gfci's wont reset,fridge and living area light only work

[coljhoss]

all outlets dont work,bedroom has no power,no power in bathroom, living area and kitchen lights work but no other lights.theres a gfci in bathroom and kitchen both are tripped. i replaced both gfci's with green indicater lights showing if properly wired, both gfci's have lit green light.niether will reset.my little knowledge of gfci's tells me theres an open line or short somewhere in the wiring down the line of the gfi'c.first whats the best way to find where the short is,and second theres a box in the shore battery compartment that i believe is a inverter.how do you tell if its bad, and does it even matter since im hooked to shore power.last, how can i get a 120 wiring diagram so i can tell the sequence of outlets to help diagnose or possibly rewire.i changed all outlets inside and out of coach and fuse box and fuses.have a volt meter,but never used one.any help would be appreciated. thanks jess.

[myredracer]

Then there's the Raspberry Crazy ants showing up in some southern states. They are attracted to electric equipment including outlet boxes and can cause shorts and GFIs to trip and can easily get into RVs. First it was West Nile virus and Killer bees, now these nasty things.

Raspberry crazy ants

[wa8yxm]

If the light is on and they won't reset.. Odds are you have a ground fault on one of the breakers they protect.. Patio is suspect #1

That said, I know of one poster who had GFCI outlets in his slide out (As do I) and found the junction boxes under the slide... Full of water.

[InspectorMark]

The OP has not given us enough information to help him.

It is very unlikely that two GFCI outlet went bad at the same time. The Kitchen and Bath GFCI's will be on different circuits if not there would only be one gfci outlet.

Why did you think the outlets needed to be replaced?

You said the green light is on but they won;t reset. That does not make sense because if they where tripped the light would be off.

If you plug a tester or a lamp into the gfci outlet is there power? If no, then the gfci out is tripped off and the green light should be off. If the tester or lamp indicates you have power but pushing the test button does not trip it off you have it improperly wired.

You must make sure the you have the Load and line sides correct and you also must have the polarity correct ( hot and Neutral).

To my knowledge the green light does not indicate correct wiring, just there it is on.

One last thought. What is your camper plugged into? Did this problem start when you moved to a new camp ground? May the pedestal has reversed polity and it was missing with your GFCI outlets.

[wa8yxm]

IF the GFCIs will not reset, this suggests to me a serious lack of 120vac.

They need power to reset, won't reset without it.

Possible causes.. Tripped breaker, Tripped breaker Triped breaker Tripped breaker
If you are on shore power.. The one on the pedestal.
If on Generator: one of the breakers on the breaker

NOTE These are given in "line order"

Next is the main breaker in your RV
next is the branch feeding an inverter if you have one -or-
The branch feeding that which is not working
Next, IF YOU HAVE AN INVERTER, it may have one or more breakers on it often hidden around in the rear where you can not see them.
And a Sub Panel branch if there are none on the inverter

Other suspects.
Transfer switch

Screw loose.

I am fond of saying Many RVers have a few screws loose.. (And I can prove it too). I am specifically speaking of the screws that attach the wires to the breakers and bus bars in your 120VAC power distribution panel.. One of mine took over 2 full turns before I felt resistance (DO Unplug an/or turn off generator before playing in that box).. Also the Marinco outlet on my main power cord (Well it was not mine) and the inlet on the MH (That one was mine)

These are all screws I have had to tighten. (See told you I could prove it).

Finally a bad connection or bad wire somewhere. (very low and even lower on the chart).

Had a bad connection in my inverter junction box though.

[CA_Traveler]

It's also possible that it's wired correctly and you have a ground fault. Moisture is common so check outside plugs and all plugs near water, like sinks, HW and refer.

You can also buy a relative cheap wire tracer which can help to trace the wiring. You connect the transmitter to one end of the wire and use the receiver to trace the wire.

[myredracer]

OP, get yourself an NCVT - non contact voltage tester. You just need to hold it near a wire to see if it is live.

I would sketch out a plan of your unit and show which working receptacles are on each particular breaker and then shut off the still working circuits, pull the known receptacles without power out of the wall and start tracing the circuit(s) that isn't working. You may find some help on the panel directory but they're typically not very accurate. If you pull a receptacle out of a wall, you will find that the wires are connected by pushing the wires onto a "stab" connector at the back and are not screwed on. You don't want to pull these off because they need a special tool. I have seen wires on the back of an RV recept. barely hanging on due to faulty installation. It is possible that you have a wire that has come off. If it has, you can push the wire back on with a flat blade screwdriver and/or pliers if you are very careful.

If you pull a recept. out, you can use the NCVT to see if the load side of the GFCI is live. I have heard of some people having an outlet box with splices in it buried somewhere they never knew about and a connection has come apart. You could possibly also have another GFCI you haven't noticed like say at the fridge or even behind the microwave.

If you test a GFCI with the NCVT and find that the load side wire is live, then the other end of the wire should show up at another receptacle somewhere. Just go around with the NCVT and find the recept. that has a live incoming wire at it. If the outgoing (load) wire is dead, then you know that something is wrong with that particular recept. It is very unlikely that you have a severed wire anywhere, but it's not impossible.

You also say that some 12VDC lights are working and some aren't. That doesn't quite make sense. The lighting is on a different system and it's unlikely that you have both 120VAC and 12VDC power problems at exactly the same time. I trust you have checked the 12VDC fuses? I would focus on the 120V receptacles first and go from there.

Is the inverter on a dedicated fuse or breaker and what does it supply power to? If you have a voltmeter, you could disconnect the output of inverter and see if you are getting 120V out. One possible scenario could be that the circuit the lights are out on was connected to the inverter input and also that the non-working receptacles are fed by the inverter?? All it would take is for that one fuse to blow and all that you say is not working would be related. Is the inverter a mod. by the previous owner or are you the original owner? Maybe a PO did something not quite correct? What inverter is it?

What is your unit? Some pics may help.

[CA_Traveler]

rockhillmanor wrote:
To check the "AC" electrical side of your coach use this.

Good thought. Recommend using one that has a GFI test button which is very useful to check GFI operation.

[eHoefler]

Check the pedestal for proper wiring and voltage.

[rockhillmanor]

To check the "AC" electrical side of your coach use this.


Just plug into each of your outlets. Easy to use . I've found/identified and been able to fix several wiring and or shore station problems with it.

[westend]

Please, if you're going to text a long message like the original post, use capitalization and paragraphs. It's difficult to read.

A GFCI will not work if there is no power available to it. Start at the source side and measure with a hand-held meter if you have power at the circuit breakers. It could be a shore power cord problem.
The light problem is related to your 12v system. Either a switch has failed, a wire is loose, or a bulb has failed. You can also check all of your 12v fuses to make sure they are OK.

[handye9]

What kind of RV? We can't help if we don't know what you are working on.

Very few, if any, RV manufacturers will have any electrical drawings. They wire as needed, without drawings.

The "indicator" light on a GFCI outlet, does not indicated whether, or not, the outlet is wired correctly. On some, it only indicates there is power to the outlet, on others, it indicates the outlet is tripped.

How many wires, and what colors, were connected to the old outlets?

Did you connect the line and load wiring on the correct terminals?

Pictures would be a great help. Maybe, pull the GFCI's out of the wall (don't disconnect the wires), take a picture and post it, for us to see how you wired it. !!! Disconnect shore power while you are doing this. !!!

Your non working lights, are part of the 12 volt system, and they are in no way connected to the GFCI's. They are a seperate issue.

[Victory402]

GFI's have a line and a load connection. Switch off the breaker for the circuit. Start with the outlet closest to the breaker panel and disconnect the wires on the load side. Turn the breaker back on and see if gfi resets. If it does you know the problem lies further down the circuit. Reconnect the load side and go to the next outlet and repeat by disconnecting the load side. process of elimination. Try to isolate the fault. Hope this helps.

You mentioned you replaced the gfi's...you are aware that the wires (line and load) cannot be switched?

[Wayne_Dohnal]

My GFI outlets with green lights show the light when they are reset. I have some with yellow lights that show the light when they're tripped. I'm suggesting that possibly the GFI outlets won't reset because they already are. This of course doesn't help a bit to explain why there's no power.

[CA_Traveler]

Most RV lights are 12V and hence have nothing to do with AC or GFIs so it sounds like 2 different problems. My GFIs have a green light when they are working - so does your GFI have AC power but no downstream power?

If a GFI doesn't reset, is OK and there is no miswiring then it's neither a short or open - instead it's a ground fault - ie a small amount of current leaking to ground.

You need to post the rig/year and model number of all related equipment. Good luck on getting any accurate wiring diagram as mfgs are know to make numerous production changes.

And on top of that:

i changed all outlets inside and out of coach and fuse box and fuses.have a volt meter,but never used one

this suggests you should hire help considering you rewired the plugs.