Aria electric issues

[m1noel]

Originally Posted by CSR

We had an electrician look at the issue. He was convinced the problem is due the modified sine wave inverter. Something about the square wave pattern causing subtle faults that cause most GCFI receptacles to trip. Our dealer swapped the receptacle, but the problem continues to persist. We plan to upgrade to a pure sine inverter and see if we get better results.

That is what solved the problem for us.

[Markewelch]

We bought a 2018 Aria 3901 in March. Same GFI issue but also popping cb#9. RV dealer has no idea what is on that CB. He says Thor has no schematic for their RV. Need to call Thor. GFI follows same pattern of changing power sources. Will show RV service this thread. Also having transmission issues. Luckily, that’s just a broken connector.

[Chesuncook1]

Hi all, I mentioned this on another Aria post. The new GFI's do not like a modified sine wave inverter. You can not "test" a GFI on a modified sine wave inverter. You only test when on another power source. The reason a new GFI wouldn't work is because they "self test".

You have two choices.

1 fight with Thor and get a pure sine wave inverter.

2 go on EBay or Amazon and get an older model GFI Leviton 8899 and install it and the problem also goes away.

I am so mad at Thor I don't ever want to talk to them, so I went with option #2. We have been full timing for three months without a single trip. We have been in 11 different campground and gone back and forth between all power sources a lot. The model 8899 was an easy fix so we could get on with life.

Scott (Chesuncook 1)

[TurnerFam]

Originally Posted by Chesuncook1

You can not "test" a GFI on a modified sine wave inverter. You only test when on another power source. The reason a new GFI wouldn't work is because they "self test".

SORRY to disagree, but our GFCI outlets work perfectly fine on our Magnum ME2012 inverter.... it has nothing to do with that, it's more than likely a faulty GFCI outlet, or loose wiring back at the breaker box.

[Chesuncook1]

Thanks for your reply TurnerFam. I am just quoting what a Magnum tech told me on the phone. I had tried numerous new GFI's with the same results. As soon as I changed the GFI to a model the tech told me to, my problem was solved. I never check any other wiring. For me anyway the older non self testing GFI fixed the problem. Maybe your coach doesn't have a self testing GFI and that's why it works.

[TurnerFam]

if by self testing, you mean a red button that reads 'test', then yes, works fine.

[Chesuncook1]

No, not the red button. Whenever you take power away and then re-energize a new GFI, it goes through a self test which won't work on a modified sine wave inverter. While you are providing power with the inverter, try and push the red test button and then try to reset. Supposedly, that is what you can't do with a modified sine wave inverter. Again, tjis is from Magnum tech not me.

[TurnerFam]

mine's always worked fine, the test button function just like it should, reset sets it back to working.... though, no, no GFCI's will 'test' without power, of course.

apparently some of the new 'automatic' self testing units are too sensitive and don't like certain types of power - I'm also not sure why a 'self testing' unit makes any more sense than the typical GFCI unit - they are all problematic at times, and seem to be overly sensitive. If small children are present, I can understand more reasons for them.

[ScoWall]

We had the very same gfi problem with our new Aria 3401. It worked fine on 50 amp shore power but kept tripping with anything else. For us this was very serious as the bathroom gfi controls a number of other outlets including the one on the underside of the kitchen over-counter cabinets, where we plug in the coffee maker. I took the suggestion of swapping out the bathroom gfi with a Leviton 8899 (got mine on Amazon for under $20) and that did the trick. With my old fat fingers and very short wires, it was not an easy install but not too bad either.

[Pirette Tales]

Thank you for your post m1noel. I also own an Aria 3901 with the same GFI tripping problem. Hopefully, this information will come in handy.

[KohTangFred]

I have had same issue and found the problem in my rig, hope this helps. Aria 3901 2018, The mid bathroom GFI blows all the time, especially when converts from shore power to inverter and back. I have already done most of the fixes I have found posted here including changing the GFI to a 8899, and they didn't help me. The power goes from the bathroom outlet down to the basement where they turn the romax wire over to a stranded wire. then they go up into the passenger side slide and then convert it back to romax wire and up to the outlets. The junction box where they convert back to romax, they take the neutral wire from the cooktop(not GFI or powered by the inverter) and join it with the GFI neutral and then up to the outlet. This junction box is behind the big bottom drawer right under the cooktop.
One of the symptoms that made it hard to figure was when I was on shore power, I had a coffee pot that would blow the GFI the second it was plugged in. on the inverter it wouldn't blow the GFI but would not run anything. If you measured the voltage it showed 114v on the hot, nothing on the ground or neutral. A circuit analyzer shows the outlet was normal when on shore power was on and neutral and hot reversed on inverter.
Hope this helps
Fred

[Markewelch]

So what was the fix?

[KohTangFred]

The neutral wire coming from a GFI can't be gang attached or swapped to or with any other neutrals. the neutral coming from the GFI they had terminated (wire nuted off) and then picked up the neutral from the cooktop. Can't do that. Its not uncommon to see all the neutrals in a gang box twisted together which would normally work but not with a GFI circuit. Separate the neutral for the GFI. This won't make sense until you take the drawer out and look in there. In mine the circuit you are looking for was on the left side of the double gang box and marked with a single wrap of black tape. the TV circuit maked with yellow tape Frig was Red tape, cooktop was double black tape. Hope that helps.

[Markewelch]

I’m going to try this in the morning. I understand you isolated/ separated the neutral for the gfi from the gang. What did you do with it? Did you run a separate ground?

[KohTangFred]

The wire was there, for whatever the reason they didn't use it. They just put a wire nut on it and left it hanging. I did not mess with the ground... should have looked at it!
Fred

[Markewelch]

I’m confused Fred: I thought it was a ground issue. Can you please explain exact ally what you did to fix this. Thank you so much.
Mark

[camperguy99]

Small correction from a previous post. The Magnum MS-2012 is a pure sine wave unit so works with a GFI.

MSW units are quite different. Normally the black hot lead from shore power swings in both directions to make a sine wave while the white neutral lead stays at ground. In a MSW the black lead swings positive but then its clamped to zero and the white lead neutral is pulled negative. This results in what approximates a 120V sine wave but totally screws up the GFI. If you put a scope on the whit lead referenced to the green safety ground you'll see this.

[KohTangFred]

GFI SIMPLE EXPLANATION
A GFI outlet checks the amount of power going out the black wire (hot) and monitors to see the same amount comes back thru the white wire (neutral) If the amounts differ then it sees this as leaking power because they should match so it trips the GFI. The ground is not monitored but if something shorts out, it shorts to ground to prevent electrocution.
This is why a GFI neutral can't be combined with other neutrals from other circuits.
The ground don't matter in a GFI circuit other than the safety it provides. Thor could have just miswired my unit and that's not why the rest of the Aria 3901's keep blowing the GFI, but the problem I found was part of the loom and I bet there are more done like mine. They can change the GFI's, inverters, etc and the problem isn't going away the way it is wired.
Happy camping
Fred

[Tebo53AZ]

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

[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. : (