Keep tripping circuit

[Flhtruss]

Hello penwia
What gauge of an extension cord are you using. If you are nearby when it trips, feel the plug ends looks for a hot connection. Place the back of your finger on the breaker that’s tripping again looking for heat. Unable to keep your finger on the breaker, or hold the plug is the weakest link.
You could be over loading the circuit but not all at once, but incremental stages of loading will trip a circuit. A clamp on amp meter would help a lot.


Russ

 

[John in Santa Cruz]

is this the 30A breaker in the main power panel inside the trailer, or is in the breaker for the circuit that y our trailer is plugged into ?

 

[CharlesinGA]

is this the 30A breaker in the main power panel inside the trailer, or is in the breaker for the circuit that y our trailer is plugged into ?

Post #14, reproduced below.

C&G, YES!!!! The breaker that keeps tripping is the 30 amp in the trailer. I am suspecting like some of you have already said, the heater is the culprit. I will look for one that uses less wattage. Thank you all!! I will keep you posted.

 

[Perry Butler]

C&G, YES!!!! The breaker that keeps tripping is the 30 amp in the trailer. I am suspecting like some of you have already said, the heater is the culprit. I will look for one that uses less wattage. Thank you all!! I will keep you posted.

We could run 1,500 watt and a 750 watt heaters and our fridge on AC in our 5.0 at the same time. Adding the electric element in the water heater would blow the breaker.

I'm guessing you have a wiring problem and they are hard to find.

Food for thought,

Perry

 

[7Gentex]

If the main trailer 30 amp is tripping, and not the individual trailer branch circuit that the heater is plugged into..................I would suspect that there is:

1. a combination of trailer circuits drawing over 30 amps, but not exceeding their individual branch breaker capacity

2. a bad 30 amp main breaker

3. loose wiring somewhere

Is the convertor/charger "on" and charging? Try shutting off the breaker for that, though that may be the same breaker as the fridge (I put a dual breaker in that slot to separate the fridge / convertor).

Do you have a "2 way" water heater? 120V and propane. Is the outside switch under the water heater cover "Off"

Do you have an inverter with "all plugs" option? There would be another 30 amp breaker labelled "Transfer Switch" or similar.

 

[sameo416]

I'd lean toward a breaker issue as most likely or lower probability of something else (wiring issue or a transient short?). It's unlikely you'd be hitting 30A with what you had on, maybe with the fridge and the a/c and the heater and the water heater.

Especially if the branch 15A circuits aren't also tripping. In an overload the branch breakers should operate first, and the main breaker would never operate. If it's wiring, suggests it's between the branch circuits and the main breaker (eg, in the panel).

Checking the connections in the panel is a good call. Our main breaker wire was not in the connector, it was jammed between the nut and the breaker body. That wouldn't lead to nuisance trips.

 

[John in Santa Cruz]

again, 30A is 3600 watts. you could run two 1500 watt heaters as long as they are on separate 15A breakers.

 

[penwia]

It is the 30amp in the trailer box. I have the inverter, as you can see in this pic, it's the bottom breaker that keeps tripping which says "converter" The fridge and hot water heater are on a different circuit. I Pulled out the breaker and going to get a new one. Hope it's just a bad breaker!!!! Will keep you all posted.

 

[penwia]

again, 30A is 3600 watts. you could run two 1500 watt heaters as long as they are on separate 15A breakers.

The trailer is plugged into a 20amp outlet on the side of the garage. So I am not getting 30 amp to the trailer. Could that be what is causing the tripping? Either way I think the breaker is toast. Its tripped too many times, so going to replace it and see what happens.

 

[John in Santa Cruz]

nah, the 20A would trip if you were drawing too much power.

Are you using a 20A extension cord? the plug on a 20A has one blade rotated 90 degrees, so they are like
-- |

and the receptacle side has a T shaped pin that takes either a 15A or 20A plug. and a 20A extension cord would be 12 AWG for a shorter cord like 25 foot and 10 AWG for a longer one like 100 ft. 100 ft of 10 AWG is a heavy cord.

 

[penwia]

I am using the supplied 30amp power cord from trailer to garage, using the supplied adapter. The outlet that I am plugged into the garage is a 20 amp outlet. The heater is currently plugged into the 110 outlet under the bench. I have move it around to see but It tripped on the GFIC outlet by the sink and the one next to the wardrobe in the front.

 

[7Gentex]

The bottom 30 amp labeled as "convertor" is the one tripping?

Do you have the newer electrical control display that shows the status of DC , inverter and "line in" AC contributions to the load?

My (2022 build) bottom 30 amp is labeled "Transfer Switch" and only feeds either the 120V outlets on the subpanel directly, or feeds the inverter AC output to those same outlets if the inverter is on. And, I have the same orange sticker regarding the 2 ea. 15 amp breakers under the bench.

Wondering why the "convertor" would require 30 amps, mine is on a 15 amp. Same unit WF-8955-AD-WAGO. Wonder if they wired the convertor and the twin 15 amp sub-panel, which energizes your 120V outlets, to that 30 amp....weird?

There's something happening here......................But what it is ain't exactly clear

Is the newer electrical control system for the inverter and convertor (charger also) all in "one box" now?

Is your inverter "Off"?


Interesting..................hope it is just a bad breaker.

 

[SeldomSeen-ESC]

Lot's of good ideas here as usual. I've found the Kill-a-Watt meter an inexpensive way to know what's really going on...more or less!

KILL A WATT Electric Monitor

Amazing deals on this Kill-A-Watt™ Electric Monitor at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

 

[penwia]

I changed out the breaker. (Menards had the same brand) As for right now, everything is working. I have a smaller heater using 750W and I have the temp set to 50F. I will check tomorrow and see if it's still on.

I have the Victron Battery monitor. It shows the status of the DC load but that's it, from what I know. I do know that all the AC outlets inside the trailer stop working when that breaker trips. ( I did not check the outside outlet or the microwave outlet).

My inverter is in the passenger side of the rear bench and I have a Controller in the front of the drivers side. Everything else is in the rear drivers side bench.

 

[7Gentex]

Sounds like your setup is like mine with the transfer switch.

What seems odd is that bottom 30 amp being labeled "Convertor" as it seems that your subpanel for the 120V outlets are tied into that breaker as well.

If that is really the case, if your convertor is charging your batts at full tilt and you are using some high watt AC draw via the receptacles.......it may trip the "Convertor" 30 amp breaker.

If you pull the faceplate off the Power Center (where the AC and DC fuses are, are there 2 lines going to that bottom 30 amp breaker? If so, I'd ad a separate 15 amp breaker for the convertor. It's nice to be able to turn the convertor / battery charger "Off".

Appears you do not have air conditioning?

 

[penwia]

Sounds like your setup is like mine with the transfer switch.

What seems odd is that bottom 30 amp being labeled "Convertor" as it seems that your subpanel for the 120V outlets are tied into that breaker as well.

If that is really the case, if your convertor is charging your batts at full tilt and you are using some high watt AC draw via the receptacles.......it may trip the "Convertor" 30 amp breaker.

If you pull the faceplate off the Power Center (where the AC and DC fuses are, are there 2 lines going to that bottom 30 amp breaker? If so, I'd ad a separate 15 amp breaker for the convertor. It's nice to be able to turn the convertor / battery charger "Off".

Appears you do not have air conditioning?

I do not have the air-conditioner yet. Its pre- wired for it. They were out of the Houhgton at the time, and I did not want the Dometic. I will have it installed soon.

I don't know much about electricity, but I will look at it tomorrow. I am taking it in to a local shop for some repairs that happened during shipping, and may as well have them look at the wiring as well. I have found a few other issues that need to be looked at.

 

[John in Santa Cruz]

my older Escape, the topmost breaker is the 30A main input, then going down from there, is a 15A running the converter + fridge AC, three more 15's (plugs, plugs, hot water) and a 20A at the bottom for the A/C. I do not have a transfer switch nor subpanel.

 

[penwia]

Hi all thought I would update everyone on this thread. I ended up changing out the breaker for a new one and put the heater on 750W, never had a problem after that. I went back and rewatched the orientation video https://youtu.be/x2NnfROATg4?si=gxbxkG2LAp7xL3Af. He does mention that you can not run a ceramic heater while using the adaptor, which is what I was trying to do.

 

[John in Santa Cruz]

a 1500 watt ceramic heater *should* work fine on a 15A circuit adapter as long as thats the only major thing turned on. 1500 watts is about 12.5 amps at 120VAC.