Electrical issues when plugged in at storage facility

[Lance571]

I may have the dumbest mechanic/ repair facilities, one is Fleetwood certified, and nobody can tell me why. 2010 Fleetwood Revolution. The only place around that I can park at has horrible electrical even though it is a new place. Was under built on electrical and only has 15 amp total in the 2 plugs on each 4 spots. They are regular 110 plugs. When I park I switch both inverters to 5 amp shore power and transfer switch activates for about 20 seconds then it trips the GFI. I have had a new transfer switch put in last year, new bird box and new coach batteries last month. Parked it 2 weeks ago in storage mode with full batteries. I can turn off breakers for like ac's blah blah blah and it won't trip. Any help or something to try before I kill these new batteries. TIA

[puttin]

Lance,

Some of this might sound redundant but I don't know you or your abilities. First, you can always just use your coach disc switches for chassis and house. That should eliminate any parasitics...you can even disc a cable and do the same thing if you have any doubts. I hope you camp at least every six weeks- that will keep the batteries topped off until the next trip. I don't have any access at all to 120v when stored so I use a device called a Trickle-Start which keeps my chassis batt topped off when I camp (works either on shore or generator). I'll bet your rig has a built in device like this but you can add it if not. I'm not a big fan of charging while stored. Unless you really monitor it they can cause problems. Let us know about these things so we can save your batteries.

[Gary RVRoamer]

I don't think any of that new stuff is in any way related to the outlet GFCI tripping. A ground fault means that current that should be flowing in the neutral wire is going to the ground wire instead, i.e. a "ground fault".

The most common things in an RV that cause ground faults are the refrigerator heater element (if in 120vac or Auto mode) and an improper or missing ground on the inverter/charger. Could also be a stray strand or wire in the shore cord, though(was the plug ever replaced?), or an improper placement of a neutral or ground wire in the load center.

Ground faults can be very hard to find and most RV techs lack the electrical skills to isolate it. Even many electricians are frustrated by this kind of problem.

The suggestion to use an external charger instead of the onboard system is the quick & easy solution to keeping the batteries up. A Trik-L-Start won't do it, however, since it gets its 12v from the onboard charger anyway. The GFCI will still trip and no power to the TrikLStart. Just plug in a standalone charger and hook it to the battery bank..

[puttin]

Hi Gary,

The Trickle-Start would be a good remedy to the o.p.'s problem because it relies on the on-board charger without the need to use a more expensive and less dependable stand alone charger. I say this from experience. As I asked (or stated) to him- I hope he camps at least every 6 weeks- that would be more than enough to top off reasonably charged chassis battery(s). The fact that he has a poor 120v source where he stores is coach further reinforces the need to try an alternative (although I'd talk to the mgmnt there about it anyway). As I understood it- there is only a 15a breaker holding back the load of 4 storage spaces....that's how I read it anyway. What a bad deal that is!

Drew