Confusing electrical problem

[DuneElliot]

New RV owner here and I have searched high and low for an answer, both here and throughout the web with no answer in sight so hoping y'all can help me.
I have a 2007 KS Springdale 5th wheel I bought in Feburary. I moved it into it's summer spot at the ranch and plugged it in to a normal 20 amp GFCI outlet at the barn. Everything has worked just fine for over a week. Then I plugged a small heater in (didn't think it would be too much, but it was). Now, even with all breakers off, all switches off, nothing plugged in to any outlets, it trips the GFCI switch when I just plug the trailer into the wall. I have tried different circuits, with the same result so it is not the GFCI outlet that is bad, and I have tried different heavy-duty extension cords with the same result.
Neither myself nor my ranch partner ar familiar enough with RVs to know where to look for a problem. Please help, I was hoping to move into it on Monday. TIA.
Have a 30 amp outlet installed, just have to get the wire run from the RV to the barn, but this won't solve the problem of why it is tripping the GFCI outlet

[hankpage]

How old is your battery??? a weak or dead battery will cause the converter to draw almost 15 amps by itself. Of course there also may a problem in the trailer wiring or converter creating a ground fault ... if you are sure ALL trailer breakers are off and still tripping GFIC I would check the junction box at the end of the shore power cord for loose or corroded connections or burned connections or blades in the trailer 30 amp plug or adapter. Hope this helps, Hank

[DuneElliot]

Both batteries are new, and were fully charged before this happened. The outlets are all new too. I was wondering about the adapter plug as it seems old and doesn't seem to be tight when plugged in. But again, everything was fine and worked perfectly until I plugged this heater in. Will pick-up a new 30 amp plug for the RV end and replace/rewire that too as it almost looks as though the connections might be loose as I can see the internal wires when I pull the cord out.

[BulletOwner1]

First thing I thought of...........is the heater new? Perhaps it's bad on a GFCI circuit. Plug the heater into a house circuit, one with a GFCI, and one not.

[DuneElliot]

Heater is no longer in the trailer but I am also wondering if it shorted out the outlet....is this a possible issue to trip the GFCI even with all breakers off?

[BulletOwner1]

Well if the heater is no longer present and all the breakers are off in the trailer I'd be looking at the cord connections. Did I understand you correctly that you have plugged the trailer in to more than one plug in in the barn? If you keep plugging into the same GFCI then I would wonder if the GFCI is okay. They do go bad from time to time.

[DuneElliot]

Yes, I have tried multiple GFCI outlets and two separate cords.

[Bob Landry]

I don't see a need to have GFCI outlets on your power source. Any outlets in the trailer that need to be protected will be by the GFCI outlets in the trailer. I can see using them at Marinas where a shore power cord is subject to be dropped in the water, but not otherwise. It could be anything that is not really a problem at all. It only takes a very small amount of leakage current to trip one and you can easily be led down the primrose path chasing a phantom problem.

[DuneElliot]

Thanks for all the help. I finally found the problem...an inadvertent screw that had touched a wire to the outside light. Sometimes it's the simplest things.

[BulletOwner1]

I knew that's what it was!!

[hankpage]

Quote "Thanks for all the help. I finally found the problem...an inadvertent screw that had touched a wire to the outside light. Sometimes it's the simplest things."


The outside light on the trailer is 12v dc and would have no effect on the 120v ac GFIC outlet. Unless you are talking about a light on the barn that is on the same circuit.