Bigfoot tripping house GFI
2008 Bigfoot 9.4. Replaced the converter early this spring only because it was boiling my batteries. Got a Progressive from Best Converters. Son and I replaced it. He works with DC a lot on the job. I...
Forum Discussion
BurbMan wrote:
Ok, maybe on the west coast....GFCIs work by comparing the current flowing into the circuit via the hot wire and returning via the neutral, that's how they detect a neutral/ground short. because that current is "leaking" to ground instead of returning via the neutral. Without incoming current via a hot wire, the GFCI has no way to measure if any is leaking to ground, the means by which it identifies a neutral/ground short.
If a given circuit in the camper has a neutral/ground short, but that breaker is turned off in the camper, the house GFCI will not trip. Why? Because the breaker in the camper is stopping current from flowing into that circuit and revealing the fault by leaking to ground. Make sense?
What you're saying is equivalent to being able to find a leaky pipe with the water turned off.
GFCI’s actually attempt to inject a small current into the hot and neutral pair of wires. If there’s a loop formed by the neutral and ground (connected in the source panel and fault connected at the load), current will flow and it will detect that without involving the hot wire.
Here’s some reading for you. Starting about page 3 is where we got into the details of a GFCI. https://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/29619499
Take a paper clip and short out the ground and neutral of a GFCI protected outlet and see for yourself.
It’s also the reason why a bad fridge element with insulation worn off can trip a GFCI, even when the fridge is not on electric (i.e. the power switch relay is open).
