GFI Faults and interior light replacemts

[jcpryn]

Hello,

Helping a friend with his BB 84fc35' and out of the blue he started
getting immediate ground faults. We shut off all of the breakers and
still getting the fault. plugged the cord in by it's self and no
faults, but as soon as it's plugged into the BB the GFI trips.

Any ideas?


On another subject I have several lights in the coach that either don't
work or are very weak. I know I can replace the ballast for each
one. What I don't know is that if that will fix all of them and if it
does will I be happy with the amount of light? Anybody replace the
stock ceiling lights with something more moderern?

thanks
John

[timvasqz]

What? the shore power supply is gfi protected?? A GFI will trip when
the neutral wire and the hot wire current are not equal.current is
amps?

AC is an acronym for alternating current , not as simple but 20
amps at one hot legRed and 25 amps at the other hot legBlack must
equal out with with 45amp showing in the neutral wire (as the amps
alternate back and forth). if there is less than the 45a
(20Red+25Black)in the neutral there is a path thru ground some place
wher the amps are lost to .or, with two legs of hot like a 50 amp
service It could be that the neutral wire is faulty and you are
passing current between the two legs?????????? I can not figure how
this happens but it does and you end up with overvoltage >120 , <240
on one leg. that will remove it from the neutral test math and trip
it without showing up in the ground path.

I put one 30 amp 240Vgfi circuit breaker to my pool pump house sub
that was not required by code. I later decided to replace it with a
hardwire typical breaker because I had fear that my intended
upgrade was overlooking some of the electromechanics with pool
light 'at appliance' gfi protection?????? I nolonger use a
tennisball to test the pool light, Tim figured out what I was doing.

Long story short sounds like a faulty neutral if that would trip
one???? I dig holes for a living, this is my understanding with hope
of confirmation or correction.

GregoryO'Connor ofTim&Greg
94ptCa

--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "jcpryn"
wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> Helping a friend with his BB 84fc35' and out of the blue he
started
> getting immediate ground faults. We shut off all of the breakers
and
> still getting the fault. plugged the cord in by it's self and no
> faults, but as soon as it's plugged into the BB the GFI trips.
>
> Any ideas?
>
>
> On another subject I have several lights in the coach that either
don't
> work or are very weak. I know I can replace the ballast for each
> one. What I don't know is that if that will fix all of them and
if it
> does will I be happy with the amount of light? Anybody replace
the
> stock ceiling lights with something more moderern?
>
> thanks
> John
>

[Chuck Wheeler]

I had to problem areas that caused our BB to trip a GFI. One was the AC indicator panel, easily fixed by changing some resistor values, and the second was two of the electric heaters. one had a drooping element touching the case and the other had the common and neutral ties together. It is not real easy to trace ground faults. I had to disconnect ALL the leads( hot, common, neutral)for each feed from the breakers and then reconnect them one at a time to see which tripped the GFI. Worked at it on and off for a whole weekend but now no more tripping GFI.

I replaced ALL the ballasts in our BB with the new ballasts fro Stephen Birtles. They now turn on reliably and we have plenty of light. I used double sided tape and just stuck the new ballasts to the back of the fixture. It took about a half a day to replace all ballasts.

- Chuck Wheeler-

1982 FC 31SB Fort Worth TX

---

From: WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com [mailto:WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of jcpryn
Sent: Saturday, January 03, 2009 10:46 PM
To: WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [WanderlodgeForum] GFI Faults and interior light replacemts

Hello,

Helping a friend with his BB 84fc35' and out of the blue he started
getting immediate ground faults. We shut off all of the breakers and
still getting the fault. plugged the cord in by it's self and no
faults, but as soon as it's plugged into the BB the GFI trips.

Any ideas?

On another subject I have several lights in the coach that either don't
work or are very weak. I know I can replace the ballast for each
one. What I don't know is that if that will fix all of them and if it
does will I be happy with the amount of light? Anybody replace the
stock ceiling lights with something more moderern?

thanks
John

[Curt Sprenger]

Good post, Chuck,

I'll second the light resolution...over three years ago I installed all new ballasts from Stephen Birtles, all lights still working fine, plenty of light.

Curt Sprenger
1987 PT38 8V92 "MacAttack Racing"

Anaheim Hills, CA

On Sat, Jan 3, 2009 at 10:10 PM, Chuck Wheeler <"cwheeler@kathleenwheeler.com"> wrote:

I had to problem areas that caused our BB to trip a GFI. One was the AC indicator panel, easily fixed by changing some resistor values, and the second was two of the electric heaters. one had a drooping element touching the case and the other had the common and neutral ties together. It is not real easy to trace ground faults. I had to disconnect ALL the leads( hot, common, neutral)for each feed from the breakers and then reconnect them one at a time to see which tripped the GFI. Worked at it on and off for a whole weekend but now no more tripping GFI.

I replaced ALL the ballasts in our BB with the new ballasts fro Stephen Birtles. They now turn on reliably and we have plenty of light. I used double sided tape and just stuck the new ballasts to the back of the fixture. It took about a half a day to replace all ballasts.

- Chuck Wheeler-

1982 FC 31SB Fort Worth TX

---

From: "WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com" [mailto:"WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com"] On Behalf Of jcpryn
Sent: Saturday, January 03, 2009 10:46 PM
To: "WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com"
Subject: [WanderlodgeForum] GFI Faults and interior light replacemts

Hello,

Helping a friend with his BB 84fc35' and out of the blue he started
getting immediate ground faults. We shut off all of the breakers and
still getting the fault. plugged the cord in by it's self and no
faults, but as soon as it's plugged into the BB the GFI trips.

Any ideas?

On another subject I have several lights in the coach that either don't
work or are very weak. I know I can replace the ballast for each
one. What I don't know is that if that will fix all of them and if it
does will I be happy with the amount of light? Anybody replace the
stock ceiling lights with something more moderern?

thanks
John

[timvasqz]

Chuck, is that a fault on a gfi to the bus? or in the bus? I dont
have any gfi's on my 30 or 50 amp pedistals. are they a good idea?
and what happens when the appliance is 240v would that trip a gfi?

GregoryO'Connor ofTim&Greg
94ptCa


.--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "Chuck Wheeler"
wrote:
>
> I had to problem areas that caused our BB to trip a GFI. One was
the AC
> indicator panel, easily fixed by changing some resistor values,
and the
> second was two of the electric heaters. one had a drooping element
touching
> the case and the other had the common and neutral ties together.
It is not
> real easy to trace ground faults. I had to disconnect ALL the
leads( hot,
> common, neutral) for each feed from the breakers and then
reconnect them one
> at a time to see which tripped the GFI. Worked at it on and off
for a whole
> weekend but now no more tripping GFI.
>
> I replaced ALL the ballasts in our BB with the new ballasts fro
Stephen
> Birtles. They now turn on reliably and we have plenty of light.
I used
> double sided tape and just stuck the new ballasts to the back of
the
> fixture. It took about a half a day to replace all ballasts.
>
> - Chuck Wheeler-
> 1982 FC 31SB Fort Worth TX
>
>
> _____
>
> From: WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com
> [mailto:WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of jcpryn
> Sent: Saturday, January 03, 2009 10:46 PM
> To: WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [WanderlodgeForum] GFI Faults and interior light
replacemts
>
>
>
> Hello,
>
> Helping a friend with his BB 84fc35' and out of the blue he
started
> getting immediate ground faults. We shut off all of the breakers
and
> still getting the fault. plugged the cord in by it's self and no
> faults, but as soon as it's plugged into the BB the GFI trips.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> On another subject I have several lights in the coach that either
don't
> work or are very weak. I know I can replace the ballast for each
> one. What I don't know is that if that will fix all of them and if
it
> does will I be happy with the amount of light? Anybody replace the
> stock ceiling lights with something more moderern?
>
> thanks
> John
>

[mrkane1952]

Here are two links discussing GFI circuits and some suggested
troubleshooting tips for RVs:

<http://personal.cha.bellsouth.net/j/o/jo...rv/gfi.pdf>

and

<http://www.trailmanorowners.com/forum/sh...#post54813>


Good luck--

M.R.Kane
1987 PT40
1985 PT40 for sale
currently Sanger, Tx

--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "jcpryn" wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> Helping a friend with his BB 84fc35' and out of the blue he started
> getting immediate ground faults. We shut off all of the breakers and
> still getting the fault. plugged the cord in by it's self and no
> faults, but as soon as it's plugged into the BB the GFI trips.
>
> Any ideas?
>
>
> On another subject I have several lights in the coach that either don't
> work or are very weak. I know I can replace the ballast for each
> one. What I don't know is that if that will fix all of them and if it
> does will I be happy with the amount of light? Anybody replace the
> stock ceiling lights with something more moderern?
>
> thanks
> John
>

[John]

The power source (my shop) has GFI so that is what is tripping.

Will look into the suggestions

thx

John

----- Original Message -----

From: "Petrover1@aol.com"

To: "WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com"

Sent: Sunday, January 04, 2009 08:45

Subject: [WanderlodgeForum] Re: GFI Faults and interior light replacemts

Chuck, is that a fault on a gfi to the bus? or in the bus? I dont
have any gfi's on my 30 or 50 amp pedistals. are they a good idea?
and what happens when the appliance is 240v would that trip a gfi?

GregoryO'Connor ofTim&Greg
94ptCa

.--- In "WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com", "Chuck Wheeler"
.> wrote:
>
> I had to problem areas that caused our BB to trip a GFI. One was
the AC
> indicator panel, easily fixed by changing some resistor values,
and the
> second was two of the electric heaters. one had a drooping element
touching
> the case and the other had the common and neutral ties together.
It is not
> real easy to trace ground faults. I had to disconnect ALL the
leads( hot,
> common, neutral) for each feed from the breakers and then
reconnect them one
> at a time to see which tripped the GFI. Worked at it on and off
for a whole
> weekend but now no more tripping GFI.
>
> I replaced ALL the ballasts in our BB with the new ballasts fro
Stephen
> Birtles. They now turn on reliably and we have plenty of light.
I used
> double sided tape and just stuck the new ballasts to the back of
the
> fixture. It took about a half a day to replace all ballasts.
>
> - Chuck Wheeler-
> 1982 FC 31SB Fort Worth TX
>
>
> _____
>
> From: "WanderlodgeForum%40yahoogroups.com"
> [mailto:"WanderlodgeForum%40yahoogroups.com"] On Behalf Of jcpryn
> Sent: Saturday, January 03, 2009 10:46 PM
> To: "WanderlodgeForum%40yahoogroups.com"
> Subject: [WanderlodgeForum] GFI Faults and interior light
replacemts
>
>
>
> Hello,
>
> Helping a friend with his BB 84fc35' and out of the blue he
started
> getting immediate ground faults. We shut off all of the breakers
and
> still getting the fault. plugged the cord in by it's self and no
> faults, but as soon as it's plugged into the BB the GFI trips.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> On another subject I have several lights in the coach that either
don't
> work or are very weak. I know I can replace the ballast for each
> one. What I don't know is that if that will fix all of them and if
it
> does will I be happy with the amount of light? Anybody replace the
> stock ceiling lights with something more moderern?
>
> thanks
> John
>

No virus found in this outgoing message
Checked by PC Tools AntiVirus (4.0.0.26 - 10.100.075).
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[pattypape]

If you are using an AC plug adapter and plugging into the 110 Volt ,
GFI at the pedestal or a GFI receptical at your home. The polarity
test light indicators on the Bird will trip the GFI.

Bill 88 FC Michigan


--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "mrkane1952" <mrkane@...>
wrote:
>
> Here are two links discussing GFI circuits and some suggested
> troubleshooting tips for RVs:
>
> <http://personal.cha.bellsouth.net/j/o/jo...rv/gfi.pdf>
>
> and
>
> <http://www.trailmanorowners.com/forum/showthread.php?
p=54813#post54813>
>
>
> Good luck--
>
> M.R.Kane
> 1987 PT40
> 1985 PT40 for sale
> currently Sanger, Tx
>
> --- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "jcpryn" wrote:
> >
> > Hello,
> >
> > Helping a friend with his BB 84fc35' and out of the blue he
started
> > getting immediate ground faults. We shut off all of the breakers
and
> > still getting the fault. plugged the cord in by it's self and no
> > faults, but as soon as it's plugged into the BB the GFI trips.
> >
> > Any ideas?
> >
> >
> > On another subject I have several lights in the coach that either
don't
> > work or are very weak. I know I can replace the ballast for
each
> > one. What I don't know is that if that will fix all of them and
if it
> > does will I be happy with the amount of light? Anybody replace
the
> > stock ceiling lights with something more moderern?
> >
> > thanks
> > John
> >
>

[Hugh Turner]

--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "jcpryn" wrote:

Hello,

Helping a friend with his BB 84fc35' and out of the blue he started
getting immediate ground faults. We shut off all of the breakers and
still getting the fault. plugged the cord in by it's self and no
faults, but as soon as it's plugged into the BB the GFI trips.

Any ideas?


thanks
John


John
Last year on a trip to MS 110vac worked fine on genset. When I got to
campground as soon as I plugged into their 50 amp shore power I got a
hot to neutral short did the simple things first. 1. Had campground
check their side 2. went through some of the checks you did 3. took
out the connection box to check it ok 4. called plant for help. When I
described the problem Jessie told me they had problems on the PT with
water and other stuff getting on the contacts The had a repair the did
to correct the problem told me he lets parts know I may need a switch
($800 est). After aboout a 1/2 a day in MS in August I finally of
removing seat, carpeting and all the other stuff on top or around the
access plate was able to get the switch out. Once it was out the
safetline module was the of the problem it had shorted. I removed it
have not had any problems since, just make sure you have a way
(checklist, bright color cord, remove before flight streamer etc) to
remind you that you are on shore power before you pull out taking the
park power system with you. The red and yellow light are not the ones
I am talking about they get their input from the module I am talking
about. I do not know where is located it the FC itthe one you rotate
to select the input voltage good luck hope this works

Hugh Turner
84 PT 40

[GARY MINKER]

Doublesided tape on a balast could be a fire hazard if the balast runs hot. Tempting as it may be, I would use screws. --- On Mon, 1/5/09, Hugh Turner wrote: From: Hugh Turner Subject: [WanderlodgeForum] Re: GFI Faults and interior light replacemts To: WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com Date: Monday, January 5, 2009, 6:10 AM --- In WanderlodgeForum@ yahoogroups. com, "jcpryn" wrote: Hello, Helping a friend with his BB 84fc35' and out of the blue he started getting immediate ground faults. We shut off all of the breakers and still getting the fault. plugged the cord in by it's self and no faults, but as soon as it's plugged into the BB the GFI trips. Any ideas? thanks John John Last year on a trip to MS 110vac worked fine on genset. When I got to campground as soon as I plugged into their 50 amp shore power I got a hot to neutral short did the simple things first. 1. Had campground check their side 2. went through some of the checks you did 3. took out the connection box to check it ok 4. called plant for help. When I described the problem Jessie told me they had problems on the PT with water and other stuff getting on the contacts The had a repair the did to correct the problem told me he lets parts know I may need a switch ($800 est). After aboout a 1/2 a day in MS in August I finally of removing seat, carpeting and all the other stuff on top or around the access plate was able to get the switch out. Once it was out the safetline module was the of the problem it had shorted. I removed it have not had any problems since, just make sure you have a way (checklist, bright color cord, remove before flight streamer etc) to remind you that you are on shore power before you pull out taking the park power system with you. The red and yellow light are not the ones I am talking about they get their input from the module I am talking about. I do not know where is located it the FC itthe one you rotate to select the input voltage good luck hope this works Hugh Turner 84 PT 40