Circuit tripping Ground Fault Circuit breaker

[yazoo]

I am living in the Philippines and have a house with standard Filipino 220v 60Hz. All circuits are just hot and neutral, not a ground wire to be found anywhere - which is pretty much standard here. Even supply to the main panel has no ground. I'm figuring I can't make things too much worse than existing lol.

I have a 6200 watt Powmr inverter connected to a 4000 watt solar array and a 10Kwh Chinese server rack battery. I installed a ground rod and grounded the solar array, combiner box and inverter ground screw to it. I've taken three circuits off the mains panel and run then through a new panel that takes the output from my inverter. These circuits are totally off grid. To try and give me a bit of protection I've added a ground fault breaker.
So Inverter ac output >> 40 amp ground fault breaker >> several breakers which supply circuits.

My three circuits are working fine, however when i try and add the kitchen circuit it immediately trips the ground fault. Even just hooking up the neutral will trip the breaker. I have tried unplugging everything on that circuit but the problem remains. When the circuit is connected to the mains panel (no GFI) it works fine and I'm not getting zapped off anything.

Is the only solution to rewire this circuit and abandon the existing wiring? It would be a bit of a project, so wondering if there are any troubleshooting steps I can try first?

 

[12VoltInstalls]

1) something in kitchen is seeing earth/dirt possibly? Plumbing?
2) maybe there is another “ground” somewhere and one of the kitchen circuit’s polarity is wrong?

GFCI trips when two legs are imbalanced

 

[TacomaJoe]

I'm thinking crossed wires somewhere. I think your kitchen neutral is tied in with the neutral of another circuit. Leave the GFCI circuits on and turn off the non-GFCI breakers and then connect the kitchen neutral. Then turn on those circuits one at a time to isolate the circuit. A common wiring mistake is to wire nut all the white wires together.

 

[yazoo]

1) something in kitchen is seeing earth/dirt possibly? Plumbing?
2) maybe there is another “ground” somewhere and one of the kitchen circuit’s polarity is wrong?

GFCI trips when two legs are imbalanced

I thought about maybe moisture. It is a very wet climate. Maybe if a neutral connection is just joined with electrical tape somewhere and is touching damp wood, there wouldn't be fireworks but the neutral could get that phantom ground. I guess a project would be to open every outlet box on the circuit and inspect. Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[yazoo]

I'm thinking crossed wires somewhere. I think your kitchen neutral is tied in with the neutral of another circuit. Leave the GFCI circuits on and turn off the non-GFCI breakers and then connect the kitchen neutral. Then turn on those circuits one at a time to isolate the circuit. A common wiring mistake is to wire nut all the white wires together.

Hmm... Wonder if this would explain one LED light bulb on a different circuit giving an eerie glow when switched off. I will try disconnecting different circuits and see if that kitchen circuit will work with others disconnected. Thanks for your idea.

 

[yazoo]

@TacomaJoe - I think you nailed it. I did as you suggested and the circuit that triggered it was the one for the well pump. I moved that one to the solar distribution panel and everything works well. Thanks a lot for your suggestions.