Inability to hook up to GFCI shore POWER while on-the-hard

[SailSarkisian]

A previous owner may have bonded the neutral wire (white) to the ground wire (green) somewhere. This needs to be repaired.

Thank you- much
I will assess !
much appreciated

 

[SailSarkisian]

A GFCI will trip whenever it detects power going out on the hot wire that’s not balanced by what comes back on the neutral wire. That generally happens if power is coming back on the ground wire or through earth. It could also happen from nuisance trips caused by some appliances.

The status of the switches on the DC panel don’t really make a difference for the GFCI. The DC circuits are powered by the batteries and don’t really touch the AC side.

To help narrow down your problem - Do you have a battery charger? Water heater? Are there any other AC devices plugged in to outlets? A fault in any of those could trip a GFCI. It’s also possible that the boat is wired improperly and tying neutral to ground onboard, which could allow that imbalance.

Are you plugged into a 30A plug with a GFCI, or is it a 15/20A socket? Were the other outlets you’ve used successfully in the past GFCI equipped?

Thank you- much
I will assess !
much appreciated

Ed

 

[Rick Webb]

Is that so? I can't imagine why. Not an expert on this, just counterintuitive to me. If there's no imbalance in the first, why would there be in the second?

"Same circuit" maybe misleading, A GFI should not be on the load side of another GFI, daisy chained so to speak

 

[jeepbluetj]

"Same circuit" maybe misleading, A GFI should not be on the load side of another GFI, daisy chained so to speak

I'll second the "why" on this. Of course, in a single circuit it likely doesn't make sense.

But think about a very typical situation:
* Boat plugged into 30A 120v GFI on the marina pedestal. (or a 50A 220V GFI, or whatever)
* Boat has a GFI in the head (like it should). This would be downstream from the inlet and likely a 20a or 15a device (as it's in a 15a or 20a circuit)

The pedestal GFI doesn't pop all the time. It shouldn't. The head GFI doesn't pop all the time either.

So why the "GFIs pop when wired in series" statements? I've heard it quite often and I'd like to understand where I don't see the reason.

 

[jviss]

I'll second the "why" on this. Of course, in a single circuit it likely doesn't make sense.

But think about a very typical situation:
* Boat plugged into 30A 120v GFI on the marina pedestal. (or a 50A 220V GFI, or whatever)
* Boat has a GFI in the head (like it should). This would be downstream from the inlet and likely a 20a or 15a device (as it's in a 15a or 20a circuit)

The pedestal GFI doesn't pop all the time. It shouldn't. The head GFI doesn't pop all the time either.

So why the "GFIs pop when wired in series" statements? I've heard it quite often and I'd like to understand where I don't see the reason.

I think it refers to outlets downstream of the GFCI, fed off the GFCI's downstream port, not in parallel with it.

 

[Davidasailor26]

Looking more closely at the original picture I think we’re missing part of the setup. We have a picture of the DC panel (irrelevant) and a picture of an AC panel labeled Shore 2 and air conditioning (also irrelevant since it sounds like the fault is in the main AC circuit). Where is the main house AC panel, and what breakers are switched on there?

 

[SailSarkisian]

First, to all the responders in my ORIGINAL STATEMENT - and questions ref to WHY THE GFCI ON THE SHOREPOWER perpetually trips out. Finally back on the Forum,..and all variables were checked,..as I swapped all power cords,…

I cleaned all connections - male and female connectors into the vessel and on power cords As well as the GFCI itself,…( while tripped/ depose red). Same issue occurs, as AFTER WAITING several minutes, 3-7 minutes, typically, and regardless of which users I select ( battery charger, outlets, interior lights,…) the GFCI is found tripped. I’ve hanged out the order of reinstating various users, however to NO SUCCESS. I may be posting this further comment in an incorrect location on The Forum, I did NOT find a place to amend or add to my ORIGINAL comment / Question at the top.
AGAIN, THANK YOU ALL for piping in on your MULTIPLE SUGGESTIONS.

AN EMAIL RESPONSE works - Sarks757@aol.com

or,…I’ll continue in a search for added suggestions on the Forum.

Edward A. Sarkisian
1999 Beneteau 35,2 Oceanis.