Ground and Neutral connections

[Bama Rambler]

As bad as I hate to say it, at first glance, it appears that way.

You should have both ends of the wire disconnected and the conductors separated. to be sure you're dealing with the same cable take a ohm meter and clamp it on the black and white wires. It should read infinity. Go to the other end and touch the white and black wires together. The meter should read zero ohms (or real close to it). Now separate the wires again and if the short between the ground and white then there's definitely a problem in the cable. I'd start by deducing the route of the cable as much as possible and then tracing that route both inside and outside of the wall(s) and seeing if there were any screws or staples that look like they would be along the path. I'd remove them if possible and retest for the short. If you get lucky enough to find it you can then decide if you want to leave the wire in place with the insulation punctured or replace it with new wire. I'd personally replace it because it could have scarred the conductor and might cause a high resistance under load and the wire might get hot.

If you do find that it's a staple or screw you might want to contact the mfg and explain the situation to them and have them replace the cable for you. If your unit is under warranty that's a no-brainer. Of course, if you like camping it may be quicker to do it yourself and ask for reinmbursement later. That way your rig doesn't sit at a dealers somewhere when you could be using it.

[LadyWindrider]

Going through this thread again, I'm puzzled and may know why. You state you are running a 15A to 30A adapter. This means you can't have 30A service to you RV when plugged in to the garage. Check that adapter and make sure it is not the problem. If the main breaker is off in the master panel in the RV, the only thing I can see left is a bad wire or transfer switch. Disconnect from the transfer switch. Also welcome to the world of electrical troubleshooting. Usually a process of elimination.

[dB*R]

Originally Posted by windrider

Going through this thread again, I'm puzzled and may know why.

Trying to connect the camper to the garage outlet was only an indicator that there was a problem. What I am faced with now is a short between the neutral and ground conductors somewhere in the romex that connects the outside 30A inlet (I have said receptacle before, sorry) to the transfer switch inside. So essentially what I have right now is a single run of romex that I am testing in the camper which has been disconnected at both ends.

It seems that the builder has run this wire in the most inefficient and convoluted manner. I believe it goes up the right side wall, across the roof making several loops in random places, and then back down the left side wall. When I removed the 30A inlet I also noticed that the romex insulation was cut and abraded in several locations. And this was just in the first foot of wire.

My solution now is just to run some 10/2 myself within the lower pass through storage compartment. The camper is only two months old so it is still under warranty but after some of the hack job horror stories I've heard done at some dealers, it looks like this one's on me for my own peace of mind.

THANKS all for the input !!!

[Bama Rambler]

Of course they wouldn't have made it where you could attach a new cable to the old one and pull it in as you pulled the old one out. I've never loked at how mine's routed but the Marineco plug is on the very back corner and the converter/power panel is on the opposite side in the middle of the RV.