shore power trips house cgfi outlet

[inutel]

Hi, i'm curious..When I plug the RT agile shore power to our house 15 amp cgfi outlet it trips it, but its okay when plugged to non cgfi outlet. The cgfi outlet trips the moment the transfer switch energized, is this normal for RT?.

[markopolo]

Not an easy question.

I don't think I have ever plugged my RV's into a GFCI circuit.

This guy seems to really know this subject: http://personal.cha.bellsouth.net/j/...les/rv/gfi.pdf

[inutel]

Thanks for the link Markopolo.

And yes it's GFCI not CGFI. Scoured the net for the problem, read it somewhere that most motorhomes have reported problems when plugged to GFCI outlets. One suggestion was to turn on Inverter before plugging shore power, I'll give it a try when I get home. I'll report back. Thanks again.

[markopolo]

It is confusing. Some guys say it is a problem that should be solved for safety and others think that any number of things in a motorhome could trip the GFCI on a house.

And newer houses will have GFCI outlets outside now. Older houses probably won't. During my house reno I had the electrician install a 30 amp RV outlet. That doesn't need to be GFCI by code here. I recently ran another wire to the other side of the house for a second 30 amp RV plug in and again, it won't be GFCI.

One troubleshooting method is to shut off all the breakers in the RV. Then plug the RV into the GFCI outlet. Then turn on the RV breakers one at a time to see what causes the GFCI to trip.

SS-Agile? Nice!

[g1g]

All I can say is a GFCI will moniter the current from the hot and compare it to the nutral. If it is different it trips. I don't know what Roadtrek has but if a ground is wired into the nutral anywhere it may pop it. I'm no expert and I may be wrong but that is just something I thought may happen as my thoughts would say some of the current is returning through the ground instead of the nutral threrfore causing an imbalance.

[inutel]

Hi,
Update: Tried to turn the inverter on first before plugging shore power to GFCI outlet and it works! no more tripping of GFCI outlets. For info, mine came with Tripplite Inverter.
After a minute or so I can turn the inverter off without tripping the GFCI outlet...Or you could just leave the inverter in the on position and the batteries will charge just fine.
Thanks everyone for the inputs.

[Mike]

Originally Posted by inutel

Hi,
Update: Tried to turn the inverter on first before plugging shore power to GFCI outlet and it works! no more tripping of GFCI outlets. For info, mine came with Tripplite Inverter.
After a minute or so I can turn the inverter off without tripping the GFCI outlet...Or you could just leave the inverter in the on position and the batteries will charge just fine.
Thanks everyone for the inputs.

Just a guess, but when you turned on the inverter, you created a balanced draw inside the RT. Prior to that
when plugged in, the RT might look to the house like a runaway circuit to ground, because a vehicle ground isn't
the same as a ground in your house (for a start, nothing metal actually touches the earth, unless your muffler
needs work or you step out of it, and then touch it resulting in a statics discharge shock as you are
now the ground circuit). As g1g said, the house GFCI might react to that, and think there was unchecked
current flow to somewhere (ground?) which causes it to trip. When you turn the inverter on, it fools the GFCI
into thinking there's no runaway current flow.
As I said, just a guess, but I think it has something to do with how the GFCI sees the current draw to the van
when it's plugged in. Maybe if nothing in the van was on and the batteries were fully charged, the current flow
would be lower, and not seen as runaway and you'd be OK, or something like that.
We need an electrician to answer this one, and that's not me.