Campground GFCI Problems

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captnconduit

Member
Location
Masury, OH
I have a recurring GFCI problem at a local campground. It seems several different motorhomes trip the GFCI's when plugged in. Ive checked several of them and have found converters thet have their neutral bounded to ground. Is this correct?
 
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Limey Pete

Member
Location
Tampa Florida
captnconduit said:
I have a recurring GFCI problem at a local campground. It seems several different motorhomes trip the GFCI's when plugged in. Ive checked several of them and have found converters thet have their neutral bounded to ground. Is this correct?
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As another "junior member" let me dive in deep and risk getting scolded by the NEC Gurus and Motorhome advocates;

If I had such a motor home and 12 or 24V/120V converter I'd much sooner have it bonded to the chassis.

Why should it be a problem; How would the GFCI and the converter be supplying power at the same time?, and if not the output from the converter is surely isolated through it's transformer.
 
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zbang

Senior Member
Location
Roughly 5346 miles from Earls Court
I assume that we're talking about a 12vdc->120vac inverter. and would be a SDS in this environment. So when the RV is on it's own and the inverter is supplying 120vac to the RV's internal wiring, it does need a N-G bond (for a fault current path). However, when external power is supplying the RV's internal wiring, that bond must not be in the RV. (It's in the service supplying the receptical that the RV's plugged in to.) Note- the inverter's equipment ground should be connected to all the other equipment grounds & to the chassis.

Without looking at things, I suspect that there's a single-pole transfer switch somewhere in the circuit where there should be a two-pole switch.

(I've seen a few 'home-wired' RVs with nice QO load centers and a solidly-mounted (and bonded) ground bar.)
 
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captnconduit

Member
Location
Masury, OH
Yes, the converter is actually an inverter. ( i'm old too) I have found this to be a problem with a lot of RV owners. I spent some time on gooogle and found this to be a common problem. I am going to check the transfer switch and advise.
 
cowboyjwc

cowboyjwc

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Simi Valley, CA
Don't worry Pete, I always call them converters too.

Inverter: a device for "converting" direct current into alternating current.

Converter: a device employing mechanical rotation for changing electrical energy from one form to another.

Look like the same thing to me.
 
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steved

Senior Member
Location
Oregon
In RV usage, a converter is a device that takes 120VAC and turns it into 12VDC to charge the batteries and run the 12V loads in the RV. Converters are usually found in less expensive RVs. Inverters take 12VDC from the batteries and put out 120VAC. Inverters may also include a battery charger and an automatic transfer switch.

The inverters we use have an internal relay that connects the neutral and ground when there is no AC input to the inverter; when AC power is present (from the shore cord or the generator) the neutral and ground are separated in the inverter.
 
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