Keep tripping 110 breaker when plugging in

[danrn]

I have attempted to plug in my RW (50amp) into a 110 outlet to charge the batteries, but each time I tried to plug it in it tripped the breaker. I went through checking to ensure everything was off, but each time I plugged it in it trips the breaker. I am thinking that maybe it is the refrigerator that may be causing my problem. I initially was unable to find a way to turn of the frig, but just read of a possible way to do it. I will try this tomorrow and see if this will solve my problem.
Has anyone had this type of problem? If so, what solved it?
Thanks

[danrn]

Thanks to everyone for their advise. I am amazed at the wealth of knowledge on this forum. It appeared that my main problem was using a GFI outlet. I turned off my fridge, and plugged into a non GFI, and bingo, everything worked just fine.
Thanks

[cummins2014]

greende wrote:
All of the above information is good advice. If you are sure the house circuit is solid, Start by turning ALL the RV breakers off. Plug the trailer in and see if it trips. If it does, you most likely developed a short or ground fault in the cord. If not, turn on one breaker at a time till you find the one that causes the trip. As someone said, the water heater is a common cause. BTW, where is the OP?

Nothing seemed to allow the breaker to remain on once the water heater element was fried, If I remember, before I found that I burned up the element, I tried shutting of everything, and was still blowing the breaker. It was explained to me it caused the power to go to ground. As soon as someone suggested the water heater element the light went on, and I realized when I was winterizing forgot to turn the electrical switch off at the water heater when draining it, and the fifth wheel was still plugged into the house. Unwired the element ,and everything was back to normal.

[greende]

All of the above information is good advice. If you are sure the house circuit is solid, Start by turning ALL the RV breakers off. Plug the trailer in and see if it trips. If it does, you most likely developed a short or ground fault in the cord. If not, turn on one breaker at a time till you find the one that causes the trip. As someone said, the water heater is a common cause. BTW, where is the OP?

[riggsp]

If your water heater had no water in it and was turned on when you plugged in, you have shorted the element and that will trip the GFI...check by turning off the water heater switch, then plug in shore power...happened to me several years ago.

[cummins2014]

Is there a chance you burned up the heating element in the water heater, if so then its going to ground, you will never get the breaker to stay on. Make sure the unit is unplugged, of course right now its blowing the breaker, but still unplug the fifth wheel, and undo the wiring on the heating element ,tape them off, and then try plugging the fifth wheel back in. Worth a shot if nothing else is working. Good luck.

[Allworth]

Try a different house circuit. Run the cord in through a window or something and plug in to an outlet on a different breaker.

[SailingOn]

- if you are connecting the trailer through a long extension cord, the voltage drop in the cord may well push the converter's current draw enough to pop a 15 amp breaker.
- Might try connecting a separate battery charger, eliminating all the trailer's systems. If so, get the polarity right or you may blow fuses on the converter.

[badboy368]

just a thought... check the actual breaker in the house. it just may need replaced. they do wear out. i had the same problem, changed the breaker, and all was fine. 🙂

[dahkota]

We had no problem hooked up to 110, until the water heater was put on electric. It wasn't done on purpose, someone just hit the button. Every time we have tripped the breaker or the GFCI, it has been the water heater. We run the fridge, the heater, the a/c, even the microwave (not all at once) but the water heater will shut us down every time. We are currently hooked up to 110 and will be for a long cold month...

[RoyB]

This is some info on ways to hook up to 120VAC receptacle in your house/garage that might be of some help. You will need a RV Adapter to get down to the 120VAC plug. ALot of us carry the various RV adapters with us when we are on the road to cover all of the power circumstances...

I would have to use two adapters to get a 50AMP Shore power down to the 120VAC Receptacle plug.

First is to convert the 50AMP Trailer Shore Power Cable to the RV50AMP FEMALE to RV30AMP MALE adapter


RV50AMP FEMALE to RV30AMP MALE ADAPTER



Then you will need to ADAPT the 30AMP MALE ADAPTER down to the 120VAC MALE PLUG using this ADAPTER



Now you can plug these two adapters into a 10 GAUGE 25-50FOOT HD Extension cord which you can plug into a GOOD 120VAC Receptacle in your garage. You really want to use a 120VAC RECEPTACLE that is close to your Garage Breaker panel and doesn't have other receptacles in the loop. I use a 120VAC 20AMP RECEPTACLE that was installed for a stand alone Air Compressor in my garage.



This is what I would do at my house for one of my parked RV Trailers.

I would also make sure the 120VAC RECEPTACLE is wired correctly using one of these 120VAC CIRCUIT TESTERS..



If the bottom two YELLOW LIGHTS are ON as shown above then your 120VAC RECEPTACLE is wired correctly. All three conductors must be used in your receptacle that you want to plug into...

Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES would I ever use any of those small round RV ADAPTERS as they will get hot and destroy your good cable plugs...



Your high dollar RV CABLES will end up looking like this and will have to replaced...


I use 10-gauge Extension cords to feed my trailers at home and you could get away with 12-gauge but may start seeing some voltage drop and heating of connections for the high current items in your trailer. I would NEVER USE those 14-16 gauge extension cords you find at the local hardware stores. I lucked out when I was looking for heavy duty extension cords and found two 10-gauge (10-3) 50-foot contractor type extension cords for $50 for the two...

If you want to test each of the 120VAC ADAPTERS use these two pictorials as a guide on what you expect to measure using a multi-meter

RV 50AMP SERVICE


RV 15AMP-20AMP-30AMP SERVICE


This is how a typical CAMPGROUND PEDESTAL is wired up for 50A and 30A service... NOTE adding 20A SERVICE is exactly like the 30A service except it is fed with a 20AMP Circuit Breaker and uses the appropriate socket.

ALL IMAGES from GOOGLE IMAGES

FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Roy Ken

[eHoefler]

Also, check your adaptors, you could have a bad one.

[Luke_Porter]

Is it a GFCI outlet? Try turning off RV main breaker, plug in RV to 110, reset RV main breaker.

[RoyB]

Alot of converter/chargers have their own 120VAC plug that is plugged into a 120VAC receptacle in the trailers. My PD 9260C COnverter/charger is this way...



Photos from google images

If yours is like this maybe just an extension out to the trailer and only plug-in the converter/charger unit.

This might be easier to get the batteries charged back for now instead of trying to figure out why the house breaker is tripping plugging in the trailer shore power cable.

Just a thought
Roy Ken

[Terryallan]

FLY 4 FUN wrote:
First off how many amps is the socket you are plugging into. If its a standard 15A plug-in, then it should run your rv fridge, convertor and lights...pump etc. I would assume that you have a "high load" item that is still on despite your checks. Check that your electric hot water heater isn't on. Also confirm that the wiring to your rv batteries are in order and nothing shorting. I suspect something is still pulling power, or perhaps your plugging into a socket that is already loaded in your house and it cant take the load of the rv.

Daryll

Also. Find out what in the house is on that circuit as well. You may be running something in the home that is close to max amps, and just a little more from the 5er kicks it over.