Aria electric issues

[m1noel]

I'm just sad for you.

[Chesuncook1]

Originally Posted by DrTerriEdwards

We do have that issue, but now another one. Our windshield was damaged by a hail storm and we ordered a factory one to replace. It was to be put on last Thursday. The one ordered did not fit. The company says it is Thor’s fault due to the shape of the window and Thor said to try another manufacturer. The problem is, we cannot drive the RV and we live in it. Since last Thursday and until someone helps us, we are parked behind a shop owned by Wade's RV in Oklahoma. We are almost ready to quit on our dream of travel. We still get wet in bed when it rains, and we can see outside under the furniture, because no seals were installed inside on the slides. We are not happy with our 2019 Aria 3901, to say the least. We are very positive people, but we are wearing down stuck by a pile of tires and with no septic. : (

I am so sorry you are having so much trouble. We also bought an 3901 Aria and had nothing but trouble with it. I told my wife, I am not spending my retirement years fighting with this unit which will never be right. After owning for 1 year, we traded for a Tiffin product and are now happy again. It cost us a lot to trade out of it but I am so glad we did. Good luck. I hope you find happiness in your travels. Life is short, don't suffer, TRADE.

[TurnerFam]

Originally Posted by Tebo53AZ

Mine was kicking all the time. Bought and installed a heavy duty commercial GFI and it has worked fine ever since

This is a good example of why I think that the raw 'assumption' that just because you have a modified sine wave inverter you somehow can't operate GFCI outlets, or especially the 'newer' type....but my thought is that it is really the OUTLET that is the issue, and/or the wiring, but NOT the inverter itself...

try changing out the GFCI to a 'regular' type, and I'm sure you'll have no further issues... that seems a lot simpler and much more economical that thinking you have to change out an inverter.

Our Magnum ME2012 has worked flawlessly for over four years and 85,000 miles and a LOT of dry-camping overnights, 580 hours of generator use, and many various and different types of shore power, 15a, dual 15/15amp, 20a, 30amp, dual 20/30 amps, dual 30/30amp, 50amp(100amps), etc., and never any issue with our GFCI outlet/circuit.

[Mulva]

My Aria is 2 yrs. old now and still has the same issue with tripping the GFi.
Called and called and email Thor Customer Service and they contacted one of their top engineers and he said they were unaware of any GFI issues with Aria. I sent them several threads of other Aria owners complaining about it and now I get SILENCE. NO CONTACT. They must have tried checking one and all got electrocuted.

[Tebo53AZ]

I think they are using a cheap off the shelf one. As soon as I changed it out for a commercial rated one, it has never tripped unless I use a tester on it

[KohTangFred]

Mulva, Disconnect the power cord so you are running off the inverter. Plug something into the outlet above and to the left of the sink. If the outlet works nevermind. If it don't work see my earlier post in this thread. You can call 319-269-1438 if you have questions.

[Pete'sMH]

I concur with the suggestion to try replacing the GFI outlet. Especially if everything has been fine for the last two years and you’ve not done anything differently. They do go bad sometimes - especially the cheap ones. And there can be little doubt that Thor buys cheap and in bulk so there’s bound to be the occasional bad one. It’s cheap and easy to try.

[Mulva]

I continue to listen to “other than” Aria owners comment on the GFI issues and downplay the aggravation and concern that other Aria owners have. It’s frustrating to NOT HAVE a solution. Thor is useless, their dealers are clueless, and to exchange the GFI doesn’t do anything to help the situation. I’ve had electricians look at the problem. They think that Thor should know the issues and have a solution, BUT when questioning Thor, they will tell you that they haven’t heard of these issues. Bullshit, I say. They know about it and it requires a modification and they aren’t in the business of providing support or resolution, just selling as many as they can. Won’t catch me buying another Thor anything, nor recommending Thor to anyone.

[gmc]

I do understand the frustration... I see multiple distinct issues reviewing this thread...
- Possible incompatibility of some GFI outlets with MSW inverters...
- Improperly wired (shared) neutrals between GFI/non GFI circuits...

For some, replacing GFI or inverter seemed to work... but would do nothing in the case of shared neutral downstream...

Something possible to try... how many outlets require GFI protection?
(Typically those within 6’ of sink or outside... guessing one in (each) bathroom... one in kitchen... one or two outside)
Thor uses one GFI to provide protection... but if you can determine to flow of outlets, on the existing GFI, move the downstream wiring to the ‘non protected’ side... ie GFI only protecting the ONE outlet... Install a new GFI in the second outlet in line, and see if problem goes away.. eliminates the wiring between 1 and 2 as issue.... Can continue down the line adding or moving... You could have individual GFI’s each protecting only one outlet - which would remove any coach neutral wiring issues.
(Or just as test swap regular and GFI outlet moving the GFI downstream until you find where it doesn’t trip...)

[TurnerFam]

I recently had my bath main GFCI trip, BUT, it was because I plugged into a shore power GFCI 20amp outlet - the two do not always play well together - and it's not something 'wrong' with my Modified Sine Wave inverter, the Magnum ME2012, or the onboard GFCI in the bath, or the wiring in the RV - it's because two GFCI 'outlets' don't like each other, one is outside, one is inside.

Now, my GFCI only controls 'some' of my outlets, as another circuit or two have their own 'normal' breakers. When the GFCI tripped, when I plugged in, nothing changed in my coach, because I had nothing plugged into the bath outlet, nothing plugged in and ON in the kitchen, nothing in the outside bay outlet, etc., so I 'noticed' no change.
It only became evident when my wife had no power at the coffee maker the next morning... prompting me to remember that hearing the 'pop' when I plugged into the shore power GFCI the day before should have reminded me.

For me, it was not a big deal as I was only on this shore power GFCI outlet to run this test. I've been on GFCI shore power outlets before, and nothing changed... this one proves that 'some' GFCI outlets just don't play well together - which one you 'get' may determine whether it will work, or not. I don't know if it's because of differing manufacturing of the outlets, how they are built, wired, etc., or maybe if the neutral is switched on one, versus the other.

Now, this had no impact on my Inverter, or impact FROM my inverter, even though I have this GFCI circuit AND the other outlet circuits run thru the Inverter's output sub-panel, and through the same sub-panel's main 30amp breaker.

Who knows, but the MSW inverter has nothing to do with GFCI issues - it simply passes thru 120v shore or gen power from the ATS(auto transfer switch), or from the Inverter when it is providing the power. Could a 'redesign' of an MSW inverter create issues with some GFCI outlets? Possibly. It wouldn't be Magnum or the inverter's fault. It wouldn't be the GFCI outlet manufacturer's fault. It would be just a sad situation. Could the RV manufacturer 'test' this before completing the build. Sure. Maybe they do, and maybe it works fine at the factory.
Maybe there was simply a loose wire at the Inverter that was not caught, before replacing it with another. I imagine replacing it with another MSW unit might have actually shown a solution. But, that's just my guess.

I think changing from a MSW to a PSW inverter is only correcting the symptoms, but probably not changing any underlying 'problem' of why the two don't work well together. The GFCI outlet is more than likely the culprit, as much as we might not want to believe it is.

[LDK]

Fyi I viewed a 2020 Aria this week and noticed they have changed the inverter from the modified ME2012 to pure sine MS2012 inverter.

[aznytfury]

Originally Posted by LDK

Fyi I viewed a 2020 Aria this week and noticed they have changed the inverter from the modified ME2012 to pure sine MS2012 inverter.

Swapping my inverter in my 2017 Aria 3901 from a ME2012 to a pure sinewave MS2812 solved a lot of electrical gremlins for me:

1) GFI stopped tripping (original complain in this thread).
2) Bizarre electrical humming from the Microwave/convection oven stopped occurring.
3) Start up on the refrigerator no longer has a 'squealing' sound on the compressor.
4) Some portable electronics wouldn't charge when on the modified sinewave inverter - they now charge without issue.

[cavie]

Originally Posted by m1noel

Thanks hmm, but this seems to be an issue with all the 3901s. My dealer has been through all those steps, at least 5 different gfis. Happens every time we start the engine or plug into 110. I think it must me an invertet/transfer switch problem.

Many times 2 gfi's in series do not work together. You must trip the RV gfi or plug into a non gfi outlet at the house.

[cavie]

Originally Posted by turnerfam

i recently had my bath main gfci trip, but, it was because i plugged into a shore power gfci 20amp outlet - the two do not always play well together - and it's not something 'wrong' with my modified sine wave inverter, the magnum me2012, or the onboard gfci in the bath, or the wiring in the rv - it's because two gfci 'outlets' don't like each other, one is outside, one is inside.

Now, my gfci only controls 'some' of my outlets, as another circuit or two have their own 'normal' breakers. When the gfci tripped, when i plugged in, nothing changed in my coach, because i had nothing plugged into the bath outlet, nothing plugged in and on in the kitchen, nothing in the outside bay outlet, etc., so i 'noticed' no change.
It only became evident when my wife had no power at the coffee maker the next morning... Prompting me to remember that hearing the 'pop' when i plugged into the shore power gfci the day before should have reminded me.

For me, it was not a big deal as i was only on this shore power gfci outlet to run this test. I've been on gfci shore power outlets before, and nothing changed... This one proves that 'some' gfci outlets just don't play well together - which one you 'get' may determine whether it will work, or not. I don't know if it's because of differing manufacturing of the outlets, how they are built, wired, etc., or maybe if the neutral is switched on one, versus the other.

Now, this had no impact on my inverter, or impact from my inverter, even though i have this gfci circuit and the other outlet circuits run thru the inverter's output sub-panel, and through the same sub-panel's main 30amp breaker.

Who knows, but the msw inverter has nothing to do with gfci issues - it simply passes thru 120v shore or gen power from the ats(auto transfer switch), or from the inverter when it is providing the power. Could a 'redesign' of an msw inverter create issues with some gfci outlets? Possibly. It wouldn't be magnum or the inverter's fault. It wouldn't be the gfci outlet manufacturer's fault. It would be just a sad situation. Could the rv manufacturer 'test' this before completing the build. Sure. Maybe they do, and maybe it works fine at the factory.
Maybe there was simply a loose wire at the inverter that was not caught, before replacing it with another. I imagine replacing it with another msw unit might have actually shown a solution. But, that's just my guess.

I think changing from a msw to a psw inverter is only correcting the symptoms, but probably not changing any underlying 'problem' of why the two don't work well together. The gfci outlet is more than likely the culprit, as much as we might not want to believe it is.

[GVP-The Boxcar Children]

Our GFI was tripped on the purchase date, but with fingers crossed we've had no issues since.
GVP

[m1noel]

All I know is that since changing to the pure sine wave inverter, we have not tripped the GFI. Not once in over 2 years.

[TurnerFam]

that's a wiring issue, not a modified versus pure sine wave issue... our Palazzo has a GFCI circuit, and has never once had any issue with our ME2012 Magnum 'modified' sine wave inverter, in over 100,000 miles over 5 years.

can a wiring issue be more complicated by a modified wave versus a 'pure' one, maybe, but you'll find that MANY owners have had issues with GFCI circuits and breakers regardless of what type of INVERTER they have.

[m1noel]

Originally Posted by TurnerFam

that's a wiring issue, not a modified versus pure sine wave issue... our Palazzo has a GFCI circuit, and has never once had any issue with our ME2012 Magnum 'modified' sine wave inverter, in over 100,000 miles over 5 years.

can a wiring issue be more complicated by a modified wave versus a 'pure' one, maybe, but you'll find that MANY owners have had issues with GFCI circuits and breakers regardless of what type of INVERTER they have.

I totally agree. We had a MSW inverter on the last MH and never had a problem. But something about the Aria's is wired so that there is a problem in at least some of them. And since switching, problem solved.
Mike

[TurnerFam]

right, and the truth is that while it 'seems' as if changing out the inverter to a 'better' one solved the issue, it might just be MORE true that simply changing out the inverter to the SAME type of replacement inverter may have ALSO solved the problem.

This is why jumping to 'conclusions' can be problematic when it comes to 'comparing' different products, or versions of products, etc. If you haven't taken everything into account, you are simply resolving that whatever you DID change MUST have solved the problem, and therefore what was there before WAS the problem, or in this case, the 'version' of the product, such as a modified sine wave inverter versus a pure sine wave inverter.
Wiring can be suspect in a lot of ways. Factories pre-wire the coach to specs that they have designed, according to the manufacturer of the products they are installing, according to common-sense electrical wiring schemes and codes, and according to their own schematics for how the product will be used, and even 'where' it will be installed. A rolling vehicle chassis also adds to this reasoning, as there is not the same 'ground' as you would expect in a home.

It sounds like the factory may have some things to consider, at least with how the Aria is wired for it's GFCI outlets. If other coaches of similar design, like the Palazzo and others, built in the same factory, side-by-side with the Aria, are not having these same issues, then something amiss is going on. Yes, there could be some 'bad' inverters, which could lead to tripping GFCI circuits in some situations, but it sounds like a wiring run or connection that the Aria uses can be helping to contribute to this issue.

[Mulva]

Originally Posted by m1noel

Literally every Aria 3901 owner I have been able to contact seems to have the same GFI issue. Are there any owners out there who's GFI doesn't trip frequently? Are all floor plans having the same issue? Has anyone been able to fix it? Please answer and include your year and model.
Thanks,
Mike

I bought one of the first ones produced. I took delivery on Feb 8, 2017. I have the 3901. I have consistently fought this issue since then. In the shop multiple times, but techs “could not duplicate”. They couldn’t fix a sandwich either. I only have 12,000 miles on mine now, but it seems to have lessened its frequency on tripping. Tried to isolate by varying my routine of stopping gen set first, then shore power, disconnecting everything and then plugging in. It doesn’t seem to have any sequence restrictions. I have installed a Dometic 95 on a slide in my first bay door in back of entry door. I had to by-pass GFCI for that location due to constant power outage. The fridge would lose power and fridge contents wouldn’t stay cold/frozen.
We would even be in bed at night, and I would hear it pop in the mid bath. Soooo frustrating.