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Old 02-27-2020, 10:55 PM   #1
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RV charging at home = instantaneous home GFCI pop

Not sure if I have a problem, or just a basic incompatibility.

I have a Thor Siesta. 30 amp power. On the road, I use a Progressive surge protector. No problems, except one place that did generate an error from the electric connection they gave me - tried another and it worked fine.

Anyway, I had the RV at home, and for some reason, I wanted to plug it into my home's standard electrical circuit - for charging, or some other reason. I used a dogbone adapter - plugged in the surge protector - no errors. Plugged the RV cord into the surge protector - INSTANT shutdown. Turned out the GFCI on that home electrical circuit had popped. Tried a different circuit - same thing. May have tried it without the surge protector - not sure I was brave enough...

Anyway - should this happen? Does it indicate a problem in either the home or RV wiring? Or ???

Thanks
Dan K

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Old 02-27-2020, 11:15 PM   #2
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Mine was a dead short whenever I out out the slider. Popped only shore power, nothing else.
But
Anything with a piezio lighter will pop a gfci if given the chance.

Just theory and past experiences.
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Old 02-27-2020, 11:25 PM   #3
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Turn everything off before you plug into house. House circuit im only 15 amp. Won’t run your air or microwave
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Old 02-27-2020, 11:56 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hugh.vines@att.net View Post
Turn everything off before you plug into house. House circuit im only 15 amp. Won’t run your air or microwave
Hugh may be on the right track.
Is the fridge on electric? Hot water heater electric turned on? Any other electric loads turned on. Doesn't take much to pop a 15A breaker.
Another thought, is the power cord plug laying on damp ground? That could pop the GFCI.

If you plan on plugging MH in at home I suggest putting in a designated 30 amp circuit in the breaker box and a 30amp outlet in the garage.

We did and no more popping a circuit breaker when trying to cool the MH with the fridge on in the summer.
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Old 02-27-2020, 11:58 PM   #5
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Had my rv pop the gfci once in awhile at home. Found moisture in the outside receptical. Dryed it out then sealed it better than the factory. No problems since ....(knock wood)
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Old 02-28-2020, 12:00 AM   #6
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No good answer but a suggestion for trouble shooting. Turn off all the RV breakers, then plug it in. Turn on one circuit at a time until you get to the amp rating of the house circuit. You may have over whelmed the house circuit.
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Old 02-28-2020, 12:06 AM   #7
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Have you tried on circuit without the ground fault receptacle on it?
Why are you concerned with trying to bypassing the surge protector? It is 15 amps and you have a breaker.

I had something similar when I first started using my home generator as a 30 amp source. I had error popping up telling me I had floating ground. I made my own little device to trick the genset to thinking I had proper ground and presto no more issues.

My money says it is something within your house wiring. Assuming you have successfully run off a 15 amp receptacle someplace else with same surge protector would prove it.
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Old 02-28-2020, 01:08 AM   #8
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THOR #1469
Plug into a non-gfci outlet on the house and you should be good. Folks had all kinds of problems with that about 5 years ago. Lot of discussions on the forum.
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Old 02-28-2020, 01:13 AM   #9
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Thanks for all the replies. A little more info:

I am pretty sure nothing was turned on inside the RV - altho the Use/store switch was probably in Use mode. I will try again - fridge might have been on in Auto mode..

I don't normally have any reason to plug the RV in at home - we are usually just loading up before a trip, or unloading after. Like I said, not sure why I was doing this in the first place - but I was surprised / concerned that the GFCI popped - I could understand the house's circuit breaker popping if I drew to much power...

I am pretty sure everything was dry but anything is possible. I think ALL my house circuits have GFCIs - so I cannot (easily) run a test without that. If I were doing this often, I would certainly put in a 30amp circuit.

Mainly I was concerned that the RV had some wiring problem and was waiting to kill me!

We are going home tomorrow from a visit to Joshua Tree and Anza Borrego - both terrific - if I have a chance, I'll try this again.

Thanks again for all the feedback.
Dan
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Old 02-28-2020, 01:26 AM   #10
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Your RV may have the ground and neutral bonded (Not supposed to be in the RV) This almost always causes a house GFCI to trip (It's not overcurrent, it's ground fault). As mentioned above, just find a receptacle that isn't on the house GFCI circuit and you should be good.
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Old 02-28-2020, 01:49 AM   #11
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It’s been my experience that it often does not work to have one GFI outlet downstream of another. I’d agree with the suggestion to try a non GFI outlet at your home
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Old 02-28-2020, 07:08 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 16ACE27 View Post
Your RV may have the ground and neutral bonded
Is this bad / serious? Forgive me - my knowledge of electricity is pretty basic...

Not trying to be flippant here - but obviously using a circuit without a GFCI installed means: no GFCI will pop. Does an RV usually have a GFCI built in?

Anyway, I will pursue getting a 30 amp circuit installed at home...
Thanks again
Dan
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Old 02-28-2020, 02:24 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lspotho View Post
Is this bad / serious? Forgive me - my knowledge of electricity is pretty basic...

Not trying to be flippant here - but obviously using a circuit without a GFCI installed means: no GFCI will pop. Does an RV usually have a GFCI built in?

Anyway, I will pursue getting a 30 amp circuit installed at home...
Thanks again
Dan
Ground and neutral are normally bonded at the "source". They are bonded at the main panel in your home. If bonded at the "load" (your RV) then the GFCI in your home may see different current on the neutral leg than the hot leg because some current may return on the ground leg. This is what trips the GFCI.

You do have at least one GFCI circuit in your RV as well, certainly in the bathroom, maybe near the kitchen sink, outdoor receptacle, and fridge.
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Old 02-28-2020, 03:05 PM   #14
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FWIW here is a link from a thread on this topic from a number of years ago.

From what I recall the RV has a grounded circuit/system because of generator etc... and when plugged into the GFCI at home the home circuit is picking up the RV circuit as a short to ground and tripping the house GFCI breaker. Known problem with plugging RVs into house 15amp GFCI protected outlets for years.

https://www.thorforums.com/forums/f8...tlet-5473.html

I am not an electrician or a subject matter expert on electricity so you have my disclaimer.

Happy reading.
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Old 02-28-2020, 07:54 PM   #15
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If you have a inverter you can not plug into a gfi outlet. The gfi thinks you have a dead short. It took me two days to figure that out.
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Old 02-28-2020, 10:56 PM   #16
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I've always tripped my GFCI before plugging in my RV then reset the outlet. It works for me.
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Old 03-04-2020, 09:13 PM   #17
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Originally Posted by MJC62 View Post
Hugh may be on the right track.
Is the fridge on electric? Hot water heater electric turned on? Any other electric loads turned on. Doesn't take much to pop a 15A breaker.
Another thought, is the power cord plug laying on damp ground? That could pop the GFCI.

If you plan on plugging MH in at home I suggest putting in a designated 30 amp circuit in the breaker box and a 30amp outlet in the garage.

We did and no more popping a circuit breaker when trying to cool the MH with the fridge on in the summer.
Agree. What he said.

When we first got our Thor Citation Sprinter, I used an adapter to 30a to the 15a GFCI on the front porch. This was to get the fridge cold the night before loading up for a trip. At first, it worked okay, but if you turned anything on, the GFCI would trip. All my garage and outdoor circuits are on a GFCI circuit. I finally gave up and installed a dedicated 30a 120v RV outlet next to the breaker panel in the garage, which was close enough to the door that I could reach it with the RV cord.

As a side note, last fall my wife's aunt and uncle came through for a night's stay with their class B. I don't know what amperage is power was but it was probably 20a. They only wanted to keep the fridge cold. Every outdoor outlet, that we tried, would trip the GFCI. Finally, I found out that he had a 15a/20a to 30a adapter and we used my 30a RV outlet. No more problem.

We take delivery on a new DP next week and I intend to upgrade that 30a RV outlet to a 50a one, change the #10 wire to the panel to #8 (it's only a couple of feet at most).
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Old 03-04-2020, 09:27 PM   #18
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There is 2 ways to fix this common GFI Problem.

1- plug your RV into an non-GFI protected outlet. You don't need it because your Rv has one in the proper places.

2- turn off the GFI circuit in you RV. Many times, and nobody know why, 2 GFI in series don't play nice. I have proven it with my 2 trailers parked side by side. Neither one would work on 2 GFI's. It seams to be a Quality issue with the GFI's.
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Old 03-04-2020, 09:54 PM   #19
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I had a grounded neutral for many years which wasn’t an issue as long as I didn’t try to connect to GFI protected outlet. As soon as I did, the GFI tripped. Even with main RV 30-Amp breaker off, it tripped instantly.

It didn’t concern me until we stayed at a campground which had updated their 30-Amp electrical at pedestals to include GFI.

Just saying I would not ignore the issue on the basis that if the ground and neutral are somehow connected in your RV (most likely unintentionally and not by design), one day you may pull into a campground with GFI on 30A service and have issues.

Installing a 30A service at home may circumvent this issue, but is not a great fix in my opinion. You may want it anyway in order to power more items at once, but doesn’t address the underlying issue. I’d have to know what was causing GFI to trip.
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Old 03-04-2020, 09:56 PM   #20
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Originally Posted by 16ACE27 View Post
You do have at least one GFCI circuit in your RV as well, certainly in the bathroom, maybe near the kitchen sink, outdoor receptacle, and fridge.

Thanks - I was thinking it might be somewhere else in the electrical system - but your message reminds me to consider the obvious answer first!


Dan
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