I have a 2003 Forest River Surveyor 210, MODEL SV-210 Hybrid.I just got it out of storage and today I attempted to power the RV however, each time I plug it in the GFCI on the outlet I am plugging into trips.I am using the normal RV Electrical hook up that runs into an adapter that allows for normal 110v plug in usage.I used these same items ever since I bought it about six years ago and never had any issue.There are no signs of rodent issues so I am totally perplexed where to even start to look.I am leaving for a trip on Friday and need to solve this issue quickly if possible. Looking for anyone who may have some troubleshooting suggestions...The one thing I have done thus far is I turned off all breakers in the camper and when I plug in the GFCI holds. Once I turn on the main breaker it trips.

Multiple GFCIs dont play well together. Try plugging it into a normal, non GFCI outlet and see what happens.

Plug it in to a non gfci outlet and see if it works

donn0128 wrote:Multiple GFCIs dont play well together. Try plugging it into a normal, non GFCI outlet and see what happens.That is not really true—you don't know which one will trip first in a fault condition, but otherwise there is no problem in general. Besides, the poster only has the one GFCI in use.If it trips when the main breaker is on in the RV but all the other breakers still off, the problem seemingly must lie somewhere in the main distribution panel. I'd inspect the wiring there carefully (with everything unplugged and turned off, of course) for loose wires, ground wires touching something that isn't the ground bus bar, etc.Even if everything seems to work on a non-GFCI outlet, please check to be sure you don't have a problem. Ground faults can (particularly in combination with other problems) lead to deadly voltages where you don't expect them.

Thanks for the posts....Typically the way I have it powered through my garage 40amp service with GFCI has always worked. For some reason now it trips.If I plug into a non-GFCI it powers up just fine. So I am not entirely sure if there is an underlying electrical issue or not...

Something in your rig may have changed.Is there n electric element in the water heater? Disconnect wiring to it. The element may have burnt to ground.Check you refer. Un plug the 120 volt cord in the outside access. The element could be going to ground.Unplug all other 120 volt devices and see if it works.

Forest River Surveyor 210 - Power Issue - Trips Breaker

21 Replies

rjdlooking
Explorer
Jul 08, 2015
Bad GFI plug they do wear out.
Bobbo
Explorer III
Jul 07, 2015
enblethen wrote:
Do you have one of these? You can check your GFCI receptacle to insure it is wired correctly.
Have you another receptacle to plug into? A laundry room washer circuit is a good one to use for testing without going through a GFCI receptacle.
Receptacle tester

This would be a better Receptacle tester because it has a button to test the GFCI function also. But, it does cost more than twice as much.
enblethen
Nomad
Jul 06, 2015
Did you check behind the circuit breakers in the rig for anything like melted neutral against the ground wire, Loose neutral, burnt phase conductor
upmm019
Explorer
Jul 06, 2015
Yes, just checked and it is wired correctly.
enblethen
Nomad
Jul 06, 2015
Do you have one of these? You can check your GFCI receptacle to insure it is wired correctly.
Have you another receptacle to plug into? A laundry room washer circuit is a good one to use for testing without going through a GFCI receptacle.
Receptacle tester
upmm019
Explorer
Jul 06, 2015
So today using my multi-meter for continuity test I checked both the adapter and the shore cord and there was continuity on each wire but nothing cross wire.
westend
Explorer
Jul 05, 2015
upmm019 wrote:
no recent work.

What will the continuity test prove?
It will show if one or more of the conductors are shorted together of if the ground conductors are open.
Shore power connectors and adaptors are a frequent failure point and it is easy to verify they are operable. It would be my starting point for diagnosing a ground fault.
enblethen
Nomad
Jul 05, 2015
Westend is just thinking of a bad adapter. Possible but unlikely.
Only continuity test that would be beneficial is between the neutral and ground. If the rig has continuity there it could trip the GFCI receptacle that you are plugging into.
upmm019
Explorer
Jul 05, 2015
no recent work.

What will the continuity test prove?
westend
Explorer
Jul 05, 2015
Check the adaptor and shore power cord for continuity on all paths--hot, neutral, and ground.