Having lost my father in law many years ago, an electrician and electrical engineer, I'm now at a loss for a sounding board for any issue that comes up that I get stumped with. I am hoping the fine folks here may be of some assistance.
I am having a GFCI/ AFCI issue in my sub panel.. Hopefully, my diagram will upload so you can see my configuration. I have a 200 amp main panel, and off of that a 60 amp sub panel in my attached garage. The ground and neutral are bonded in the main, but not in the sub.
What brought this to light was a new motorhome that uses a "Smartplug". Features | SmartPlug Shore Power Connections - https://smartplug.com/features/ . My wife inadvertently connected a 50 foot 14 ga extension cord to the vehicle and used the electric cook top for about 10 minutes. (1800 watts) then lost shore power to the vehicle. The garage GFCI tripped (not the breaker). After removing the load from the outlet, it would reset.
I re-connect the vehicle to shore power (with little if any load this time) and the GFI would trip intermittently maybe 1 minute later maybe 5.
The GFI outlet was old. It was time for a replacement. I got a new AFCI/GFCI and replaced it. It tripped immediately with ANY load. Not necessarily the motor home. I am not sure if it tripped on AFCI or GFCI. Resetting would work and hold until a load was placed on it. I replaced it again with a GFCI only. It tripped as the first one did after 1-5 minutes with ANY load on it. It didn't trip immediately like the dual purpose one did.
In troubleshooting this issue, I isolated the circuit/outlet. It is first in line off the breaker, and no downstream outlets attached to it. Just the one GFCI outlet off the breaker.
Where do I stand now? If I remove the GFCI and wire up a plain 20A outlet. All works well. Polarity and grounding appear fine either by DVM measurements or by a polarity tester (3 of them). I get about 20 mv AC between neutral and ground on the outlet.
When I put the GFCI back in, my symptoms return. I went one step further and temporarily wired up a 4 foot piece of 12/2 romex directly off the open subpanel to the GFCI outlet. Thus bypassing the wiring in the wall from the breaker to the outlet. I get the same symptoms. This tells me the issue is somewhere else in my residence.
This is where I am stumped. Where and how to go about isolating and diagnosing this type of issue.
I have another GFCI circuit off the main panel but it's only 15 Amps. It controls some outdoor outlets and flood lights. This circuit behaves normally as it should even with the motorhome (or anything) plugged in (low load).
Any help or suggestions welcome. Thank you.
I am having a GFCI/ AFCI issue in my sub panel.. Hopefully, my diagram will upload so you can see my configuration. I have a 200 amp main panel, and off of that a 60 amp sub panel in my attached garage. The ground and neutral are bonded in the main, but not in the sub.
What brought this to light was a new motorhome that uses a "Smartplug". Features | SmartPlug Shore Power Connections - https://smartplug.com/features/ . My wife inadvertently connected a 50 foot 14 ga extension cord to the vehicle and used the electric cook top for about 10 minutes. (1800 watts) then lost shore power to the vehicle. The garage GFCI tripped (not the breaker). After removing the load from the outlet, it would reset.
I re-connect the vehicle to shore power (with little if any load this time) and the GFI would trip intermittently maybe 1 minute later maybe 5.
The GFI outlet was old. It was time for a replacement. I got a new AFCI/GFCI and replaced it. It tripped immediately with ANY load. Not necessarily the motor home. I am not sure if it tripped on AFCI or GFCI. Resetting would work and hold until a load was placed on it. I replaced it again with a GFCI only. It tripped as the first one did after 1-5 minutes with ANY load on it. It didn't trip immediately like the dual purpose one did.
In troubleshooting this issue, I isolated the circuit/outlet. It is first in line off the breaker, and no downstream outlets attached to it. Just the one GFCI outlet off the breaker.
Where do I stand now? If I remove the GFCI and wire up a plain 20A outlet. All works well. Polarity and grounding appear fine either by DVM measurements or by a polarity tester (3 of them). I get about 20 mv AC between neutral and ground on the outlet.
When I put the GFCI back in, my symptoms return. I went one step further and temporarily wired up a 4 foot piece of 12/2 romex directly off the open subpanel to the GFCI outlet. Thus bypassing the wiring in the wall from the breaker to the outlet. I get the same symptoms. This tells me the issue is somewhere else in my residence.
This is where I am stumped. Where and how to go about isolating and diagnosing this type of issue.
I have another GFCI circuit off the main panel but it's only 15 Amps. It controls some outdoor outlets and flood lights. This circuit behaves normally as it should even with the motorhome (or anything) plugged in (low load).
Any help or suggestions welcome. Thank you.
