Trippy

[Sprinter274]

Hello fellow campers, I hope someone could clarify something for me...recently at my in-laws house I plugged my camper into an outlet on the side of his house and tripped the circuit. I thought it was because it was a 20amp GCFI but he claims he plugs his 98 Bounder in the same outlet with no issues. He thinks I have a short but it works fine on an inside outlet, generator, or at a campground. Is this normal, does anyone else have this issue?...Thx

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[bsmith0404]

depends on what all you are running, how long the cord is, how many other items are connected in line. It only takes 5 mA drop to trip a GFI. If you are using a long extension cord you can get that much drop in the cord alone.

[PerryB]

Check the neutral lug at your panel. If its not tight you will trip GFI's. Everything in the trailer will work when plugged into a non-GFI protected source because the loads can still return through the groung leg, but a GFI will trip because the ground path is carrying current. I had this issue on our last trailer when it was new. Another give-away to this condition is voltage between the trailer frame and earth. I became aware of my problem when kneeling on damp ground and touching the trailer frame. I got a pretty good tingle.

[Tom N OH]

If your neutral & hot wires are reversed in the camper, it will also cause this. Get one of the little plug-in 110v outlet testers at your local hardware, etc. & check the camper. http://www.homedepot.com/p/Gardner-B...3501/202867890

[Dave B]

I've been dealing with this same problem and still haven't found a solution. I've tried to isolate anything drawing power and checked all the recepticals using one of the testers mentioned above but no joy. I didn't know to check the neutral lug, and will now do so. I'm suspecting my problem may be in the panel and/or converter.

I spoke with both a professional electrician friend and a man who has a well established RV appliance repair business, and both said this kind of gremlin can be extremely hard, if not impossible, to track down. If the common culprits aren't the cause then you can spend many, many hours searching and still not find it. In that case, both also said that unless you're receiving some kind of shocks off the vehicle- don't worry about it. Run the power to a non GFI circuit and just keep an eye on it. In fact, the appliance repair man said he doesn't have any GFI circuits in his shop because this problem is so common in RV's. The GFI's are so sensitive that darn near anything can set them off.


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[gtsum2]

I trip line every time i plug into storage. Even with nothing on. I have found that if i use the battery disconnect and turn it off, then plug into the gfi, and then turn battery disconnect back on I am good....and I only drawing 4 amps per my ems....how or why it only works that way is beyond me?? This is on a 20a gfi

[Sprinter274]

Originally Posted by Tom N OH

If your neutral & hot wires are reversed in the camper, it will also cause this. Get one of the little plug-in 110v outlet testers at your local hardware, etc. & check the camper. http://www.homedepot.com/p/Gardner-B...3501/202867890

Thx Tom, I have one and all seems well...

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[Sprinter274]

Thx everyone for the input, I will continue to check and try to find the issue

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