Tripping Breaker

[jhatch]

When I plug camper into garage that has a gfci outlet in it camper trippes outlet. Would this be normal or is there something wrong with my rv electrical system. Thanks for any help!

[dizcom]

Test the plug. Make sure it's wired and working correctly. The GFCI is tripping because it is detecting an imbalance between the hot and neutral which usually means a leakage to ground, but it could be reversed polarity somewhere also. Could be in the trailer, but I would check the plug first. After that, use your tester to check the plugs inside your rig and the trailer ground.

[Flyer15015]

GFI's are very easy to trip. And once they do, it gets easier every time.
I swapped mine out for a regular duplex and do occasionally plug the coach in.
However, I mostly just hit both salesman switches and plug a trickle charger on the coach and chassis battery while she is in the barn for long term storage.

Mike in Colorado

[twinboat]

If you ever turned on the water heater electric switch without water in it, that can give you a ground fault.

Some fridges and Ice makers can give a ground fault.

Sometimes you can't find it. In that case, for your safety don't replace your GFCI outlet ( it's there to save your life ) have a 30 amp service run.

[oscarvan]

Is per chance the generator running when you do this?

[jhatch]

Originally Posted by dizcom

Test the plug. Make sure it's wired and working correctly. The GFCI is tripping because it is detecting an imbalance between the hot and neutral which usually means a leakage to ground, but it could be reversed polarity somewhere also. Could be in the trailer, but I would check the plug first. After that, use your tester to check the plugs inside your rig and the trailer ground.

I found a coy of the neutral wires extremely loose perhaps that had something to do with it.

[bigchick]

as mentioned it is tripping due to a ground fault within the camper.

turn all branch circuit breakers off in the camper and plug into the gfci. it should not trip as there are no active circuits in the camper. then turn on one branch circuit at a time and see which one causes the gfci to trip. at least you'll then know where to look.

there have been many posts about the water heater being the source of the ground fault. i guess some current is flowing from the heating element to the tank which is a ground potential. but if the water heater was not turned on there shouldn't be any current in the heating element. so if you kept the water heater electric side off shouldn't that eliminate the water heater as the source of the fault?

[twinboat]

Originally Posted by bigchick

there have been many posts about the water heater being the source of the ground fault. i guess some current is flowing from the heating element to the tank which is a ground potential. but if the water heater was not turned on there shouldn't be any current in the heating element. so if you kept the water heater electric side off shouldn't that eliminate the water heater as the source of the fault?

The water heater element is inside a copper outer sleeve. The outer sleeve is grounded.

When the element overheats, the internal element can burn thru the insulation and touch the outer sleeve.

GFCIs sense imbalance between white and black. If the heater element is touching the grounded outer sleeve, the white wire is now grounded. That creates a second path for the current to flow. GFCI sees less current on the white then the black, CLICK, a trip.

Switching off the circuit breaker only disconnects the black wire, not a good test for bad element.

[ArtJoyce]

You could try to determine what is the causing the gfi to trip.

Turn off all the breakers in the power distribution box. Reset the gfi and see if it trips. Turn on the 30 or 50 amp main breaker.
If the main breaker does not trip, continue turning on one breaker at a time and inspect the gfi. When it trips turn off the breaker that trip and continue with all the rest of the breaker.

Once you have identified the breakers that trip gfi look up what is on that circuit. You should be able to find this info in the owner manual or listed in the breaker box. Turn off the different item on the circuit and unplug what you can on that circuit.

is the 2021 unit still covered under warranty?

[Just Bob]

Ground fault breakers don't play very well together. My daughter put a 30 amp RV outlet on her house for me. It is a ground fault. When I plugged in the camper it would trip the house GF. The camper has a GF. I checked everything in the RV that I could. Finally I just replaced the ground fault circuit breaker in the house with a standard breaker.

[Persistent]

1) GFI devices can be defective. That said, they work fine together. The way they work makes them independent.

2) You can troubleshoot GFI tripping buy turning circuit breakers "off". However, ground faults involving neutral wires will trip independent of the circuit breaker being "on" or "off". All it takes is one live circuit. The fault can be in any circuit and can trip the shore power GFI.

3) Complete troubleshooting of GFI trips requires disconnecting both hot leg and neutral wire.

4) A couple of RV owners report a particular inverter/converter/charger system would trip GFI. The manufacturer recommended not plugging into a GFI outlet. In other words the mfg just blew them off.

Plug in appliances like a microwave can be unplugged to test. Hard wired appliances and branch circuits must have both hot and neutral disconnected.

This is usually easiest to do at the service entrance. Most branch circuits come into the breaker panel together. Trip the hot leg using the circuit breaker. Disconnect the neutral wire at the common neutral buss bar.

I wish you good luck and happy trails ahead!

[Solo_RV_Guy]

Originally Posted by jhatch

I found a coy of the neutral wires extremely loose perhaps that had something to do with it.

Presuming "coy" is "couple" and the answer is yes. How? The loss of a neutral causes current to use the 'equipment grounding conductor' to complete the current path and a GFCI will sense that imbalance and trip.

The GFCI is comparing (for lack of better, non-techy words) the current on the Line (black wire) to the current on the Neutral (white wire). Greater than 5 milliamps difference is imbalanced.

The reason for the device: if the current is different, where is the difference going? Electricity is a 'circuit' or circle and it will seek to return to its origin by the lowest resistance path.. if that's not the white wire... you could become part of the path to ground. The reason 5mA is the limit: that's the amount of current where disruption of your heartbeat starts happening if that current passes through your chest (hand to hand would do it).

More than you may want to know: almost every device, mains AC terminations, appliance, etc leaks a tiny amount of current and so long as the total leakage in a circuit is <5mA, all is good. Note "in a circuit" as that's what your shore power cord is - one big, happy circuit. So if your microwave leaks 2mA, the inverter/charger another 2mA, you're good. Turn on the water heater that leaks 2mA and the GFCI trips. In residential use this is accommodated by using multiple circuits, but the cost in dollars, weight, and complexity means this isn't done in most RVs. But remember that the outlet at your home, that you're plugging the shore power cord into, sees the entire RV as 1 circuit.

[Solo_RV_Guy]

Originally Posted by Just Bob

Ground fault breakers don't play very well together. My daughter put a 30 amp RV outlet on her house for me. It is a ground fault. When I plugged in the camper it would trip the house GF. The camper has a GF. I checked everything in the RV that I could. Finally I just replaced the ground fault circuit breaker in the house with a standard breaker.

I suggest the fault was between the RV GFCI and the outlet it was plugged into - shore power cord, plug, termination at the RV/ATS. GFCIs protect us from loads that leak. The RV outlet GFCI was sensing a fault because it "sees" the entire circuit. Your RV's GFCI was not sensing an imbalance because there wasn't one on the load side of that GFCI. That current leak is between the 30 amp outlet and the GFCI in your RV.

[ArtJoyce]

Sometimes the issue is some rv's bond the power distribution box or the generator. . A GFI can not have the circuit bonded down stream.