The Circuit Breaker(GFCI) Keeps Tripping / Electrical Problem

[shark918v]

I own a 2001 FR #1610.

Q: The trailer is plugged into shore power. The TV is not connected. There are no appliances plugged in. The lights work but are turned off. All fuses that I have found are good and newly replaced. However, the second I plug in anything into any of the outlets the GFCI trips.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what is causing this? Are there any known issues with my model trailer?


Q: Also, I located a 3 Amp fuse sticking out the side of the power converter. Any idea what this fuse protects?

[Ford Idaho]

What type of receptacle is it plugged into?
Another GFCI?

[shark918v]

I have it plugged into the GFCI outlet on the side if my house.

[DDC]

Originally Posted by shark918v

I have it plugged into the GFCI outlet on the side if my house.

That's your problem, you can not connect two GFI's, try plugging in to an outlet that is not on a GFI circuit.

[Herk7769]

Originally Posted by DDC

That's your problem, you can not connect two GFI's, try plugging in to an outlet that is not on a GFI circuit.

Ditto; two GFCI's don't play well together.

[shark918v]

That wasn't the issue. I just took the trailer of the second GFCI and plugged it directly into the garage wall.

No dice. I reset the trailers GFCI plugged in the radio and click. The breaker tripped.

Any other ideas????

And most importantly---> THANK YOU FOR ANY AND ALL INPUT, IDEAS AND OR SUGGESTIONS.

[rivraton]

Try a different extension cord, you may have a bad ground leg.

[triax]

To clarify....fuses are 12volt. Breakers are 120v. My camper's converter has breakers and fuses. The purpose of a converter/charger is to convert 120v AC to 12DC....and charge the battery. Remember, that most pop up campers are designed to run on 12 volt so the converter transforms the 120v AC to 12v DC. If an AC outlet is not working, it has nothing to do with the 12v fuses.
From what I have come to learn with my pop up.....it appears that some of the outlets are fed from a single GFCI outlet, typically the one located above the the converter. That particular GFCI outlet could be defective. Try replacing that outlet. I have also learned that the refrigerator will not run on 120v if that same GFCI outlet has tripped.

If the GFCi outlet is not the cause, then I would start to suspect the converter/charger.

[BigBaron]

Try this info to see if anything is helpful...
www.noshockzone.org gfci-troubleshooting Mike Sokol is an electrical genius!

[Ford Idaho]

At this point I suspect a faulty GFCI unit, if you can replace it.

[jmsokol]

Originally Posted by DDC

That's your problem, you can not connect two GFI's, try plugging in to an outlet that is not on a GFI circuit.

Actually, that's an old-wives tale. You can plug as many GFCI's in a line as you like and they'll never see each other or trip. In fact, you can cut the safety ground wire (EGC or Equipment Grounding Conductor in code talk) and they'll still trip correctly. However, every appliance leaks a little hot-to-chassis current, and Surge-Strips with MOVs are a big source of leakage. So sometimes plugging in two surge strips on the same GFCI will cause it to trip even when nothing else is plugged into them.

Does the thing you're plugging in that causes the trip have a "grounded" plug? What exactly is it? Have you tried plugging anything else in, such as a table lamp? Also, is this deinitly a GFCI and not an AFCI (Arc Fault Circuit Interrupt)?

It's possible you just have a dying GFCI, but they typically fail so that they won't turn on at all after reset, or they won't trip since their circuitry was fried by a nearby lightning strike. I'm going to follow this thread since it's getting interesting.

Mike Sokol
mike@noshockzone.org
www.noshockzone.org

[Herk7769]

Originally Posted by jmsokol

Actually, that's an old-wives tale.
Mike Sokol
mike@noshockzone.org
www.noshockzone.org

Mike, you are a very smart guy and I have learned a lot from you and your site. I bow to your knowledge and that is no "Smoke".

Can old wives sometimes be right? Got a lot of stories here where swapping outlets solved their problem. It is why the "solution" keeps coming up.

As to me; I will stop repeating it and point to your web page.

[jmsokol]

Originally Posted by Herk7769

Mike, you are a very smart guy and I have learned a lot from you and your site. I bow to your knowledge and that is no "Smoke".

Can old wives sometimes be right? Got a lot of stories here where swapping outlets solved their problem. It is why the "solution" keeps coming up.

As to me; I will stop repeating it and point to your web page.

Tell you what I'm going to do. Since I make it a personal rule not to post something I can't back up with a demonstration, I'm going to come up with an experiment showing multiple GFCI's in line. I'll also show how you can use a simple clamp-meter to troubleshoot exactly what's causing the leakage current that's making your GFCI trip. Or course, it may well just be a failed GFCI, but I think that's pretty unlikely. Still, it's easy enough to swap out and check.

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by shark918v

That wasn't the issue. I just took the trailer of the second GFCI and plugged it directly into the garage wall.

No dice. I reset the trailers GFCI plugged in the radio and click. The breaker tripped.

Any other ideas????

And most importantly---> THANK YOU FOR ANY AND ALL INPUT, IDEAS AND OR SUGGESTIONS.

Have you checked to make sure your water heaters electrical heating element hasn't burned out, especially if you have a Suburban brand water heater? This happens fairly frequently.

Depending on how they burn out, they can cause seemingly unexplained breaker tripping, as we have seen before.

You should be able to either unplug the water heater from it's power source, turn off it's breaker inside the trailer, and make sure the black switch is off on the front of the heater that controls the electric heating element.

We;ve also seen bad grounds in the RV, power cord, extension cord, or the adapter you must be using cause problems too.

[jmsokol]

Originally Posted by wmtire

Have you checked to make sure your water heaters electrical heating element hasn't burned out, especially if you have a Suburban brand water heater? This happens fairly frequently.

I've run a few tests on burned-out water heater elements that had their sealed tube leaking, and they'll draw perhaps 1 or 2 amps of current to the ground-frame of the RV. So yes, A GFCI tripping on the pedestal or home outlet could be caused by a hot water heater. But I don't think that would have anything to do with the GFCI tripping when you plug in another appliance.

[caper]

Could the outlet in the garage be tied into the GFI circuit or is it on it's own breaker?

[bleurt]

i had a problem with gfi plug on hw256 it was the harmonics (it is noise on ac voltage creates small peak) there was a series of components for gfi made in china that had problem and tripped the gfi plugs most utilities have a maximum of 10% of harmonic distortion. battery chargers and convertors create a lot of harmonics also Low voltage halogen lights also create a lot of harmonics the series of gfi that had problem was from about 2007 to 2010 . After i changed the gfi i had no more problems.