Inverter Generators kicking off GFI Outlets

[BigBobIa]

I have two GFI outlets one in bathroom controlling bedroom outlets and one in passthrough on the inverter outlets including the residential fridge.

Plugged into shore 50 amp shore power I have no problems at all. Last weekend I was dry camping using either a predator 3500 or a champion 4000ish inverter generators. Using one at a time I had a 30->50a dog bone to my watchdog EMS to my standard 50 amp cable. First time connecting either generator got a fault that neutral not grounded. So I build a grounding plug, 15a 120 plug with neutral connected to ground. Watchdog now happy and passed the power.

So 100° out and I can run either generator, one ac and charge batteries. However after running a while both of my GFI outlets tripped. Bath/bed had nothing turned on. Inverter running bypass mode with fridge kicked off so not cooling!!

At night I had reset both and had my CPAP on bath/bed when after an hour or so it kicked off again!

This happened first with the predator so I switched to the louder champion. Same thing. Just three days earlier I spent 30 hours on shore 50a with both ac running, fridge on inverter in bypass, and my CPAP without any issues.

Any ideas what the issue and fix is? I will be getting a generator to run ac and charge batteries when the solar is not enough but not sure what this is so not sure what generator I need.

[BigBobIa]

Did I post this in the right place? No comments at all.

[Javi]

Originally Posted by BigBobIa

Did I post this in the right place? No comments at all.

If everything else is still working and only the GFI plugs are popping then I'd start looking at all the GFI plugs for a problem..

I do know that I couldn't run my inverter, converter, residential fridge, C-Pap and my A/C on either of those gensets especially without an Easy Start..

[sahively]

You posted to the right place but it's likely that we don't know. That sounds like A LOT of load for those generators but that shouldn't cause GFIs to pop, as far as I know. I'd only be shooting in the dark but I'd try swapping out with a new GFI and see if the problem still occurs.

[flybouy]

I agree with Javi above. That's a lot to run on a generator with ambient temp in the triple digits. The fridge and a/c likely never cycle but run constantly. If you are running your CPAP with it's heater then it's drawing a fair amount as well. I would replace one of the GFIs with a good brand and try the generator again. If the new GFI stays in service and the OEM trips then you have your answer.

[ChuckS]

Since you state everything works fine on 50 amp shore power and your issues with the two GFCIs are when on generator power using an adapter I’d have to look at a couple of things common to running on Gen power.

First.. how warm is that dogbane adapter getting when running the items you have listed

Second… personally I see no reason to run an EMS when using a quality inverter gen set.. I don’t and haven’t I ever..

Third.l the likely hood of BOTH GFCIs having issues only when on Gen set power don’t pass my logic test.

Not saying that couldn’t be the issue but both GFCIs.. I am assuming they aren’t on the same 120 breaker in the power center .. they shouldn’t be

Most CPAP machines that plug into wall outlet are running on 24 volts DC powered by their own power supply

That’s roughly 2.5 amps when on 120 volt AC

That’s not really much draw across a GFCI.. I would also do a temp check on the wall outlet and plug for CPAP when running on that wall outlet

[BigBobIa]

It was not an overload issue as the Ems showed about 1 amp on leg 1 and 10-12 on leg 2. Bath/bed popped even when the cpap was not running.

One thing I did not think to try is to turn off the solar/inverter breaker so the inverter was not running bypass so the fridge was running battery inverted power. That May have kept it up.

[BigBobIa]

Been researching this and I think I know the problem. When I just plugged into the generator my EMS said no neutral-ground connection so I made a plug to connect them. Now the EMS is happy and passing power.

But reading the Champion website to see if I need that plug on a new generator I found this: When the neutral on a generator is connected to frame ground the frame of the generator acts as a coil and interacting wit the gen coils can generate a very minor voltage on the ground line.

So my GFI without anything plugged in downstream sees the microvolt incoming difference and kicks off. And the solution is to not use the ground plug and not have the frame as a gen loop.

And as was pointed out there is no need (and no way) to use the EMS with a quality inverter generator.

Champion generator ordered tonight!