Question on 19 wiring

[NEWYORKHILLBILLY]

Sitting around here is the cold weather I decided start thinking about some of my mods. I was thinking about adding inverter .But did not want to go threw the hassle of a transfer switch.so i could either add a new plug or remove one circuit from the converter and power 1/2 plugs. Did some checking today and it looks like I have 2 plug circuits . The odd thing is it appears that both circuits are feed off the one GFI outside the trailer. The way I understand GFI wiring is that you Power the first GFI receptacle and the loads after that would also be GFI protected. How is it possible to have two circuits and one GFI?


Anyone have escape wiring diagram?

[tractors1]

GFI should be the last outlet on a multi-plug run with US Electrical Code for houses; not sure that applies to trailers.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by tractors1

GFI should be the last outlet on a multi-plug run with US Electrical Code for houses...

By "last", can we assume that you mean closest to the distribution panel, so that (as mentioned above) that GFCI can protect the rest of the receptacles in the circuit?

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by NEWYORKHILLBILLY

Anyone have escape wiring diagram?

Not likely. The are drawings from Escape showing receptacle locations, but not diagrams showing circuit configuration. Some owners may have done this for their own trailers, but those wouldn't necessarily be valid for other trailers, even of the same model or year.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by NEWYORKHILLBILLY

Did some checking today and it looks like I have 2 plug circuits . The odd thing is it appears that both circuits are feed off the one GFI outside the trailer.

What makes you think that both circuits (which would then be just one circuit with all the plugs) are fed from the outside GFCI outlet?

You should be able to determine what plugs are on which circuit by turning on only one of the two breakers at a time and checking which plugs are live.

[NEWYORKHILLBILLY]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

What makes you think that both circuits (which would then be just one circuit with all the plugs) are fed from the outside GFCI outlet?

You should be able to determine what plugs are on which circuit by turning on only one of the two breakers at a time and checking which plugs are live.

The plugs are on two separate circuits . I can turn off 1/2 of them with one breaker and the other 1/2 with another breaker. But when i trip GFI with a tester it trips the outside GFI and Plugs on both circuits are dead. Reset the GFI and they all work again. This makes no sense to me

[tractors1]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

By "last", can we assume that you mean closest to the distribution panel, so that (as mentioned above) that GFCI can protect the rest of the receptacles in the circuit?

No. Last means the furthest outlet from the energy source. They're all wired in parallel, so it doesn't really make a difference to anyone but electrical inspectors as it makes their job easier.

[tdf-texas]

Originally Posted by tractors1

No. Last means the furthest outlet from the energy source. They're all wired in parallel, so it doesn't really make a difference to anyone but electrical inspectors as it makes their job easier.

If other outlets are to be protected by a GFCI, it has to be the one supplying power to the other outlets and first in line from the power source.

Power from the source is connected to the GFCI line terminals and the other outlets are connected to the GFCI load terminals. The only wires in parallel with the source is the ground.

[NEWYORKHILLBILLY]

Originally Posted by tdf-texas

If other outlets are to be protected by a GFCI, it has to be the one supplying power to the other outlets and first in line from the power source.

Power from the source is connected to the GFCI line terminals and the other outlets are connected to the GFCI load terminals. The only wires in parallel with the source is the ground.

This is the way I have always wired them. I don't think there be anyway for them to work if they where the last in the circuit. I think i may have figured out my situation. Got the heat running now will report back.

[NEWYORKHILLBILLY]

I got it figured out. The reason both circuits went dead as when the tester tripped the Outside GFI it also tripped the shore power GFI. leaving the entire trailer dead, but i did not realize as i was testing Just the outlets. so on the 19 the outside gfi and the side of sink plug are GFI protected and on one circuit and the other 3 plus are on the other circuit

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by NEWYORKHILLBILLY

The plugs are on two separate circuits . I can turn off 1/2 of them with one breaker and the other 1/2 with another breaker. But when i trip GFI with a tester it trips the outside GFI and Plugs on both circuits are dead. Reset the GFI and they all work again. This makes no sense to me

That made no sense to me, either. Of course the GFCI cannot affect anything on the other circuit; it can't even affect other plugs on the same circuit unless they are wired through that GFCI.

Originally Posted by NEWYORKHILLBILLY

I got it figured out. The reason both circuits went dead as when the tester tripped the Outside GFI it also tripped the shore power GFI. leaving the entire trailer dead, but i did not realize as i was testing Just the outlets.

By this I assume that you mean a GFCI in the receptacle that the trailer is plugged into (or the panel that feeds it). That makes sense. That extra tripped GFCI would not have reset when the trailer's GFCI was reset, providing the first clue that something else was going on.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by tractors1

No. Last means the furthest outlet from the energy source. They're all wired in parallel, so it doesn't really make a difference to anyone but electrical inspectors as it makes their job easier.

As Tom explained, only outlets which are connected to the GFCI's load terminals can be protected by the GFCI; those extra protected outlets are wired in parallel with each other, but in series with the GFCI device.

Of course the physical location doesn't matter; it is the circuit configuration which matters. Placing the GFCI physically close to the source just minimizes the length of cable required to connect everything to be protected. The only way that "last" is easier is to inspect is if the GFCI is not used to protect any other outlets on the circuit.

[rubicon327]

Originally Posted by NEWYORKHILLBILLY

I got it figured out. The reason both circuits went dead as when the tester tripped the Outside GFI it also tripped the shore power GFI. leaving the entire trailer dead, but i did not realize as i was testing Just the outlets. so on the 19 the outside gfi and the side of sink plug are GFI protected and on one circuit and the other 3 plus are on the other circuit

Now that makes sense! I thought for a second you had some really messed up wiring in your trailer!

[NEWYORKHILLBILLY]

Originally Posted by rubicon327

Now that makes sense! I thought for a second you had some really messed up wiring in your trailer!

I new something was missed up, I just wasn't expecting it to be me


I been looking at my wiring for my captain lights.I noticed all my 12 volt circuits leave the converter with 14 awg THHN wire. The cabinet lights seemed to be wired in that, But other fixture seem to use a unlabeled red and black twin wire. I cant tell what gauge it it is . It seems to be at the bathroom fan , bath light, stove and I see some under the bed I have not traced out yet. so some Place in the walls that THHN is switched to the double red and Black wires. At this point I just taking some thing apart to decide the best way to run wires for some of the accessories