfci. Turn that breaker off and reset the gfci. This will be the circuit causing the gfci to trip. There may be more than one circuit causing the gfci to trip so you may have to repeat this until you know which circuits need to be left off.

[KanzKran]

Originally Posted by SteveR

Update:
Tried two different cords...same problem


Tried different pigtail...same problem


Tried on 50A no problems


Tried on 20A No GFI...no problem


On any GFI I tried (different locations in storage area and at a friends house...the GFI pops.


All AC breakers except Mains OFf--pops on GFI


Took cord reel apart to look at connections--all look fine and tight.


Transfer switch connections are all tight and no wires out of place.



Still scratching my head here...

Plug it back into any non-GFCI source, and measure current on the ground. Probably have to do that in the cord reel or some other place where it's readily accessible.

If a clamp-on meter doesn't read any current, probably because there's too little current to register, plug the shore cord into one of those adapters shown above and use a multimeter to read current through the little tab to ground (the box). Start with the 10A setting and (usually) the 10A port for the red lead. If still nothing, try the low current port.

Remember that you're putting your multimeter in series with the ground conductor, so take precautions, starting with measuring current starting with the highest capability device (clamp-on) and working your way down using the multimeter.

Since it doesn't trip the breaker on a non-GFCI source, it's not a dead-short type ground-fault (ground laying up against a hot). There's a leakage current through or from something, and measuring it may help in finding the source.

It's been stated several times at least, but I'll say it again - you need to unplug as many things as can be unplugged to find the leak. The neutral conductor does carry current (obviously), and when it's carrying current it is no longer at zero volts to ground due to the impedance of the conductor(s), all the connections (including at each end of the cord). So when there's a voltage difference between the neutral and equipment ground, there will be current to the ground when they're connected, which is what's tripping the GFCIs.

Oh, and if trying the adapter, don't touch the little ground tab unless and until you know what the voltage and current is to ground. You might get a nasty surprise, especially standing on a concrete or dirt floor, or worse, if you're touching something well grounded (like the box itself) with the other hand.

[Roy Taylor]

Is your hot water heater on electric?

[RJWinn]

I recently experienced the same issue when I had my surge protector pig tail in use, LED indicators/displays showed L1<L2 disparities. I eventually removed the SP Pig Tail and everything works fine.

[mlpeloquin]

You said you had a power reel. They do have problems with connections getting loose internally. I wish I had seen this sooner and recommended that you open it up and check the nuts to make sure that they are tight.