GFI breaker trips

[jfasano88]

When I plug in to shore power or use my generator to charge my batteries. When I unplug from electric or generator (I unplug before shutting down) my GFI trips and the inverter starts searching until I reset the GFI. Is it a bad GFI or ???

John F 2009 Camelot kfq 

[ok-rver]

GFCIs trip when the current in the hot and neutral wires are not equal or the neutral and ground wires are not separate. Not sure which GFCI is tripping. Additional explanation of what is going on will help with understanding. It sounds like the GFCI is on your MH as it is functioning on both gen and shore power. Is the battery charger a portable plug in type? Have you disconnected the leads from the battery b4 unplugging?

[Tom Cherry]

1 hour ago, ok-rver said:

GFCIs trip when the current in the hot and neutral wires are not equal or the neutral and ground wires are not separate. Not sure which GFCI is tripping. Additional explanation of what is going on will help with understanding. It sounds like the GFCI is on your MH as it is functioning on both gen and shore power. Is the battery charger a portable plug in type? Have you disconnected the leads from the battery b4 unplugging?

Advice from a fellow Camelot owner.  The GFCI is getting old and cantankerous.  I worked for Cooper Industries and spent a lot of time in the Wiring Devices plant doing safety and environmental audits.  Being a one time EE and electronics tinkerer, I had an opportunity to learn a lot from their technical staff during some lulls.

Eaton has purchased Cooper and the Eaton GFCI’s are first rate.  Magnum had a very outdated list.  If you purchase (Amazon for instance) a top end Eaton 20 Amp GFCI, avoid the tamperproof, it will resolve any “false positive” trips.  YES, this IS a 20 Amp OEM device, mine did not have the slot identifying it as a 20.  Print calls for that.

NEXT UP…..your 42 may NOT be like mine, but assuming it is, then this is the wiring correction that I made.  There are TWO load lines or Romex on the output side of the GFCI.  One goes to all the kitchen and house circuits that require GFCI. The OTHER went to the icemaker circuit and the 120 Apex Awning and the front HE center and the lower step well cover receptacle.  THAT one needs to be MOVED to the LINE side of the GFCI.  You do not NEED, nor want, GFCI protection on this line. Your Home refrigerator, by NEC Code, is on a NON GFCI Dedicated circuit.  Why Monaco did it this way….a mystery and tech support way back when could not figure it out.  I had the OEM Dometic and there was a small leak in the icemaker circuit.  That is common to many out of the new out of the 'box refrigerators.  So, it would trip the GFCI and then I lost all the outlets.  Changed and it has not tripped once in almost 9 years.  My Samsung Res Refer purrs….

I also suggest that you go through the Magnum setup.  That is a “heady” topic.  I know most of the parameters off the top.  Do NOT enable the SEARCH WattS feature.  That causes a lot of issues. If you are not familiar with the setup of the Magnum, then call them and they will walk you through it.  Some electrical gremlins will do strange things.  I would replace the GFCI a first….then see if the condition exists.  Then Magnum will walk you through it.

The OTHER thing that will or may be a cause…the Magnum is in a funky MOOD.  Press and hold the power button on the Magnum and do a hard reset.  Do this with power on….I like to have Pedestal power.  That will reset everything.  You may have to push the “On” button on the remote.  Some models of the remotes act differently.

Finally, your remote MAY be funky.  It is hard to “catch”.  Mine got ugly.  The ONLY away that I found it out, for sure….I would go back through the setup process.  I had all the settings and process written down.  I found several settings that were wrong or you could not access.  BINGO….bad.  I replaced it (Amazon). This will also damage your batteries as a erratic remote actually “stores” your custom settings.  They are NOT stored in the Inverter.  It IS very important to have the correct parameters….vitally…

Unless, you have the BMK or Battery Monitoring Kit, which is a Magnum add on and not an option when new, you need the MAGNUM ME-RC50 REMOTE PANEL  They are the same price, &170, now as in late 2020.  Works great….four screws and a phone cable.  5 minutes.

Good Luck….

[jfasano88]

Thanks for the information. I will replace my GFCI. I did replace it in 2013 but I believe it is a cheap one from electrical store. Can’t remember. Had some trouble after replacing the original one. Buy the way sometimes it works fine but the majority of time it trips. Thank you

John F 2009 Camelot kfq