GFI clicking off when I plug my Camper in????

[Miriam C.]

Hope my earlier response about GFCI location made a little bit of sense. I have been very much trying to learn as I built the trailer electrical. My first GFCI was mounted back at the taillight area ahead of the four trailer outlets. Then it dawned on me that my electrical compartment, a metal tongue box, and the trailer frame were not protected from ground fault. Perhaps now I have gone to the other exteme by putting the GFCI first thing after the power inlet. In the beginning I did not realized the GFCI is only looking at things on the load side or downstream from its location in the trailer electrical. But now I am fully trained by staying at the Holiday Inn Express.

Bill

When you get to the motel 6 we will train you to reverse order or forget things. Much more challenging.

[cokebottle10]

Bill I tend to agree with you. I would like to see the GFCI first before the circuit breakers and power converter. When GFCIs first came out they would trip when a motor was pluged into them. (in-rush current) They are made much better now.

David.

[Miriam C.]

Bill I tend to agree with you. I would like to see the GFCI first before the circuit breakers and power converter. When GFCIs first came out they would trip when a motor was pluged into them. (in-rush current) They are made much better now.

David.

So whatever you plug into the GFCI is not protected by your circuit breaker..... May I suggest You put a blank cover over it. Course you could always trust the campground to cover you there.

You can get GFCI circuit breakers but they are expensive. And the new and improved GFCI's are out. I am waiting to see if they are better.

[wlooper89]

Bill I tend to agree with you. I would like to see the GFCI first before the circuit breakers and power converter. When GFCIs first came out they would trip when a motor was pluged into them. (in-rush current) They are made much better now.

David.

So whatever you plug into the GFCI is not protected by your circuit breaker..... May I suggest You put a blank cover over it.

You can get GFCI circuit breakers but they are expensive. And the new and improved GFCI's are out. I am waiting to see if they are better.

That is a good point. I used a GFCI without outlets similar to the type shown here.

Bill

[Miriam C.]

Bill I tend to agree with you. I would like to see the GFCI first before the circuit breakers and power converter. When GFCIs first came out they would trip when a motor was pluged into them. (in-rush current) They are made much better now.

David.

So whatever you plug into the GFCI is not protected by your circuit breaker..... May I suggest You put a blank cover over it.

You can get GFCI circuit breakers but they are expensive. And the new and improved GFCI's are out. I am waiting to see if they are better.

That is a good point. I used a GFCI without outlets similar to the type shown here.


Bill

[cokebottle10]

At first I was looking at a GFCI cord. They are used in construction projects. Bill, I have never seen the blanked one that you have. Does it cost about the same as a normal one?

Auntie M you make a good point. The one that Bill has looks like the one I would want. I would still mount it before the breaker.

Thanks,
David

[Miriam C.]

At first I was looking at a GFCI cord. They are used in construction projects. Bill, I have never seen the blanked one that you have. Does it cost about the same as a normal one?

Auntie M you make a good point. The one that Bill has looks like the one I would want. I would still mount it before the breaker.

Thanks,
David

Ah you young fella's. They made those in the 70's and may still make them. Dunnooo.

[wlooper89]

At first I was looking at a GFCI cord. They are used in construction projects. Bill, I have never seen the blanked one that you have. Does it cost about the same as a normal one?

Auntie M you make a good point. The one that Bill has looks like the one I would want. I would still mount it before the breaker.

Thanks,
David

I got the type in the earlier photo at Home Depot or Lowe's a few months back. The kind with outlets are more common but they did have the plain ones too. The price was about the same. Some are rated 15A and some for 20A.

Bill

[planovet]

OK, it's happening to me also. I just finished wiring my panel and when I plugged it in to a GFI outlet in my garage, it tripped. Thing is, ALL my breakers were OFF (main and others). I tried a different GFI outlet in the kitchen, same result. I tried using the cord with another appliance and it did not trip the GFI. The GFI only tripped when I plugged to cord into the power inlet. I plugged the power cord into a non GFI outlet and everything on the tear worked fine. I used an outlet tester (similar to the one below) to test all the outlets and cord and everything checked out fine. I checked the box and all the grounds are hooked to the ground bar, all the neutrals to the neutral bar and the hots to the breakers. I can't figure out what is wrong. (The box is not grounded to the frame.) Like Steve said, there aren't any GFI outlets in campground boxes but there must be a problem I need to fix.

[cokebottle10]

If the tester that you show in your post reads good when you plug the TD into a non-GFCI then check to see if the neutral bar and the ground bar are connected some how. If you used a small breaker box for your circuit breakers then you may have a "bonding screw" in the neutral bar. This will have to be removed. This screw or jumper connects the neutral to ground (back of box or to ground bar) The neutral is designed to carry current. The ground is not. If they are some how connected the ground is carring some of the load and this will trip the GFCI. This could be as small as one strand of wire poking out of a terminal and touching the back of the box. Much like the problem in the beginning of this post.

P.S. I also think that you should connect the ground to the TD frame. I look at the TD as a appliance that you plug in. A table saw, refrigerator, washing machine all have metal frames and the metal frames are grounded. I also think that the RV manufactures do this. But this is just may opinion. Grounding the frame or not has nothing to do with the problem that you have now.

[bobhenry]

Just a question... What does grounding the ac circuits to the frame of the trailer do for you. We are setting on rubber tires and nothing is returned to "earth" ground anyway. I wired mine mounted on wood studs in a plastic carlon box and the ground is the ground that comes in on a good 10 gauge 3 wire extention cord. When at home it plugs into a GFI mounted outside the garage and never a problem with tripping. The tester shows the 2 yellow lights as a correct circuit and all is well.

[planovet]

Thanks for the reply. I checked and the neutral and ground bars are not hooked together. They are on different walls of the box with no connecting wires. The box is plastic so it won't conduct from one to another. The tester I used confirmed all the outlets in the tear are wired correctly when it is plugged into a non-GFI outlet. I know it's not the GFI outlets and I know it's not the cord. I'm wondering if there is something wrong in my power inlet on the side of my tear. Like I mentioned before, all the breakers are OFF when the GFI trips. (I do plan to connect the ground to the frame later, it's just that this problem has me stumped at the moment.)

[Miriam C.]

Nice box. Where did you get that? I am wondering if the box has the neutral and ground connected....that is not visible.........Unless you created the box. In which case could you go in business please...........

check you pm's please.

[cokebottle10]

1. You pluged in something else to the GFCI and it did not trip. GFCI should be good.
2. I'm guessing that when you pluged the cord into the GFCI without plugging in the TD it did not trip? Cord could still be bad. Did you plug something into the cord pluged into the GFCI? Did it trip?
3. With all the breakers off and the cord pluged into the GFCI it will trip. All circuits when pluged into a non-GFCI check good with power on. A GFCI will only trip if current is passing through it and one side is not equal with the other. If the breakers are all off then no current should be flowing. It looks like you have something up stream of the breakers. Is the 12 volt converter upstream?
4. The GFCI in your breaker box looks like it only has one white wire going to it. It should have a white wire out of the breaker that is connected to the neutral bar. The white wires coming back from the circuits that the GFCI protect should go to the GFCI neutral terminal. Not the neutral bar. You may have it this way, I just do not see it in the photo.

PS By the way, that is a Beautiful TD you have. First class all the way!

As far as "what will grounding the frame do for you". You are right. Most of the TDs we build have a pretty isolated electric system. A gounded frame will most likely never come into play. However stuff happens. If I have something outside in the rain and weather that gets pluged into the power company. I want all the metal parts that I can touch to be grounded. I think that it is just good practice.

[planovet]

Thanks Miriam, I found it on eBay. Just looked on eBay and could not find another one. I did find this one though LINK. (I think I paid $45)

I had originally bought a WFCO box but this one seemed easier to wire and had more space for much cheaper. 12V is on one side and 120V on the other. It was a bark brown color so I painted it red to match my tear. I'm very happy with it, that is if I can figure out my GFI problem.