GFI and Power Cord Questions
Last year when I first got my new to me fuzion I had GFI issues where the GFI breaker in the camper's garage would trip. This would cut out the fireplace, the refrigerator, the DVD player, the 2nd air conditioner and the outlets behind the GFI string. Dealer looked at it once or twice and found nothing, and eventually we figured it was the campground power. Two of the places we had issue were at campgrounds with only 30amp service. For the rest of the summer, except at one campground, I had no issue what so ever.
This spring, I've had the issue again at 3 campgrounds, all on 50amp service. In troubleshooting, I've found the following things:
1. It's not the GFI outlet or breaker - the outlet was replaced and the breaker was checked by the dealer.
2. It will pop and will NOT reset again while on shore power. If I disconnect everything, turn on the generator, it resets within minutes and the camper seems to run fine (to it's defense, I have never fully powered the fridge and air conditioner to truly test it, but the fact that it immediately resets had indicated campground power). If I do manage to get it to reset on shore power, it generally takes leaving the camper disconnected for a few hours and then when I plug back into the pedestal it will be on for a few minutes and sometimes trip again, others it simply won't reset, period. This tripping is with NOTHING turned on or with little turned on. Sometimes though the fridge will be on and the GFI fine, and a while later I'll turn on the 2nd air conditioner and it will trip or I'll turn on the fireplace and that will trip it.
3. Sometimes it pops before I have anything turned on, but usually it's the air conditioner or fireplace that trips it. So, it works on a light load, but when a heavy use load is turned on it trips. But not every campground - some weekends it works completely fine with every outlet used, the air on, the fridge on and I'm using the central vac.
Once it started working more than not, I assumed that the campground had crappy pedestal power and not worried about it. But this spring it's doing it again at different campgrounds. Two of them are campgrounds we haven't been at, so it's still possible that it's pedestal power.
In order to keep troubleshooting, I'm contemplating a few things....
1. the camper has a threaded ring where the 50amp cord connects. The actual cord does not have a ring to screw around that thread. I assume that broke off. As such, the connection is a bit looser than ideal, but it certainly isn't falling out. Could this be an area where there is a leaking ground and as such tripping the GFI? Maybe some trips the cord is pulling on the connection more than others and doesn't get seated properly? Can I replace just the ring that is missing from my blue connector piece? Will annoy me to have to buy a whole new cord. If this could be causing it - perhaps that is why the dealer can't replicate the issue - I'm sure they use a cord they have laying around, rather than pulling mine out.
2. buying a voltage meter to check the pedestal at the campground. if I actually had one, perhaps I could validate that 1 leg wasn't getting the full power and maybe that lower voltage is causing the GFI to trip, which essentially knocks out that whole leg. At least I'd know it's not the camper, and I'd know not to get that site again....Can someone recommend me a voltage meter for this job (preferably on Amazon - where I can use the 2 day amazon prime shipping lol!)?
3. Would a surge help read the pedestal? I'm hating spending the extra for an LCD display surge if a voltage meter does the same thing?
4. When I arrived at the campground this weekend, after a brutally bumpy road, even though I was crawling along, my security light outside the front door was lit - the switch was not flipped, and the switch did not turn it off. The battery disconnect did not turn it off. Only fully unhooking the battery did the trip. Works fine after that, presumably the bumps knocked something in the wiring and that lit the light. while I've had this issue for a while, perhaps this wire is loose and has been causing a ground fault periodically? I don't think that light is on that leg, since it worked this weekend while the GFI was tripped and wouldn't reset, but I thought perhaps it could be related?
I am hoping to put the slides out and the beds down tonight, and power the generator up - and turn on air, and fireplace and anything I can just to validate that there is no issue on generator use. Assuming there is not, I keep going back to either the shore power cord or the shore power pedestal. First trip it was fine until I turned on the 2nd air conditioner. Second trip it tripped at one campground, reset and then worked fine (here I unplugged the power cord at the camper during the generator running to reset it) all weekend, even when we moved to a new campground. Third trip it tripped the first time turning on 2nd air. Left it unplugged for about 3-4 hours, and it reset. Avoided the air, but turned on the fireplace and that tripped it again.
Your wisdom and insight is always appreciated - I'm open to any other ideas to troubleshoot. It would be a lot easier to figure out if it was consistently not working, but some trips it works fine.
This spring, I've had the issue again at 3 campgrounds, all on 50amp service. In troubleshooting, I've found the following things:
1. It's not the GFI outlet or breaker - the outlet was replaced and the breaker was checked by the dealer.
2. It will pop and will NOT reset again while on shore power. If I disconnect everything, turn on the generator, it resets within minutes and the camper seems to run fine (to it's defense, I have never fully powered the fridge and air conditioner to truly test it, but the fact that it immediately resets had indicated campground power). If I do manage to get it to reset on shore power, it generally takes leaving the camper disconnected for a few hours and then when I plug back into the pedestal it will be on for a few minutes and sometimes trip again, others it simply won't reset, period. This tripping is with NOTHING turned on or with little turned on. Sometimes though the fridge will be on and the GFI fine, and a while later I'll turn on the 2nd air conditioner and it will trip or I'll turn on the fireplace and that will trip it.
3. Sometimes it pops before I have anything turned on, but usually it's the air conditioner or fireplace that trips it. So, it works on a light load, but when a heavy use load is turned on it trips. But not every campground - some weekends it works completely fine with every outlet used, the air on, the fridge on and I'm using the central vac.
Once it started working more than not, I assumed that the campground had crappy pedestal power and not worried about it. But this spring it's doing it again at different campgrounds. Two of them are campgrounds we haven't been at, so it's still possible that it's pedestal power.
In order to keep troubleshooting, I'm contemplating a few things....
1. the camper has a threaded ring where the 50amp cord connects. The actual cord does not have a ring to screw around that thread. I assume that broke off. As such, the connection is a bit looser than ideal, but it certainly isn't falling out. Could this be an area where there is a leaking ground and as such tripping the GFI? Maybe some trips the cord is pulling on the connection more than others and doesn't get seated properly? Can I replace just the ring that is missing from my blue connector piece? Will annoy me to have to buy a whole new cord. If this could be causing it - perhaps that is why the dealer can't replicate the issue - I'm sure they use a cord they have laying around, rather than pulling mine out.
2. buying a voltage meter to check the pedestal at the campground. if I actually had one, perhaps I could validate that 1 leg wasn't getting the full power and maybe that lower voltage is causing the GFI to trip, which essentially knocks out that whole leg. At least I'd know it's not the camper, and I'd know not to get that site again....Can someone recommend me a voltage meter for this job (preferably on Amazon - where I can use the 2 day amazon prime shipping lol!)?
3. Would a surge help read the pedestal? I'm hating spending the extra for an LCD display surge if a voltage meter does the same thing?
4. When I arrived at the campground this weekend, after a brutally bumpy road, even though I was crawling along, my security light outside the front door was lit - the switch was not flipped, and the switch did not turn it off. The battery disconnect did not turn it off. Only fully unhooking the battery did the trip. Works fine after that, presumably the bumps knocked something in the wiring and that lit the light. while I've had this issue for a while, perhaps this wire is loose and has been causing a ground fault periodically? I don't think that light is on that leg, since it worked this weekend while the GFI was tripped and wouldn't reset, but I thought perhaps it could be related?
I am hoping to put the slides out and the beds down tonight, and power the generator up - and turn on air, and fireplace and anything I can just to validate that there is no issue on generator use. Assuming there is not, I keep going back to either the shore power cord or the shore power pedestal. First trip it was fine until I turned on the 2nd air conditioner. Second trip it tripped at one campground, reset and then worked fine (here I unplugged the power cord at the camper during the generator running to reset it) all weekend, even when we moved to a new campground. Third trip it tripped the first time turning on 2nd air. Left it unplugged for about 3-4 hours, and it reset. Avoided the air, but turned on the fireplace and that tripped it again.
Your wisdom and insight is always appreciated - I'm open to any other ideas to troubleshoot. It would be a lot easier to figure out if it was consistently not working, but some trips it works fine.
