Trailer has a ground fault

[kirkelli]

Originally Posted by Josparkz

I am wondering if the 30 A to 50 A adapter is what's tripping the GFI.

With this added info, yes it is possible the 30 to 50A dogbone adapter could trip the GFI.. Some of the cheap China made Dogbones dont jumper the hot lead on the 50A side and you'll lose voltage on one side. You need to check your main panels to make sure you have equal voltage on each side of the the 50 Amp panel. if you don't chuck that adapter and get a good Cameco. Also, GFI's are always the first circuit in a series circuit and there should only be one in series.
below is a picture showing how a 30 amp to 50 amp doggone shoed be wired

[Josparkz]

Originally Posted by kirkelli

With this added info, yes it is possible the 30 to 50A dogbone adapter could trip the GFI.. Some of the cheap China made Dogbones dont jumper the hot lead on the 50A side and you'll lose voltage on one side. You need to check your main panels to make sure you have equal voltage on each side of the the 50 Amp panel. if you don't chuck that adapter and get a good Cameco. Also, GFI's are always the first circuit in a series circuit and there should only be one in series.
below is a picture showing how a 30 amp to 50 amp doggone shoed be wired

Nice picture. Thanks. I should checkout their website.
I rang out the adapter initially and that's how it's wired.
Pretty hard to find anything not made in China anymore. Breaks my heart.

[Learjet]

Originally Posted by Vicr

OK, to the answer. And the OP had it in post #14 in his last sentence. The grounding and the bonded neutral in an RV will cause a current flow difference between the hot and the neutral which trips the GFCI. A bunch of posters here need to study up on how a GFCI works before posting. Google "how a GFCI breaker works".

not sure what going on here...but the ground and neutral are not and should not be bonded in the RV panel.

[Vicr]

Originally Posted by Learjet

not sure what going on here...but the ground and neutral are not and should not be bonded in the RV panel.

Tell that to the RV "electricians".

[Josparkz]

Originally Posted by Vicr

Tell that to the RV "electricians".

That might be what keeps them in business <LOL>

[mvanderhoff]

Originally Posted by kirkelli

switch out your GFI plug at the house to a non-GFI and you'll be fine. Running two GFI's in series will trip themselves.

What he said you cannot run an RV off a GFI plug it will trip them every time. RV's are not grounded like a house or building so you will almost always trip them.

[thumper111]

Your RV panel probably has the neural jumper in place. That will trip the GFI.

[Isaacs]

Originally Posted by Learjet

not sure what going on here...but the ground and neutral are not and should not be bonded in the RV panel.

I had a brand new pop-up camper that kept triggering a GFI receptacle at a campground. I took a look inside the panel and sure enough, the neutral was bonded to the ground. This will trip a GFI every time; all I had to do was remove that wire in the panel and all was fine.

The only time that bonding jumper should be in place is if the trailer is a "point of service". This would be if you had your own meter at a campground that was wired directly into your camper panel.

[saarf]

If plugged into a gfi my moho will trip a gfi if I use the fridge on electric. Ok on propane.

[MPD56]

Originally Posted by Isaacs

I had a brand new pop-up camper that kept triggering a GFI receptacle at a campground. I took a look inside the panel and sure enough, the neutral was bonded to the ground. This will trip a GFI every time; all I had to do was remove that wire in the panel and all was fine.

The only time that bonding jumper should be in place is if the trailer is a "point of service". This would be if you had your own meter at a campground that was wired directly into your camper panel.

I was at a Michigan state park last week and connected to a 30 amp pedestal, protected by a 30 amp GFI breaker

The neutral and the ground is touching

Example neutral screw on plug could be touching metal box.

The white wire in the trailer panel should not be touching a ground


The fact that the GFI is tripping confirms that. With a clamp on amp meter, you can confirm it.

[Josparkz]

Originally Posted by MPD56

I was at a Michigan state park last week and connected to a 30 amp pedestal, protected by a 30 amp GFI breaker

The neutral and the ground is touching

Example neutral screw on plug could be touching metal box.

The white wire in the trailer panel should not be touching a ground


The fact that the GFI is tripping confirms that. With a clamp on amp meter, you can confirm it.

Tell me please how you would do that with a clamp on meter. Thanks.

[MPD56]

Plug in the trailer to a non-GFI and measure the current going through the ground

Only reason I'm posting this, is your an Electrician. I wouldn't want anyone else trying this. The safe way would be with a ohm meter. Neutral to ground

[Josparkz]

Originally Posted by MPD56

Plug in the trailer to a non-GFI and measure the current going through the ground

Only reason I'm posting this, is your an Electrician. I wouldn't want anyone else trying this. The safe way would be with a ohm meter. Neutral to ground

I have a dandy clamp on meter I just got. Icould break the cable out and see if there is a ground flow. I disconnected the GFI function of the breaker so this made it's way down on the list of priorities for a bit. Thanks

[MPD56]

Originally Posted by Josparkz

I have a dandy clamp on meter I just got. Icould break the cable out and see if there is a ground flow. I disconnected the GFI function of the breaker so this made it's way down on the list of priorities for a bit. Thanks

If it is easier. Clamp on to the neutral and then the hot.

If they are not equal, then the difference is flowing through the ground

[craigav]

Originally Posted by MPD56

If it is easier. Clamp on to the neutral and then the hot.

If they are not equal, then the difference is flowing through the ground

While you are correct, the difference in current to trip a gfi starts as low as 4 milliamps which is so little that many if not most amp meters would not measure this low of a difference. Also, keep in mind that if the RV does have current leakage, that the current could simply be flowing through the stabilizer jacks instead of the ground conductor. ~CA

[MPD56]

Originally Posted by craigav

While you are correct, the difference in current to trip a gfi starts as low as 4 milliamps which is so little that many if not most amp meters would not measure this low of a difference. Also, keep in mind that if the RV does have current leakage, that the current could simply be flowing through the stabilizer jacks instead of the ground conductor. ~CA

Yes.
When I'm troubleshooting, I don't assume anything. The resistance should be less going through the ground wire then the sablilizer (the path of least resistance). If the trailer is plugged into a GFI and tripping the ground current must be above 4 milliamps. Although I do have a milliamp meter, when troubleshooting you have to start somewhere. With the trailer tripping a GFI, their is a potential to have a dangerous situation. This is why I have concerns posting on a forum, I and coworkers have knowledge and experience working on Ground Detection Circuits with fault currents in the 100,000's of amps and 115,000 volts. If I, myself couldn't verify the problem I would shut off the power till I got someone that could.

[SloPoke]

I need more popcorn....

[Josparkz]

Originally Posted by MPD56

Yes.
When I'm troubleshooting, I don't assume anything. The resistance should be less going through the ground wire then the sablilizer (the path of least resistance). If the trailer is plugged into a GFI and tripping the ground current must be above 4 milliamps. Although I do have a milliamp meter, when troubleshooting you have to start somewhere. With the trailer tripping a GFI, their is a potential to have a dangerous situation. This is why I have concerns posting on a forum, I and coworkers have knowledge and experience working on Ground Detection Circuits with fault currents in the 100,000's of amps and 115,000 volts. If I, myself couldn't verify the problem I would shut off the power till I got someone that could.

The potential is their but not quite to the same amplitude. Are you working in a substation or something?

[Josparkz]

Originally Posted by SloPoke

I need more popcorn....

Microwave, stovetop, or campfire? Perhaps just Tesla style. Maybe just a full Edison.

[MPD56]

Originally Posted by Josparkz

The potential is their but not quite to the same amplitude. Are you working in a substation or something?

I'm blessed to work in a place I can learn every day

If it has wire to it, I'm suppose to know how to install or troubleshoot and repair it.

We consume over 100 megawatts per hour and in a short time we are going to double that.

We have over a dozen Substations from 250kv to 11.5kv. Below that we just call them load centers.

Anyway my popcorn is done

I will say 120 volt ac is harder to troubleshoot, when 11.5kv and up has problems, there is a big boom and a light show.

As for ground detection, last week we had a 14,000 HP 11.5KV motor trip on Ground Fault. It ended up being a bad card in a SAF drive. No boom, no light show told me that it wasn't a high voltage problem.