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LisaDev · 07-09-2020, 05:55 AM

Just brought our 2015 Pinnacle out of storage. We were showing it to a couple who is interested in buying it. We had it hooked up to a generator. I tried to turn on the air conditioning in the bedroom and it tripped the generator so it was no longer powering the RV. We then tried to plug it into shore power to our garage and, even with every breaker off and the battery disconnected, it still trips the GFI in the garage. Did I mess something up by trying to turn on the air conditioner? We have people coming tonight and I need to solve this problem before they get here. I’m not super familiar with how everything works, but I’m in charge today. Please speak in simple terms if you’re going to help me :-)
Thank you in advance!

twinboat · 07-09-2020, 06:12 AM

Didn't mess anything up, unless you switched on the electric water heater. With no water in the heater, that will burn the element out. That can cause GFCI tripping.

If you didn't have the heater on, try plugging it into a non GFCI outlet. Run the cord thru the window to a dining room outlet. Many of them are wired for 20 amps.

Persistent · 07-09-2020, 06:39 AM

Other posts on iRV2 have reported this problem with shore GFI. Lots of opinions as to cause have been posted.

I don't know why the generator tripped. Possibly you overloaded it with the air and another heating appliance. What is the capacity of the generator?

GFI's trip when current in the hot wire does not match current in the neutral wire. This usually happens when there is a neutral to ground connection in the TT system. In this case some current flows through the ground wire instead of the neutral wire. The unbalance trips the shore GFI.

As Twinboat said a failure like a short between neutral and ground in an appliance like a water heater could do it. Someone may have installed a ground to neutral connection. It is needed for safety when using a generator.

Some people add a ground link at the generator. Some transfer switches automatically ground when switched to a generator. Any other ground to neutral connection is likely to cause the problem.

I wish you good luck and happy trails ahead!

okcnewbie · 07-09-2020, 06:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LisaDev

…... We had it hooked up to a generator. I tried to turn on the air conditioning in the bedroom and it tripped the generator so it was no longer powering the RV.

….We then tried to plug it into shore power to our garage and, even with every breaker off and the battery disconnected, it still trips the GFI in the garage. Did I mess something up by trying to turn on the air conditioner?

Did you hook it up to your house generator?

When you hooked up to the garage power did you use an adapter to get to a regular 15/20 amp outlet?

Some pics might help.

LisaDev · 07-09-2020, 07:16 AM

It was a portable generator and when we connected to garage power, we used 2 choke down adapters to get to a regular three prong

bigchick · 07-09-2020, 07:28 AM

go back to the generator. turn all circuit breakers in the rv off including the main breaker. start the generator and plug in the rv. everything should be fine as with all the breakers off the generator should not see any load. now turn on the main breakers. there still should be no load as all the branch breakers would still be off. then turn on the branch breakers one at a time. start with the one for the converter as it will provide 12 volt power as you do not have the batteries installed. then turn on the breakers one at a time. if the generator trips you will know which breaker you turned on that resulted in the overload.

you did not say what size generator you are using. it might also be as simple as using a generator that is too small for all the things you are trying to run (a/c, converter, refrigerator, water heater, tv). turn refrigerator and water heater to propane if you can. so they do not use power from the generator.

you can try plugging into another house receptacle but it will probably be only 15 amps, possible 20. depending on the size of the generator you are using you may get more power from the generator.

LisaDev · 07-10-2020, 04:33 AM

So, for kicks, my BF created a non GFI outlet.

BINGO. No trip.

Will it trip at an RV park? This was not a problem last summer in the sane plug WITH GFI.....

twinboat · 07-10-2020, 06:03 AM

Humm, it used to work OK, then it didn't, so remove it.

It is a safety device.

Talloaks · 07-10-2020, 01:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LisaDev

We then tried to plug it into shore power to our garage and, even with every breaker off and the battery disconnected, it still trips the GFI in the garage.

You appear to have two different situations that are unrelated. One, you overloaded your portable generator when you turned on the A/C, and the generator output breaker tripped interrupting power to the RV. That's not a problem. Just don't try to start large loads that when combined with whatever else is energized at the moment, exceeds the generator capacity.

Two: you discovered you have a ground fault condition in your unit that exceeds the GFI trip setpoint. You need to find where it is and correct it or at least isolate it. Key is to understand that your neutral and ground are not affected by opening breakers; only the hot leg of a circuit is fed through any of your circuit breakers. That is why you observed a GFI trip despite having placed all breakers in the OFF position. The GFI was looking, as was already mentioned, at your neutral and ground portions of your system and detecting continuity between them.

Solution? Use the process of elimination, circuit by circuit. After disconnecting all AC power from your rig, including from the inverter and generator, open your RV master circuit breaker panel, *Be sure to test for dead--zero volts first!* then disconnect each neutral conductor from the neutral bus in the panel, and test for continuity between each wire and the ground bus bar. When you find the one (probably, hopefully, only one) that shows zero or very low resistance, you have found the circuit with the problem. The electric element for the water heater is a likely candidate, but it could be others. Whatever it is will have to be repaired or isolated. Isolated means, both hot and neutral wires disconnected from their terminations in the circuit breaker panel, and the ends taped or otherwise completely protected from any electrical contact.

If you aren't sure what any of this means or have never done this type of work, then get a competent electrical person to do it for you.

twinboat · 07-10-2020, 02:19 PM

The last post gives you the steps needed to find a ground fault.

If some of the circuits go to devices that plug in, fridge, some converters...., you can just unplug them. That disconnects both neutral and ground.

Gary RVRoamer · 07-10-2020, 04:28 PM

Quote:

So, for kicks, my BF created a non GFI outlet.

BINGO. No trip.

Will it trip at an RV park? This was not a problem last summer in the sane plug WITH GFI.....

Well, since you removed the Ground Fault detector, it should hardly be surprising there was no ground fault trip. The fault is still there; you are just ignoring it. Yes it will trip again if you ever plug to a GFCI-protected outlet.

With any sort of luck it's just a tiny current leak in the RV somewhere and nobody will get hurt. Shocked, maybe, but hopefully not hurt.

153stars · 07-12-2020, 10:11 PM

MyTriplite inverter will trip GFCI on charge only switch but not turned to on or off ???? Others found neutral to ground bonded in CB panel, its a distribution panel like in a lot of non attached garages and shouldn't be bonded if fed by house breaker .