Thor Forums

[lwmcguire]

Originally Posted by Bob Nodine

Agree with Chance and 16ACE27. As mentioned the neutral (white wire) in your RV should not be bonded (connected) to ground (bare copper wire) in your RV. This is only supposed to happen in the pedestal at the campground. A simple way to think of how a GFIC circuit works is that all the current that goes out from the power source on the black wire should go back to the source on the white wire. In a correctly wired system there should not be any current carried by the bare copper wire. If your body comes into contact with the live wire (black wire) for what ever reason and you touch something like a stove that has its chassis connected to the bare copper wire current will flow thru your body back to the source via the bare copper wire. The GFIC circuit breaker senses this current flow in the bare wire by using a differential transformer between the black wire and the white wire. If the current at the center tap of the transformer exceeds about 20 ma the GFIC will trip thus keeping you from being electrocuted. If for some reason current greater than 20 ma is leaking to the bare wire in your RV then the GFIC will trip as soon as you plug into the 115 VAC outlet on your home. This can even be cause by water somewhere causing current to flow to the ground in the RV. It is most likely caused because someone added a device or replaced a device and wired it incorrectly. Folks often make this mistake because they know in there home in the breaker panel that the bare copper and white wire are connected together and think they are basically the same. If you add a second panel of breakers at your home for say a detached garage then the panel used there cannot have the bare and white wires connected together.

Get an ohmmeter and with the power cord from your RV not connected to anything and the generator and inverter off in the RV test the resistance between the round prong on the plug that you plug into your hose for resistance between the other two flat blades. They should not be connected.

In a short summary a GFCI trips when the neautral and hot wire load isn't balanced

Your comments on the secondary panels are spot on