Hi guys, my name is Jon and I'm 33 years old from TX. My wife and I just quit our jobs and bought an '01 Cardinal 32LX 5th wheel with the intention of selling our house, hoboing around a bit and landing in Northern Nevada for me to start a new carer.When we picked up our trailer the gentleman that we bought it from had it hooked up to show use that everything worked. We brought it home, ripped the carpet out and yesterday we started laying down wood laminate flooring. Also yesterday an adapter came in the mail to plug our 30 amp system in to a 15/20 amp circuit. Unfortunately even with everything turned of in the RV we trip the GFCI in the garage outlet that we plug it in to every time. It is posible that some time during the tow or during our ripping out of the carpet and replacing a small piece of frame and floor where there had been a plumbing leak that we damaged something. Here is a good question to start with. What should the resistance be between the prongs on the side of the RV where the chord plugs in? Second, how do I chase a short in this thing? Pretty intimidating.Cheers,JonathanP.S. Here is a pic of my new-to-me rig.

Have you checked and reset any and all GFCI outlets inside of your rig?

Depends on whether it's a C-chord or a D-chord.Is your electric hot water off? How about the converter? How are the batteries?

Nice looking truck and trailer combo and welcome to the forum. The resistance would be pretty low as my cord plug will snap with current when plugging in. A ground fault could be in a lot of places. I would start by turning off all of the line voltage breakers and then turn them on one at a time to isolate the ground fault to a single circuit. GFI breakers will weaken over time. You might try a different circuit. Make sure the cord from your garage to the trailer is at least 12 gauge. Good luck.

Well I only found one GFCI in there and it is either reset or refuses to reset. I can't really get it to do anything. I assumed that this is because I can not get any power to it in the first place. It needs power going to it to TEST, correct? I plugged it in to an inverter in my truck just to see if I could get it to power up that way and it instantly blew a 20a fuse in the truck. I plugged it in to another outlet at the house and it ate that outlet.Thanks,Jon

2oldman wrote:Depends on whether it's a C-chord or a D-chord.It is a 3 prong 30 amp chord. I'm guessing C?Durb wrote:Nice looking truck and trailer combo and welcome to the forum. The resistance would be pretty low as my cord plug will snap with current when plugging in. A ground fault could be in a lot of places. I would start by turning off all of the line voltage breakers and then turn them on one at a time to isolate the ground fault to a single circuit. GFI breakers will weaken over time. You might try a different circuit. Make sure the cord from your garage to the trailer is at least 12 gauge. Good luck.Thanks! Great idea there, shutting off all breakers and trying again. The chord going to the trailer is the one that it came with I believe. It's a beefy sucker. I'm off to try to isolate a breaker.Yall are awesome,Jon

Hello! Short to ground? | Good Sam Community

BobKrogstie
Explorer
Oct 13, 2017
Have you checked and reset any and all GFCI outlets inside of your rig?
2oldman
Explorer II
Oct 13, 2017
Depends on whether it's a C-chord or a D-chord.

Is your electric hot water off? How about the converter? How are the batteries?
Durb
Explorer
Oct 13, 2017
Nice looking truck and trailer combo and welcome to the forum. The resistance would be pretty low as my cord plug will snap with current when plugging in. A ground fault could be in a lot of places. I would start by turning off all of the line voltage breakers and then turn them on one at a time to isolate the ground fault to a single circuit. GFI breakers will weaken over time. You might try a different circuit. Make sure the cord from your garage to the trailer is at least 12 gauge. Good luck.
Stardog
Explorer
Oct 13, 2017
Well I only found one GFCI in there and it is either reset or refuses to reset. I can't really get it to do anything. I assumed that this is because I can not get any power to it in the first place. It needs power going to it to TEST, correct? I plugged it in to an inverter in my truck just to see if I could get it to power up that way and it instantly blew a 20a fuse in the truck. I plugged it in to another outlet at the house and it ate that outlet.

Thanks,
Jon
Stardog
Explorer
Oct 13, 2017
2oldman wrote:
Depends on whether it's a C-chord or a D-chord.

It is a 3 prong 30 amp chord. I'm guessing C?

Durb wrote:
Nice looking truck and trailer combo and welcome to the forum. The resistance would be pretty low as my cord plug will snap with current when plugging in. A ground fault could be in a lot of places. I would start by turning off all of the line voltage breakers and then turn them on one at a time to isolate the ground fault to a single circuit. GFI breakers will weaken over time. You might try a different circuit. Make sure the cord from your garage to the trailer is at least 12 gauge. Good luck.

Thanks! Great idea there, shutting off all breakers and trying again. The chord going to the trailer is the one that it came with I believe. It's a beefy sucker. I'm off to try to isolate a breaker.

Yall are awesome,
Jon
Stardog
Explorer
Oct 13, 2017
OK. Shut off all of the breakers inside of the trailer, plugged it in and tripped the garage GFCI immediately. So I guess it may well be the main power in.
sammytoo
Explorer
Oct 13, 2017
Why don't you turn off all the breakers inside your rig and try plugging into your gfci again. Then you'll know if the problem is your cord (or adapter) or if it is inside your rig. If it it holds with all your breakers turned off turn them on one at a time to isolate the problem circuit.
Stardog
Explorer
Oct 13, 2017
2oldman wrote:
Depends on whether it's a C-chord or a D-chord.

Is your electric hot water off? How about the converter? How are the batteries?

It looks like this.
2oldman
Explorer II
Oct 13, 2017
If you can take the plug apart (if it's not molded) perhaps there's something wrong in there. But you said it worked when the seller plugged it in?
newman_fulltime
Explorer II
Oct 13, 2017
could be a bad adapter try plugging just it in see if the plug trips

Forum Discussion

Hello! Short to ground?

About Fifth Wheel Group

Related Content

Hello

Tire hello

Hello! questions?

Hello Friends !

Short