Electrical Problems

[BAMA4K]

I have a 2020 Keystone Avalanche. When I plugged into GFI it trips. I have turned off all breakers, disconnected batteries and unhooked wiring to water heater and it still trips breaker. Electrician came out and checked circuit and said all is good. Any suggestions or additional things I can check before hauling it to a dealer? Oh and I tried different cords from trailer to Plug.

[chuckster57]

Plugged into GFCI at home? Have you tried a non GFCI plug?

[BAMA4K]

I’m plugging in at storage facility. Tried several different ones there and same result.

[chuckster57]

Are all the plugs at storage facility GFCI?

[BAMA4K]

Yes they are

[chuckster57]

Is this something new? Did you change storage facilities?

[BAMA4K]

It happened about 3 weeks ago when I checked on camper. Didn’t have any tools or meters to check things so I got back yesterday and still had same problem. That’s when I checked everything and got electrician involved. I have an appointment for February 12 but thought I’d check on here to maybe save me a 60 mile trip to dealer. I have not changed storage facilities and the campers adound me haven’t changed either.

[ChuckS]

Did the electrician just verify the RV 50 amp power pedestal was good?

If it was good have you removed the 50 amp power cord from the RV and tested it for issues?

A $10 multi meter would allow you to quickly test and verify your 50 amp RV shore power cable

Here is a short PDF on how to verify your RV power cord is ok

I am surprised this place has GFCI protected RV pedestal as it is not required yet under NEC code

https://www.go-usg.com/t-publication...nch%20circuits.

[BAMA4K]

Electrician checked electrical circuit from breaker to GFI. I have a meter and checked cable myself and cable is good.

[ChuckS]

Have you removed the cover on your power center and checked all the grounds on the BUS bar and both L1 and L2 feeds coming into your power center at the 50 amp RV breakers inside the RV...

IF pedestal is good and you said cable is good then Id remove the RV 50 amp connection receptacle on the RV and verify L1,L2, Neutral and ground wires are good at the RV plug in point as well... if not already done

[LHaven]

Am I missing something? OP says he plugged his trailer into a GFCI receptacle, meaning a 15A or 20A receptacle, since nothing larger comes in GFCI. That requires an adapter.
I thought it was common knowledge that trailer adapters are just flat not compatible with GFCI outlets. I'm surprised this is news to the storage facility.

[BAMA4K]

I will check that. Thanks

[BAMA4K]

Not sure but there are about 25 trailers and all are using adapters into GCFI. According to site manager I’m the only one having an issue that she knows of.

[LHaven]

Check out these posts for background info:

https://www.keystoneforums.com/forum...rchid=10406259

If the other RVs on the lot are 30A, they may not be encountering problems.

[Customer1]

First you need to understand how a GFCI works. In simple terms it reads the hot leg and the neutral leg and compares the two. They each must have the same amount of current. The ground does nothing and isn't needed for a GFCI to function.

If current leaks from hot to ground, or neutral to ground, the GFCI will see the imbalance and trip. Based on this knowledge the diagnostic approach is to open the electrical panel in the RV, then remove and reconnect circuits until you find the defective circuit. Once the defective circuit is found further research will find the problem.

I'd wager that this is beyond the skills and knowledge of many if not most RV techs. You need an electrician.

[LHaven]

Originally Posted by LHaven

Check out these posts for background info:

https://www.keystoneforums.com/forum...rchid=10406259

If the other RVs on the lot are 30A, they may not be encountering problems.

Well, that link is a fail. I didn't realize it was ephemeral.

Try going to the search function, choosing "show posts" and searching for: GFCI adapter

Here's one sample post to give you a flavor of the sort of problems that can show up with GFCI shore power.

[LHaven]

Originally Posted by Customer1

First you need to understand how a GFCI works. In simple terms it reads the hot leg and the neutral leg and compares the two. They each must have the same amount of current. The ground does nothing and isn't needed for a GFCI to function.

If current leaks from hot to ground, or neutral to ground, the GFCI will see the imbalance and trip. Based on this knowledge the diagnostic approach is to open the electrical panel in the RV, then remove and reconnect circuits until you find the defective circuit. Once the defective circuit is found further research will find the problem.

I'd wager that this is beyond the skills and knowledge of many if not most RV techs. You need an electrician.

One problem is that certain 20-50V adapters occupy two plugs, but return the neutral willy-nilly, which makes GFCIs very unhappy. There are other examples in this search.

[BAMA4K]

Thanks for all the info. I’ve found a couple of older articles that really point this problem to the water heater. Gonna try the troubleshooting listed and if not successful gonna let the dealer take over. I’ll bd sure to post if able to fix myself.

[bobbecky]

If you are plugging in to just maintain the batteries, turn off all the 120 volt breakers in the trailer's panel except the one that powers the converter. You definitely don't need the water heater running, nor most anything else in the trailer if it's in storage. The problem is there are a number of fairly benign issues, that when combined are signaling the GFI outlet that you have a dangerous condition because it thinks it's all coming from one source. You never see these issues when plugged into a 30 or 50 amp pedestal connection, so by opening up all the other breakers, you will remove from the GFI any slight issues and you should be able to maintain power to the converter.
In this article, there is a discussion on GFI tripping when an RV is plugged into it, which might help you understand what is going on. https://www.rvtravel.com/rv-electric...-skin-voltage/

[BAMA4K]

I have attempted with all breakers off and it still trips.