GFCI Let Me Get This Right

[asianflava]

OK, AC electrical is not my cup of tea, add to that this GFCI stuff and I'm a bit confused. DC is no problem, played with it a lot when I used to install car stereo.

In the example below, the GFCI outlets #1 & #2 are hooked up to the "line" side and will operate independently. If one trips, it will not affect the other.

The regular outlets #3 &#4 are hooked from the "load" side and will trip the GFCI #2 if there is a problem. The ground (green) is not hooked up to anything at all.

Is this correct? I'm not positive<-- if this is how it is supposed to be.

[toypusher]

All of the outlets should have all three wirs connected. The two non-GFCI outlets being down the line from the second GFCI will trip the second GFCI only if there is a problem and not effect the first GFCI.

GFCI outlets will only be effected by what's plugge into them and anything that in down the line from them.

Hope that was clear enough to understand.

ALWAYS, ALWAYS ground 110VAC!!! You might want to make sure that you have a circuit breaker before all of it to protect everything.

Kerry

[asianflava]

All of the outlets should have all three wirs connected.

Where do I connect the ground? The load side of the GFCI outlet only has 2 terminals for the hot and neutral.

The two non-GFCI outlets being down the line from the second GFCI will trip the second GFCI only if there is a problem and not effect the first GFCI.
GFCI outlets will only be effected by what's plugge into them and anything that in down the line from them.

Cool, that's what I was trying to do.

ALWAYS, ALWAYS ground 110VAC!!! You might want to make sure that you have a circuit breaker before all of it to protect everything.

Yes, I'm putting a circuit breaker before everything.

[toypusher]

Where do I connect the ground? The load side of the GFCI outlet only has 2 terminals for the hot and neutral..

All GFCI outlets that I have ever seen have a place to connect the ground wire on one end (It will be a green screw). If yours do not have a place for the ground wire, I don't thing that I would use them! The 'hot' and 'neutral' connections are on the sides, but the 'ground' is usually on then end of the outlet. (maybe kind of hidden under the mounting screws)

Kerry

[mexican tear]

all of the grounds are connected together at the GFI. The in from the power source and the out to the next outlets are connected together. In the trailer I would connect the in and the out together with a small pigtail for the GFI outlet. solder them and then wirenut or tape. Hook the pigtail to the GFI using a crimp on connector. Follow the same at each subsequent outlet in the chain.

That is my 2 cents worth.

kai

[asianflava]

Kai you are correct. I found it in the instructions. It says to connect one side of a pigtail to the outlet and the other side to the load and line grounds. It dosen't show this in any of the diagrams but at the very bottom it was there. It seems like an afterthought like, "Oh yeah if you have ground wires, connect them here."

The outlet has 5 connections, 2 line 2 load and 1 ground. I know that you aren't supposed to connect 2 wires to one terminal which is why I was expecting 6 connections (2 grounds).

[mexican tear]

asianflava

You can connect tow wires to one terminal if you use terminal lugs on the stranded wire. Two is the limit legaly I think, at least in aircrafdt wiring.

I would suggest that you use terminal lugs on the end of every wire that terminates at a terminal. You can use the noninsolated ones and solder them or you can use the insolated ones and crimp them properly.

kai