GFCI not cooperating with me

[obiwancanoli]

I can't seem to get my outlets working that have the set and test buttons for GFCI... there's a red light that continues to blink very fast, and Inverter is on. I press the set button, nothing happens... and, the outlet seems to make a noise as if it IS being set, and does so occasionally throughout the night... what am I missing here?

[ktmrfs]

GFCI will also trip if there is a downstream ground/neutral bond.

And, any chance either or both GFCI's have an outside outlet on the circuit? If so, possibly moisture causing the imbalance and trip.

[doxiemom11]

When ours wouldn't reset, it was worn out and had to be replaced. New one worked fine.

[obiwancanoli]

Update:

My Inverter is a Magnum 1500 Modified Sine Wave. Current GFCI problems still exist, though my service tech said he got one of two to reset. He suggested Upgrading the Inverter, but said this was an expensive option (through him) to install a Pure Sine Wave inverter (around $2,500 total)... He also said the plugs worked fine on generator, though he did not plug into a 50A outlet.r

[sayoung]

3Tons last post reminded of the GFI problem I had a couple of years back. 2011 Jayco 5er we bought new and never had a GFI problem until about 2 yrs ago. I simply put a new one in and it worked for a few days then again started tripping occasionally again. I started looking for cause and after about an hour of looking was back looking at the panel wiring for that circuit and finally noticed my White neutral tied to the Gnd bus and the bare Gnd on the neutral bus. Corrected wireing and put my old GFI back on and it's still working.

[3_tons]

obiwancanoli wrote:

3 tons wrote:
Just saw your post...Prior to this trip (where all was previously fine) was there any work performed on your electrical system??

3 tons

No, everything had been fine

Question, do the GFI’s trip when on inverter power only or when genny is running??...Try to exclude one or the other - either can be impacted by a nagging floating ground issue...

Also, If you have modest skills, inside the main breaker panel you’ll see a buss bar where all the return white neutrals connect to (i.e. the inbound whites). By disconnecting one neutral at a time (each time with power off), while resetting the GFI’s, then powering up the system again - this will one at a time help ferret out the actual source (whether circuit or appliance) that’s causing these nuisance faults..As previously mentioned, it could even be a water heater or refer element, or moisture in an exterior 120v receptacle ...

Good Luck,

3 tons

[obiwancanoli]

3 tons wrote:
Just saw your post...Prior to this trip (where all was previously fine) was there any work performed on your electrical system??

3 tons

No, everything had been fine

[3_tons]

Just saw your post...Prior to this trip (where all was previously fine) was there any work performed on your electrical system??

3 tons

[ajriding]

Agree to unplug everything from every outlet to make sure those things are not the issue. If one item is wired backwards (black and white wire switched) then it will trip.
Also, though unlikely in your story, that the inverter is wired in backwards.
By backwards I mean the two flat prong male plugs, one has a wide blade and will only fit in the wide slot... Your appliance will work backwards or not, electrically it does not matter, but to the GFI outlet it does because the ground wire cares how the black and white wires are wired.
There could be a short to ground that does not matter electrically, but is a big safety concern and that trips the GFI outlet also.

[Gdetrailer]

obiwancanoli wrote:
Yes, Gdetrailer, my water heater is both electric and propane, and I have two GFI's - one over the sink, another in the bath... both won't reset, and both seem to be on the same circuit. Can plug in at home, but I'm not there... boondocking northern AZ

Both won't reset pretty much rules out the GFCIs being the issue, highly doubtful that BOTH have had sudden failure at the exact same time.

However, having two GFCIs on the same circuit (one upstream and one downstream) is not recommend. Suspect those will be on two separate circuit breakers.

I suspect since you most likely have a factory inverter installed that there is a ATS (Automatic Transfer Switch) that transfers some circuits to inverter when no shore power is present.

In this setup, sometimes manufacturer will provide a separate small breaker panel for those inverter circuits which may give the appearance that both are on the same circuit from the main panel.

I am not sure you are really going to be able to trouble shoot this while camping, may require a lot of work in the breaker panel to isolate circuits and in the end, it is possible that the inverter may be at fault..

Try unplugging everything from every outlet, if no joy, then try pulling the fridge 120V plug (typically located in the outside access area).

If no joy, you will need to isolate the converter which may be hardwired in the main panel or could be plugged in..

If no joy or no converter, the converter may be built into the inverter which makes troubleshooting a bit difficult..

If no joy continues then you would have to remove and isolate every hot and neutral in the main breaker panel one at a time..

Not really something I would want to do while camping and the reason I mention needing to plug in to shore power to verify all systems are good to begin with..

Can you just plug an extension cord into the inverter for now and limp along?

[obiwancanoli]

Yes, Gdetrailer, my water heater is both electric and propane, and I have two GFI's - one over the sink, another in the bath... both won't reset, and both seem to be on the same circuit. Can plug in at home, but I'm not there... boondocking northern AZ

[Gdetrailer]

Since it worked at one time, then something has changed.

Do you have a combination gas/electric water heater?

The combination gas/water heaters have an electric heating rod that goes in the tank. Those electric heating rods can over time deteriorate and cause a slight electrical leakage or if you accidentally left the heating element turned on with an empty tank they will blow out causing enough electrical leakage to play havovc with GFCIs..

Other suspicios areas are the fridge heating element provided it has a absorbsion fridge and even sometimes the A/C unit develops a small electrical leakage to safety ground..

OR it just may be a GFCI failing, not unheard of but also not all that common either. For the most part they do live long lives, I have never had to replace any in my home and those are going on 30 yrs old now and only one in my RV which was located in a outdoor outlet box (which is not ideal place for electronics)..

Do you have more than one GFCI in your RV? Kitchen, bath and outdoors need to be protected with GFCI.. If you have more than one does both trip?

Sometimes RV manufacturers can be real cheapskates and make one GFI server bath, kitchen outdoor outlets plus sometimes run the fridge on the same circuit..

Quickest and cheapest way to figure this out is if you have shore power available that you can plug into or even a generator (assuming you don't have builtin gen).

[obiwancanoli]

At the moment, I'm boondocking in N AZ... and yes, GFI outlets did work before. Never had this issue, so was a bit baffled... Don't know the brand Inverter I have,
it came with the MH (2017 Ventana LE)... I'll keep working on it.

[jjrbus]

Lacking a degree in electronics and electrician license, when faced with an issue with a GFI, that is not apparent with simple trouble shooting, I replace them. GFI can and do wear out or go bad. Even brand new out of the box can be faulty.

When I bought my old broken down Toyota, one of the things on the list was replace the circuit breakers and GFI.

[wa8yxm]

Gdetrailer wrote:

And wa8yxm, just so you can's say that there are no MSW inverters that work with GFCI I would recommend that you take a good look at a Trpplite PV3000GFCI HERE

I did not say they do not. I said I heard that there are GFCI's that do not play nice with inverters (Did not specify which type of inverter) but I'd never met one.

But when tribble shooting the more information we have. The better. So I ask the questions.

You are correct in how GFCI's Work.

Another question I forgot to ask is about neutral bonding. I did have an issue once when I did that wrong.. My Prosine-2000 and later freddom 2000 both have the option to bond ground and neutral in INVERTER mode or in pass through only. Well I lost a screw so I connected the two safety ground leads (bare or green) together. Did not work well.. Finally fixed it per the book for the device and it worked much better.