Ground Fault Isolators (GFI's)
We have been having problems with loss of power at receptacles inside our garage and outside on the patio. Bruce, our favorite electrician, replaced one of our GFI receptacles that had been kicking o...
Forum Discussion
Harvard wrote:
A connection to an RV presents many more feet of 3 conductor wire as compared to a normal appliance. The more feet of wire the more capacitance between the conductors. This capacitance will conduct AC current between Hot and Ground, sometimes enough to trip GFIs which is about, I believe, 6 milliamps.
That is an interesting hypothesis and it sounds believable. The GFCI compares current entering into the "hot" terminal to the current leaving from the "neutral" terminal. They must be equal within .005 amps or the device will trip. In order to use ohm's law to determine if .005 amps will flow between close conductors, you would first need to determine the capacitance of the power cord and then calculate the Xc and then use ohm's law to calculate the leakage current to determine if this is even possible. Anyone know the typical capacitance per foot of standard RV 30 and 50 amp shore power cord???
