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The GFI plug  and all of the plug-ins associated with it have stopped working in my RV. I checked the breaker, checked the fuse, and replaced the GFI plug-in. It is not working. All of the other plug-ins in my RV are working but anything associated with the GFI isn't getting any power.  Does anyone have any suggestions on what I might check next? 

Maggie Blair

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What kind of RV? You may have possibly more than one GFI?  Don't just check the breaker. Flip it off then on. A lot of times they will trip and look like they are on.

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Hiya Maggie

wherever the wire comes from feeding that GFI is not hot for some reason Recheck that breaker snap it all the way to off and then back on. See what that does if no power then get a test light to see if their is power on both sides of the breaker. If only power on one side of breaker replace it.

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1 hour ago, Ranger Smith said:

What kind of RV? You may have possibly more than one GFI?  Don't just check the breaker. Flip it off then on. A lot of times they will trip and look like they are on.

It is a 2011 class c Coachman Freelander. Thank you for your info. I flipped all of the breakers on and off several times. No electricity. 

Maggie Blair

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1 hour ago, Devilishjim said:

Hiya Maggie

wherever the wire comes from feeding that GFI is not hot for some reason Recheck that breaker snap it all the way to off and then back on. See what that does if no power then get a test light to see if their is power on both sides of the breaker. If only power on one side of breaker replace it.

Dang I let a Ranger get in front of me !

Hi,

i will have to get some help with the test light part of this. I am not certain what you mean by check the power in both sides of the breaker. I am going to Google that and try to figure it out. Thanks againI am going to Google that and try to figure it out. Thanks again

Maggie Blair

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This is just an idea. Maybe the GFI (original) that feeds the other receptacles went bad. Then when you replaced the GFI, you possibly got the power in and the power out on the new GFI reversed. The new GFI should have possibly a yellow sticker showing which lugs  the hot side (coming from the breaker box) should go to and the field side goes on the opposite lugs. If the hot is on the wrong way, the GFI will not pass current thru to the other receptacles. I did it!

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After installing the new GFI outlet and turning the breaker to on, did you try pressing the reset button on the GFI? If there was power from the breaker to the GFI outlet you should either have power to the outlet or hear the pop of the GFI disconnecting. If you get nothing, try pushing the test button on the GFI and then the reset. If you still get nothing then the problem is likely with the breaker or the wires between the breaker and the GFI outlet.

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If your breaker and GFI itself are testing fine.. here's a question for you. Is your water heater on that GFI circuit (it shouldn't be, but wouldn't be the first I've seen that)? If so, unplug it and try again.

If not, nevermind... 

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4 hours ago, bobsallyh said:

This is just an idea. Maybe the GFI (original) that feeds the other receptacles went bad. Then when you replaced the GFI, you possibly got the power in and the power out on the new GFI reversed. The new GFI should have possibly a yellow sticker showing which lugs  the hot side (coming from the breaker box) should go to and the field side goes on the opposite lugs. If the hot is on the wrong way, the GFI will not pass current thru to the other receptacles. I did it!

 

3 hours ago, maggie blair said:

Thanks so much for the info. I put the white wires on the side that said white and the black on the side that said black and the copper/ground wire into the bottom. 

Thanks again. 

Maggie,  what bobsallyh is describing and what your are describing are not the same things.  What you did is correct, putting the white wires on the side that said white and the black wires on the side that said black, etc.  This would be all you have to do to make a standard receptacle work and pass power to additional receptacles down the line.  There is an additional step, however, with a GFCI receptacle.

What bobsallyh was explaining is that a GFCI receptacle has a supply side and a load side.  The supply side is the breaker fed side and the load side is the wire that feeds all the remaining receptacles in the line.  Imagine the GFCI receptacle is two different plugs connected in the middle.  One of the plugs is the supply side and the other is the load side.  You have to feed the "supply" plug on the receptacle from the breaker and you have to connect the "load" plug to the wire going to the remaining receptacles in the line.  If you reverse these two connections, the GFCI receptacle will not pass any power down the line.  The GFCI receptacle should have some additional labeling on it to indicate which end is the supply side and which end is the load side.  I am going from memory here, but I think the top plug in the receptacle is usually the supply side and the bottom plug is usually the load side.  Make sure you have the supply and load wires connected to the correct ends of the GFCI receptacle.

 

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10 hours ago, maggie blair said:

Hi,

i will have to get some help with the test light part of this. I am not certain what you mean by check the power in both sides of the breaker. I am going to Google that and try to figure it out. Thanks againI am going to Google that and try to figure it out. Thanks again

The wire coming to the breaker should be hot all the time actually the flat type of spade that breaker snaps onto If that spade is hot then plug breaker back in and check breaker where wire connects to it and make sure it is hot. Make sure wires have insulation stripped off of them where you installed new GFI. If you tighten screw down on the insulation on wire it will not work. Do you have a multi-meter or voltage tester ?

Jim Spence

2000 Dodge 3500 1 ton QC 4x4 dually 5.9 diesel LB

BD exhaust brake, 6 spd manual trans

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8 hours ago, Jimalberta said:

Do you know how to use an electrical meter?

Hopefully ;)   Maggie are you hooked to 50A shore power by chance ? If so sounds like one leg is dead which would give you only power to one side of coach. If you have 30A avaiable try plugging into it and see if that solves your problem

Jim Spence

2000 Dodge 3500 1 ton QC 4x4 dually 5.9 diesel LB

BD exhaust brake, 6 spd manual trans

34CKTS Cedar Creek 5er, Trail-Air hitch

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5 hours ago, Chad Heiser said:

 

Maggie,  what bobsallyh is describing and what your are describing are not the same things.  What you did is correct, putting the white wires on the side that said white and the black wires on the side that said black, etc.  This would be all you have to do to make a standard receptacle work and pass power to additional receptacles down the line.  There is an additional step, however, with a GFCI receptacle.

What bobsallyh was explaining is that a GFCI receptacle has a supply side and a load side.  The supply side is the breaker fed side and the load side is the wire that feeds all the remaining receptacles in the line.  Imagine the GFCI receptacle is two different plugs connected in the middle.  One of the plugs is the supply side and the other is the load side.  You have to feed the "supply" plug on the receptacle from the breaker and you have to connect the "load" plug to the wire going to the remaining receptacles in the line.  If you reverse these two connections, the GFCI receptacle will not pass any power down the line.  The GFCI receptacle should have some additional labeling on it to indicate which end is the supply side and which end is the load side.  I am going from memory here, but I think the top plug in the receptacle is usually the supply side and the bottom plug is usually the load side.  Make sure you have the supply and load wires connected to the correct ends of the GFCI receptacle.

 

Thank you so much for the info. There aren't any additional labelings on the plug stating load side or supply side. I put the plug in exactly the way the other one was in, but I am not getting power to the plug. It will not allow for a reset or check. I have reset the breaker several times, changed the fuse, and taken the plug out and reinstalled it twice. Still nothing. 

The fuse that feeds the GFI is15 amp. Should I be putting in a 15 or 20 amp GFI?

Thanks again. 

 

 

Maggie Blair

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1 minute ago, Devilishjim said:

Hopefully ;)   Maggie are you hooked to 50A shore power by chance ? If so sounds like one leg is dead which would give you only power to one side of coach. If you have 30A avaiable try plugging into it and see if that solves your problem

I am on 30 amp shore line. ?

Maggie Blair

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10 minutes ago, Devilishjim said:

The wire coming to the breaker should be hot all the time actually the flat type of spade that breaker snaps onto If that spade is hot then plug breaker back in and check breaker where wire connects to it and make sure it is hot. Make sure wires have insulation stripped off of them where you installed new GFI. If you tighten screw down on the insulation on wire it will not work. Do you have a multi-meter or voltage tester ?

I haven't mastered the multi-meter yet. I am going to try to master that today. 

Maggie Blair

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5 minutes ago, Devilishjim said:

Hopefully ;)   Maggie are you hooked to 50A shore power by chance ? If so sounds like one leg is dead which would give you only power to one side of coach. If you have 30A avaiable try plugging into it and see if that solves your problem

 

8 hours ago, Jimalberta said:

Do you know how to use an electrical meter?

No but I am going to try to figure that out today. Thanks again

Maggie Blair

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1 minute ago, maggie blair said:

I haven't mastered the multi-meter yet. I am going to try to master that today. 

turn the meter to AC setting I assume there is a battery in your meter. Touch the end of the black probe to a grnd and the red probe to a wire that should be hot. you should get a voltage reading...Keep your fingers off the metal part of probes or your eyes will light up instead and never ever let the metal on probes touch each other while doing this

Jim Spence

2000 Dodge 3500 1 ton QC 4x4 dually 5.9 diesel LB

BD exhaust brake, 6 spd manual trans

34CKTS Cedar Creek 5er, Trail-Air hitch

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12 hours ago, maggie blair said:

The GFI plug  and all of the plug-ins associated with it have stopped working in my RV. I checked the breaker, checked the fuse, and replaced the GFI plug-in. It is not working.

As previously asked, do you own a volt/ohm meter and know how to use it? Be very careful as a mistake can cause a fire or electrocution. Safety first, always!

Nearly all 30a RVs have only one circuit for all 120v outlets so if you have some outlets that work you can be sure that your circuit breaker is on if something plugged into one of them is working. No good electrician ever works on a circuit that is live unless there is no alternative, so be careful. If in doubt, remove the shore power cord before you touch anything. 

If you have power to part of the circuit but not from the GFI on, that means that something is causing the GFI to open. The most common cause of that in most RVs is the outside outlet. 

On the meter you have, if it comes with instructions, the first thing you should do is to read them carefully. You can also find several good videos on the use of meters on youtube. After 40 years of making my living repairing electrical issues, I have learned above all else that mistakes can be very costly. 

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
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Maggie an RV has a tendency to shake wiring loose.... What you probably should do is unplug RV and pull panel off of breakers and make sure all the screws are tight on wires that feed your breakers. Look for a possible broken wire that feeds that breaker, check all the wires that come from breakers one could be sitting there but broke off.

Jim Spence

2000 Dodge 3500 1 ton QC 4x4 dually 5.9 diesel LB

BD exhaust brake, 6 spd manual trans

34CKTS Cedar Creek 5er, Trail-Air hitch

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29 minutes ago, Kirk Wood said:

As previously asked, do you own a volt/ohm meter and know how to use it? Be very careful as a mistake can cause a fire or electrocution. Safety first, always!

Nearly all 30a RVs have only one circuit for all 120v outlets so if you have some outlets that work you can be sure that your circuit breaker is on if something plugged into one of them is working. No good electrician ever works on a circuit that is live unless there is no alternative, so be careful. If in doubt, remove the shore power cord before you touch anything. 

If you have power to part of the circuit but not from the GFI on, that means that something is causing the GFI to open. The most common cause of that in most RVs is the outside outlet. 

On the meter you have, if it comes with instructions, the first thing you should do is to read them carefully. You can also find several good videos on the use of meters on youtube. After 40 years of making my living repairing electrical issues, I have learned above all else that mistakes can be very costly. 

 Thanks so much Kirk. I'm at a point right now that I may be calling an electrician and let a professional take care of this. I thought it would be an easy fix from everything I read online, but I've done everything that I can think of so it may be time to call in an electrician. Thanks again.Thanks again.

Maggie Blair

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35 minutes ago, Devilishjim said:

Maggie an RV has a tendency to shake wiring loose.... What you probably should do is unplug RV and pull panel off of breakers and make sure all the screws are tight on wires that feed your breakers. Look for a possible broken wire that feeds that breaker, check all the wires that come from breakers one could be sitting there but broke off.

Thanks Jim. I am getting to an uncomfortable area so may be calling an expert soon. I was hoping it was an easy fix, but I know my limitation and limited knowledge in the electrical area.... thanks again. 

Maggie Blair

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8 minutes ago, maggie blair said:

it may be time to call in an electrician.

At least time to get some help from someone who understands electricity and trouble shooting. There are RVer's who understand basic electricity who are not electricians but you need to be a little careful who you let work on this or take advice from. I suggest that before too long you take the time to get out your meter and work on learning to use it as you can help yourself a great deal at times if you use one properly but when you have a problem isn't generally a good time to start learning how the meter works. 

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

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