Inverter upgrade tripping GFCI. 2 inverters one on each leg.

[opticbit]

I have a 28ft 5th wheel with a 50amp connection. Boondocked.

I've been using 2 flooded batteries I keep outside on a hitch rack by the plug. On one battery is a bestech 500w pure sine, on the other battery is a renogy 700w pure sine. each inverter goes to a 15a to 30a adapter. From there I have a wishbone, with a 30amp plug on each leg going into my 50amp inlet. Everything running fine with each one getting solar from a 100w harbor freight kit.

I removed the 500w inverter and put a 2000w xantrex pure sine in. The gfci pops on the xantrex as soon as I plug it into the wishbone.

I unplugged the wishbone from the rv, and the xantrex from the wishbone, reset the gfci. it still pops as soon as I plug it into the wishbone.

I've also upgreded my flooded batteries to lithium. More are on the way. 12v system battleborn. An ecoworthy and ampertime just arrived. SOK and SCREMOWER on the way. Eventually getting 2 victron inverters. I saw the good reviews for the battleborn but so much more expensive so I only got the one and it's being used for my 12v stuff. Also saw the good reviews for the SOK as a budget battery, so I'll probably get a few of those for the inverters. But I haven't seen the reviews for the other 3 so I thought I'd try them before loading up on SOK, was also going to look at bigbattery that was reviewed in the same video but it was sold out when I went to order.

I'll be matching everything up in its own bank, no mixing. The different batteries will get used for different things. A utility trailer with 275gal water and pump, and some power for some stuff on my truck- mobile homelab and ham.

Still need to get some shunts and meters. Maybe a little after new years, I'll try to do a comparison of the batteries. No tear down though, I don't have enough followers to monitize something like that.. Will I'm in Vegas, so if you'd like to buy one off me for a tear down can drop off somewhere. Shipping is over a month on some of these from Amazon.

 

[opticbit]

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Haven't decided on 12v or 24v victron yet, checked each battery before ordering to make sure a series connection would work incase I go with 24v.

 

[Hedges]

I'm wondering if the relay which bonds neutral to ground trips the shore power pedestal GFCI

https://invertersrus.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/807-2000-Freedom-XI-Inverter-2000-Installation-Guide.pdf

"The AC source feeding the Freedom Xi must have the neutral conductor bonded to ground. When the inverter passes shore power through, it will lift the bonding relay on the output and will rely on the input being bonded in order to ensure that the power delivered to a sub panel is properly bonded. See “AC Output Neutral Bonding” on page 9 for more information on bonding relay operation."

 

[opticbit]

It's the PROwatt SW


No shore power, I'm out in the boonies.

Xantrex must have a different setup for neutral bonding or something.

For tonight I'm going from 15a to 30a then a 30a dog bone Into the 50a, works fine.

The xantrex also turns off when the battery dies, and stays off after the battery is charging or charged.

The other inverters come back on once the battery has a little charge. I might have enough solar and battery now to keep from going dead overnight, will have to wait and find out.

 

[Hedges]

I don't find mention of neutral/ground bonding in that manual

http://www.xantrex.com/documents/Power-Inverters/PROwatt-SW/975-0529-01-01_Rev-C(Artwork).pdf

Check whether they are connected or not. If they are, that would trip the GFCI.

 

[opticbit]

The neutral wires from each inverter get joined in the wish bone.

The xantrex has the same gfci you would find in a house.

The renogy has some type of gfci sensor.

The bestech has no gfci. I'll have to see if it plays well with the xantrex in the morning, it's cold and dark out.

These are all just temporary setup.. the victron will be hardwired, need to save some cash for it.

 

[Hedges]

Looks like I was confused
"The gfci pops on the xantrex as soon as I plug it into the wishbone."
You mean the Xantrex has a GFCI in it, which trips when something is plugged into the Xantrex?
(I was thinking the Xantrex was plugged into shore power pedestal with GFCI which tripped.)

So the Xantrex produces AC from battery, but something (all or part of trailer AC loads) when plugged into Xantrex trips GFCI?
Try measuring resistance from neutral to ground of wishbond, also hot to ground of wishbone.

"The neutral wires from each inverter get joined in the wish bone."

"each inverter goes to a 15a to 30a adapter. From there I have a wishbone, with a 30amp plug on each leg going into my 50amp inlet."
So two separate single-phase 120V inverters are driving the two hot legs of 50A RV power cord?

Normally, GFCI has dedicated hot and neutral connecting to loads.

Connecting two 120V GFCI in a household breaker panel requires separate hot and neutral for each. If sharing a single cable of L1, N, L2 (and ground), they wouldn't work because current from utility grid on L1 can return on L2, and current on N through GFCI doesn't match current in L and GFCI trips. The circuit is completed at the utility 120/240 transformer.

With your two separate inverters, it could work because any current from one inverter's L has to come back through its N to reach the source (inverter.) But, if both inverters provided a path from its AC N to ground (which has to exist for current imbalance to occur if you touch a wire and get shocked), then some current can flow through the other inverter's neutral, and both see imbalance. Some cheap portable inverters actually drive 60/120V split phase, because their output isn't isolated from battery.

So you're using the Xantrex for one phase, and the Renogy for one. If you unplug the Renogy, is the Xantrex able to work powering the RV? See if Renogy has continuity from neutral to ground (while turned off) or drives AC between neutral and ground.

Maybe just use the Xantrex to drive both L1 and L2. It's 2000W. If you want the extra power of Renogy, use it with a load or power strip connected directly rather than through trailer wiring.

 

[opticbit]

Problem seems to be with the renogy.

Unplugged renogy, reset the gfci on xantrex.

With the renogy switch off or on plugging it in trips the gfci on the xantrex

Pulled renogy out, put the bestech in. With bestech running one leg and xantrex the other works fine.

Back to work, I'll have to play with it next weekend, thanks for the suggestions.

 

[opticbit]

Seems like a problem with the neutrals from the wishbone, and a gfci on each leg. But gfci on only one leg seems to be ok. Guess it won't be an issue once I hardwire, I guess that will still depend on internal wiring once I get a look inside.