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Old 01-30-2010, 03:14 PM   #1
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GFI mystery

Here is the age old question? What pops the campsite GFI plug when I use the 15 amp standard plug? Everything is fine when using the big 35 amp plug!!!
I have looked into everything I can think of. I hooked up all the 120volt wire circuits (1 at a time) and the gfi didn't pop. But when I reconnected the 12volt side (going thru the inverter) the gfi popped. The inverter is new! I tried to find a damaged 12v wire underneath but found none. What should I do next other than giving a million dollars to an RV repairman ???????? The trailer is a 05 wildwood le ss
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Old 01-30-2010, 03:25 PM   #2
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Here is the age old question? What pops the campsite GFI plug when I use the 15 amp standard plug? Everything is fine when using the big 35 amp plug!!!
I have looked into everything I can think of. I hooked up all the 120volt wire circuits (1 at a time) and the gfi didn't pop. But when I reconnected the 12volt side (going thru the inverter) the gfi popped. The inverter is new! I tried to find a damaged 12v wire underneath but found none. What should I do next other than giving a million dollars to an RV repairman ???????? The trailer is a 05 wildwood le ss
You say "inverter" do you mean "converter"? If the "inverter" is the cause of the problem when turned on then perhaps it is wired wrong and backfeeding 110v in the system somewhere.
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Old 02-01-2010, 09:20 AM   #3
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Originally Posted by Wildwood1 View Post
Here is the age old question? What pops the campsite GFI plug when I use the 15 amp standard plug? Everything is fine when using the big 35 amp plug!!!
I have looked into everything I can think of. I hooked up all the 120volt wire circuits (1 at a time) and the gfi didn't pop. But when I reconnected the 12volt side (going thru the inverter) the gfi popped. The inverter is new! I tried to find a damaged 12v wire underneath but found none. What should I do next other than giving a million dollars to an RV repairman ???????? The trailer is an 05 wildwood le ss
I'm not understanding this completely.

Why are you using the campsites 15amp receptacle and not the 30 amp receptacle?

What are you using the 15 amp receptacle to run?

Answer those two and we'll go from there.

By the way, the reason a GFI trips is either too much load or a current imbalance between the hot and neutral lines. A short between ground and neutral will do this. A common cause is the electric heating element in the water heater.
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Old 02-01-2010, 11:16 AM   #4
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I think I understand the question and may be able to shed some light into the issue.

If you plug your camper into the 30 amp outlet the camper does not pop the breaker. If for some reason you want to plug into the standard 15 amp it immediately pops the breaker yet you really havent turned anything on (or so you think). The question is why?

The answer was told to me when my best friend and I were camping side by side with basically identical Wildwood 23FLSRV units. We had an electrician put an amp draw meter on the line to see what is going on because his would do this yet mine will run with even the 13.5k A/C on and the breaker does not pop on a 15amp circuit. Mine was only drawing 16.5 amps with the A/C on and his was drawing just over 20.5 with the A/C on. Without the A/C on his draws over 15 amps when he plugs it in. The draw was the battery charging circuit coming on to it's highest draw as soon as plugged in to recharge the trailer battery. It pops the 15 amp circuit every time. Mine does not draw even half as much and they are the same year and model trailer. Like I said I can even turn on my A/C and the breaker doesn't pop. He has since replaced the charging unit and now he does not pop the 15 amp breaker but his A/C still draws more then mine and the breaker will pop after some time and getting hot.

You can't assume that plugging it in with nothing "turned on" inside the unit means nothing is running.

You should always be using a larger circuit when the situation permits it. at least a 30 amp is needed to run things normally. A fire can result from the usage of a standard 15/20 amp circuit.

I hope I explaned that well enough and it somehow helps.
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Old 02-01-2010, 12:03 PM   #5
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Here is the age old question? What pops the campsite GFI plug when I use the 15 amp standard plug? Everything is fine when using the big 35 amp plug!!!
Another scenario that may be possible besides what ScottnKimmer wrote, is that the campground may not have an GFI on the 30 amp breaker. With all of the electric campsites that I have visited, I have not seen a 30 amp GFI. The sites will have a 20 amp GFI, but not a GFI on the 30 amp receptacle. So, if you are actually throwing the GFI instead of overloading the breaker, then there is a problem with the electrical system in you camper.......which could be dangerous.

I test the campsite receptacles with a polarity tester before I hook up. The tester also has a button which should pop the GFI. It will pop the 20 amp circuits, but not the 30 amps........because they are not GFI protected !!! At about $80 per unit for a 30 amp GFI, I think the campgrounds are weighing the cost, and making a potentially dangerous decision to not spend the money.

FWIW, my tester will throw the GFI breaker that I installed at home.
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Old 02-02-2010, 03:51 PM   #6
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the reason i used the 15 amp breaker at the camp site is because my 30 amp cord would not reach the electrical hookup so i used a 30 to 15 amp jumper so i could use a smaller gauge cord! also when the trailer is in my driveway i do not have a 30 amp hookup so i use a 30 to 15 amp cord jumper?? i can run pretty much everything (maybe not at once) on the small extension cord when plugged into a non GFI at my house but as soon as i plug the cord into a GFI outlet the GFI at that plug trips???????????
like i said previously, i hooked up all the 120v circuits one at a time to an extension cord going to a GFI plug at the house and the GFI did not trip?? but when i connected the inverter/converter(?) back up the GFI would trip?????im thinking there is a bad ground on the 12v side somewhere but where do start looking
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Old 02-02-2010, 07:34 PM   #7
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the reason i used the 15 amp breaker at the camp site is because my 30 amp cord would not reach the electrical hookup so i used a 30 to 15 amp jumper so i could use a smaller gauge cord! also when the trailer is in my driveway i do not have a 30 amp hookup so i use a 30 to 15 amp cord jumper?? i can run pretty much everything (maybe not at once) on the small extension cord when plugged into a non GFI at my house but as soon as i plug the cord into a GFI outlet the GFI at that plug trips???????????
like i said previously, i hooked up all the 120v circuits one at a time to an extension cord going to a GFI plug at the house and the GFI did not trip?? but when i connected the inverter/converter(?) back up the GFI would trip?????im thinking there is a bad ground on the 12v side somewhere but where do start looking
You keep saying "Inverter/Converter" they are not the same thing although you can purchase an aftermarket replacement that does have both but most all RVs only come with a converter. A CONverter takes the incoming 110vac and changes it to 12vdc for use by your 12v fixtures and charging your batteries. An INverter changes 12vdc into 110vac using your battery power.

It is very confusing to anyone trying to help you if you aren't specific about the problem. Is there an INverter involved here? or are you thinking of the CONverter?
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Old 02-03-2010, 08:34 AM   #8
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I'm going out on a limb here and assuming you only have a converter.

I doubt that your problem is the 12v side I do believe from your last post it's at the converter. The converter is actually more than just a converter (I know, I'm confusing you again) it's a power center/converter. The 30amp shore power cord comes in there and is connected to a power distribution center (breaker panel) that feeds power to the 120volt side of the RV and to the converter. There are ground and neutral bars in the converter/power center housing and if one of the ground wires was put on the neutral bus or one of the neutral wires were put on the ground bus a regular breaker wouldn't care but a GFI would trip. Also, if there's current leakage in your converter from neutral to ground, that'll trip a GFI. Either of those scenarios would explain why the GFI didn't trip when you took the circuits loose from the power center and plugged them straight into the entension cord. If you hooked the converter up to the extension cord by itself without any other circuits being hooked up and it tripped the GFI I'd start looking for a shorted neutral/ground connection in there. If you can't find an obvious one then it's probably a shorted component and your choices are to either replace the unit or try and have that one repaired. Check out www.bestconverter.com for some good info.
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Old 02-03-2010, 09:23 AM   #9
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What Bama said.

That, along with my #5 post may be explaining what is happening here.

A good place to start may be the hot water. A burned out electric element could cause this problem.
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Old 02-03-2010, 12:45 PM   #10
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I had a situation where I was getting ready for last year's annual vacation trip and I plugged into the house 15 amp outlet and the GFI popped. I spent the better part of a day looking for the problem, even changing the GFI receptacle, and then eventually took off the 15/30 amp adapter plug from the end of the cable to check for corrosion. I didn't find any obvious corrosion and when I plugged it back in it worked again. It may have been oxidation but the problem cleared up and all went well there after.
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Old 02-03-2010, 04:46 PM   #11
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I'm going out on a limb here and assuming you only have a converter.

I doubt that your problem is the 12v side I do believe from your last post it's at the converter. The converter is actually more than just a converter (I know, I'm confusing you again) it's a power center/converter. The 30amp shore power cord comes in there and is connected to a power distribution center (breaker panel) that feeds power to the 120volt side of the RV and to the converter. There are ground and neutral bars in the converter/power center housing and if one of the ground wires was put on the neutral bus or one of the neutral wires were put on the ground bus a regular breaker wouldn't care but a GFI would trip. Also, if there's current leakage in your converter from neutral to ground, that'll trip a GFI. Either of those scenarios would explain why the GFI didn't trip when you took the circuits loose from the power center and plugged them straight into the entension cord. If you hooked the converter up to the extension cord by itself without any other circuits being hooked up and it tripped the GFI I'd start looking for a shorted neutral/ground connection in there. If you can't find an obvious one then it's probably a shorted component and your choices are to either replace the unit or try and have that one repaired. Check out www.bestconverter.com for some good info.
sorry, it is a converter that i have. i understand what you are saying about the crossed wires but i dont think i have that situation! when i purchased the trailer sept./09 the seller said the converter was over charging the onboard battery (17-18 volts instead of 14.5 in charge mode) so he purchased another new converter and installed it a few days later as part of the deal!( he was a very knowledgeable and technical guy) but the GFI popped with the old and new converter ( the seller had no idea what would cause this so we shook hands and he rode off into the sunset (ha). It now runs at 14.5 volts in charge mode!
I live in Canada so i was checking "outthere" to see which way i should approach this problem when the warmer weather begins because its too cold to work on it most days ( brrrrrrrrrrrr...) So i appreciate any suggestions anyone might have , thanks
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Old 02-03-2010, 06:52 PM   #12
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The best thing I can suggest is to make absolutely sure the ground and neutral aren't interconnected in the converter or anywhere in the system for that matter. It does sound like it's in the converter so my advice stands to check for a ground/neutral interconnection there.
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Old 02-04-2010, 03:35 PM   #13
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The best thing I can suggest is to make absolutely sure the ground and neutral aren't interconnected in the converter or anywhere in the system for that matter. It does sound like it's in the converter so my advice stands to check for a ground/neutral interconnection there.
Thanks for the info. I will definitly check ( double check ) this out!!
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