Odd situation. Earlier in the week I installed power to a dock to operate 2 jet ski lifts. I completed the install and test operated both units(up and down full lift distance). I get a call this morning from the owner who tells me one lift is tripping the GFCI breaker as soon as the key switch is activated. If he removes the controller and motor and plugs it into a non protected outlet in the garage it works fine. Any clue as to what could happen between Wed. and now with no one doing anything with the lift in the interim???? Thanks.
Motor tripping gfci
- Thread starter nizak
- Start date
- Status
- Occupation
- Licensed Electrician
The GFCI is doing its job in 99.99% of all cases. Back in the eighties there were problems with GFI's and motors but those days are long gone.
ATSman
ATSman
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area
- Occupation
- Electrical Engineer/ Electrical Testing & Controls
My first thought is moisture getting into the circuit some place downstream of the GFCI outlet. GFCI are designed to protect people (not equipment) so they have a very low trip threshold, typically 5 ma.Try plugging the unit that is working into the outlet that is tripping (and the unit that trips into the good outlet to narrow it down.
From this you will find out if it is water leakage or a defective GFCI outlet (or breaker) which would be cheap to replace.
swflelectric
Member
- Location
- South West Florida
We recently had this issue with a lift for a boat, Every time we went to operate the lift the GFI breaker tripped at the panel. We took apart the entire system to find which motor was tripping. Once we isolated the motor we took everything we could off.It turned out that part of the motor that holds the capacitor had a major leak we cleaned it off and it fired right up. When talking to other guys they said it could also be the motor starting to go bad. I hope that helps
Funny you mention a motor going bad. When I test run the units originally, one was very quiet. The other one(that is now in question) sounded like it had sand in the gears. I did not check the amp draw on either since there was no hp rating or current draw indicated on either unit. The only info listed on each one was "50/1" ratio. Maybe it's simply a coincidence that it operated during the test run and after sitting out in the elements for a few days it went bad. I advised the owner to take the complete control unit and motor into a motor shop and have it diagnosed. BTW, the equipment is used. Thanks.
jumper
Senior Member
- Location
- 3 Hr 2 Min from Winged Horses
No name plate info. Strange. I thought it was required.
- Status