GFCI not working

[burlesot]

I purchased a heavy duty GCFI extension cord. It has the large GCFI in the center. I hooked the business end to my Marinco port and the three wires to the electrical outlet. I made sure everything was tight. I cannot get it to allow power through the GCFI. It keeps resetting. Is there something obvious I've done wrong?

Thanks in advance.

T

[bdosborn]

Did you make sure the neutral and the ground are separated in your marinco plug? Have you checked the power in your garage to make sure the neutral and ground aren't connected?

Bruce

[burlesot]

They are separated in the Marinco plug. I'm not sure how to test the garage power.

[bdosborn]

Get one of these:

Receptacle Tester

I carry one in the trailer and test the outlets at the campground before I plug in.


Bruce

[burlesot]

Ok. Tested the wiring. All is well. I then plugged the extension cord into a GFCI plug and still had no luck.

All of my connections are solid.

Any advice!

[bdosborn]

I hooked the business end to my Marinco port and the three wires to the electrical outlet.

Did you cut the end off the extension cord and wire it into the Marinco port and you're plugging into the GFCI end? Can you post a picture of how you have it wired?

Bruce

[burlesot]

I cut both ends of the extension cord off; one end went to the plug, the other went to the three extensions.



All of the connections are solid.

I appreciate your suggestions.

TB

[pmowers]

From what you wrote, I am assuming that the GFCI is internal to the trailer and that you have an extension cord running from the Marinco to the AC source. This is easily checked by plugging the outlet tester into the female end of the extension cord.

This may be a silly question, but have you checked the three extensions to make sure that they are all wired correctly? I would disconnect all but the closest, and then check if it works, repeating the procedure down the line. Also, did you check the wiring on the Marinco? I had some problems wiring mine with stray strands of wire crossing over. I might suggest that you use a DVM and check the resistance between each terminal and see if you have a bad outlet.

[bdosborn]

So where is the GFCI at, is the grey receptacle in the picture a GFCI or is it on an another extension cord you're plugging in to the receptacle? Either way, the cuts in the wires where you removed the extension cord outer cover are suspect. It only take 5ma of current difference between the hot and the neutral to trip a GFCI. Try carefully peeling back the outer cover some more and wrapping electrical tape around the wire where you cut into the insulation.



Bruce

[Dale M.]

aahh... I think if you have no "devices" on output side (receptacles) of GFCI unit and it trips when you plug it in to "shore" power or Marinco unit, you may have defective GFCI unit.... Technically with nothing plugged into receptacles it should look as if its a open circuit to GFCI circuit and it should not trip....

Did you by chance swap ends of cord by accident when you cut ends off and wired it in permanently?

Dale

[burlesot]

Dale,
I don't think so. Are you thinking that I should switch the ends? I was careful not to cut both ends off at the same time so I wouldn't make that mistake, but who knows. I will try switching the ends.

Thanks.

TB

[48Rob]

This is starting to get scary...

Please don't start "switching" wires just to see...
Unplug the power, and simply verify that the right color wires are in the right location.

If you aren't sure what that is, please pay a pro to help/teach you.
I'm all for people "doing it themselves" but sometimes these things can be dangerous, and it takes a little extra time to learn what is safe to experiment with, and what you should hire out, or study about first.

Rob

[Shadow Catcher]

GFCI's do fail, I have had two, one fresh out of the package.

[burlesot]

Rob,
You misunderstood the comment.

I cut the ends off of the GCFI power cord. I trimmed the wires and plugged the 'plug' end into the MarinCo inlet. I then cut the three extensions off and wired it to my standard 120 volt plug.

The GCFI unit will not remain 'open.' That is why an earlier comment suggested that I may have 'switched' the proper in/out.

I'm all about hiring pros to do the work I don't know how to do.

Which is why I went with the 'super simple AC system.' However, we've run into a glitch on my GCFI super simple system. Thus the requests for advice.

Todd

[bdosborn]

Okay, now I get what you did. What about the cuts at the Marinco end, did you fix them?



Does it trip right when you plug an extension cord into the marinco plug or when you connect a load to the downstream receptacle?

Bruce