camper adapter question

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ItsHot

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A little piece of heaven!
A power cord adapter for a camper. 220volt down to 120volt, 30a to 20a. Keeps triping?? At a gfci receptacle. What am I missing here? My brain!! How does the camper pick up its neutral with this adapter? Thanks!
 
Sounds like that "adaptor" must be using the ground path for the neutral. If that's the case, that would certainly trip a GFCI in a hurry.

Something doesnt' make sense with your description anyhow. The 30 amp RV receptalces/plugs are 30 amp at 120 volt. They aren't 240 volt. The 50 amp one's are 240/120.
 
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Thanks

Thanks

Thanks Marc! That is what I was thinking. I had someone from out of state calling me about the sitiuation. I normally do not give electrical info out, but since it was a "not so friendly "user cord thing I would try to help. Not being there to see the adapter had me stumped! Sounds like a scene out of "Christmas Vacation"!
 
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update on question

update on question

I am onsite now with problem. Sitiuation,small motorhome,30a,120volt.When the power supply cord is plugged into a gfci circuit I get an instant trip. I tested the gfci receptacle/circuit (ok), I tried another gfci circuit with same results. I am using a adapter at supply/receptacle end. Ohmed out supply cord conductors(ok),ohmed out adapters(ok). When cord is connected at a standard non-gfci circuit there is no problem. Is this a nuiciance trip? The home wiring is fairly new with no previous problems with these circuits.Also I connected supply cord to non-gfci receptacle to test voltage/conductors at female twist-lock end of cord,everything seemed fine.Any suggestions,help will be greatly appreciated!!
 
I would try to turn off all the circuits in the camper. Their should be breakers or fuses, with all circuits off connect the power and see if the feed to the panel in the camper is good. The gfi should hold if it trips with no load from the camper circuits then the problem is in your feed. If the GFI stays on and you have power, now turn on the circuits one at a time to see what is causing the ground fault. sounds like internialy something is leeking thru the ground. I wouldn't be suprised if it is an appliance.
 
Neutral and ground should be separate in the motorhome's panel. Either a neutral-to-ground or a hot-to-ground fault will trip the GFCI. Does it trip with the main breaker in the motorhome turned off? It's not unusual for a staple or a screw to penetrate the wiring in a motorhome.
 
Check for continuity between the camper Grounded (neutral) and Grounding circuit.
If there is continuity there, you've found the cause of the problem.
Now all you have to do is find the source of the problem.

Just a opinion
Hope it helps
steve

Edit: Oh yea....and what steved said too.
(I need to read all of the posts before answering):)
 
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update

update

What I have found.With the rv's load center off and the power supply cord connected and powered up through the gfci receptacle at home the gfci does not trip. Then turn on main,(no trip), turn on other few breakers,water heater,outlets,gfci outlets,ac.. (no trip)..turn on final circuit, the convertor, that converts power for general lighting, it trips. I guess there is some fault to ground, or neutral problem with this circuit. Any other comments or suggestions are greatly appreciated!! You guys are what make this forum GREAT! Thanks again and Happy New year!
 
power convertor

power convertor

The trip ended up coming from the power convertor circuit in the panel. I went through the panel as Kp2 suggested and narrowed the problem down to this circuit. With this circuit off and the rest of the few circuits on, the gfci supply receptacle would not trip. But the best I can remember with RV connected to AC power this overrides the onboard batteries, so none of the lighting would work. The power convertor, that is basically a transformer. ac to dc so the lighting works. I did not have a chance to get into the "fault" with it. Thanks again!!
 
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