What is an open ground fault???

[Radshooter]

We have one of those big fancy surge suppressors that the entire RV plugs into at the pole. It gives codes for any electrical problems so you know it is safe or not to plug in the RV. We have been in this same spot since last November, and no problems so far. A few times this past month, when we come home from work, the clocks are flashing, indicating a power outage at some point earlier in the day.

Yesterday I checked for codes again, and it said we had a previous open ground fault. What does that mean? Everything in the trailer works just fine. Is there something I should be worried about? I am not an electrician (obviously) so please keep the explanations in english!! :-laf

Thanks, Steve

 

[jelag]

Problems with electrical circuits are usually put into one of 3 areas.....

OPEN - this is a wire or circuit that has an open wire... . that means the hot wire or ground wire is open or cut in half the circuit is not complete... .

SHORTS - this is 2 12V + leads shorted together..... one circuit is powered by the wrong circuit because of the short... . it can be 2 12V - wires shorted to power a circuit if the ground wire is the control wire...

GROUNDS - grounded circuit is a 12V+ wire that is touching ground and blows the fuse or circuit breaker... .

All electrical problems with wiring have to be one of the above... and some of these faults can be the problems on circuit boards as well..... it applies to 120V AC circuits as well...

I think what you have plugged into at the pole is nothing more than a one to one transformer... ... a transformer takes the shock out of the line spikes... . On a transformer there is no electrical connection between the primary side and secondary side... . The transformer is a huge magnetic field around a metal coil that induces the same magnetic field on the secondary... if the transformer is wound 1:1 than its 120 in and 120 out..... if its a 2:1 its 240 in with 120 out... . etc... .

I assume that your transformer has a ground fault safety device on it. . and something is tripping the safety in it... and it will automatically reset its self... . I'm guessing that something is starting in the trailer that has a path to ground or not back through the neutral wire and trips the ground fault..... what this means is that the path back to the box is going through the ground wire and not the neutral wire..... creating a shock hazard... .

Hope this helps. .

 

[Cal Brewin]

We have one of those big fancy surge suppressors that the entire RV plugs into at the pole. It gives codes for any electrical problems so you know it is safe or not to plug in the RV. We have been in this same spot since last November, and no problems so far. A few times this past month, when we come home from work, the clocks are flashing, indicating a power outage at some point earlier in the day.



Yesterday I checked for codes again, and it said we had a previous open ground fault. What does that mean? Everything in the trailer works just fine. Is there something I should be worried about? I am not an electrician (obviously) so please keep the explanations in english!! :-laf



Thanks, Steve

I do not know which suppressor you have, but some RV surge suppressors will cut power to your RV as long as a power problem exists which can harm your vehicle. Surge suppressors need a good ground path to work properly, and so you may have a faulty ground at the pedestal. Sounds like your protector may be doing what it is designed to do. Protect your RV.



Tom.

 

[starkmr]

Problems with electrical circuits are usually put into one of 3 areas.....



OPEN - this is a wire or circuit that has an open wire... . that means the hot wire or ground wire is open or cut in half the circuit is not complete... .



SHORTS - this is 2 12V + leads shorted together..... one circuit is powered by the wrong circuit because of the short... . it can be 2 12V - wires shorted to power a circuit if the ground wire is the control wire...



GROUNDS - grounded circuit is a 12V+ wire that is touching ground and blows the fuse or circuit breaker... .



All electrical problems with wiring have to be one of the above... and some of these faults can be the problems on circuit boards as well..... it applies to 120V AC circuits as well...



I think what you have plugged into at the pole is nothing more than a one to one transformer... ... a transformer takes the shock out of the line spikes... . On a transformer there is no electrical connection between the primary side and secondary side... . The transformer is a huge magnetic field around a metal coil that induces the same magnetic field on the secondary... if the transformer is wound 1:1 than its 120 in and 120 out..... if its a 2:1 its 240 in with 120 out... . etc... .



I assume that your transformer has a ground fault safety device on it. . and something is tripping the safety in it... and it will automatically reset its self... . I'm guessing that something is starting in the trailer that has a path to ground or not back through the neutral wire and trips the ground fault..... what this means is that the path back to the box is going through the ground wire and not the neutral wire..... creating a shock hazard... .



Hope this helps. .

Not totally correct here Jelag, shorts can be + to -, hot to neutal, - to ground, it is more correctly stated as being two conductors that have made contact with each other. It is a condition that causes high current flow.



Grounds can be both positive or negative, it is a conductor that is in contact with a ground reference. These can be a real pain to trouble shoot as they can be intermittent in nature. This is a condition that causes high current flow to ground.



Opens are as you said, an incomplete path resulting in a condition of no current flow.



He does not have a real shock hazard if the ground fault interrupter is doing it's job as was stated. The ground wire in an AC system is provided as a safety to carry current from a shorted box (for instance) back to ground to be dissapated. That is why a ground wire is required in household AC circuit in modern codes. It was a short coming of previous codes.

 

[JimB1]

Original intent of GFI's (ground fault interrupters) was to prevent a certain value of current, about 13-25 milliamperes, from stopping hearbeat. Above and below those values can certainly burn & hurt but not a heart stopper. GFI's have to be pretty quick and early units were touchy for too sensitive of operation but have gotten way way better over the years. Most likely your event is just what others have said. It tripped and reset and if fault were still present it would trip again. For peace of mind I'm betting you could e-mail the manufacturer for a exact answer.

 

[Radshooter]

Thanks for the info guys. If the surge protector is tripping at the pole, would that indicate a problem at the pedestal, instead of in the trailer? This is an older mobile home park with a few spots converted for long term RVs.

If it helps, here is a link to the surge protector we are using:

Progressive Industries Energy Management System 240Volt / 50Amp Inline - PT50C - PT50C

Have not had any more problems since the initial post. Our trailer is a '99 Travel Supreme Express. We have been in it since it was new and never had any problems yet.

Thanks again... ... ... Steve