Date:         Fri, 3 Jan 2003 08:34:18 -0500
Reply-To:     edward.bass@GM.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Ed Bass <edward.bass@GM.COM>
Subject:      Ground Fault in Westy?
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Thanks for the responses on my GFI issue...even the PO responded that he
had never encountered the issue nor any GFI outlets in campsites.  Except
for rolling up with salty, wet tires it is true that I did nothing to
"ground" the van when I plugged it in to the GFI outlet.  I do recall
seeing RVs staked down with some kind of cable and metal rod.  Does anyone
know if a cable from body to earth ground would solve the problem?  As Joel
says below, it may still require that the wiring within the Westy has a
ground wire on the chassis.   If the AC wiring is connected to chassis, it
raises questions about isolation between the 12V and 120V systems.
Ed





"Joel Walker" <jwalker17@earthlink.net> on 01/02/2003 09:58:29 PM

To:    <edward.bass@gm.com>
cc:
Subject:    Re:      Ground Fault in Westy?


> Put nearly a thousand miles on the 87 Westy over the holidays,
but changed
> plans to camp in the Laurel Highlands area of Pennsylvania due
to an
> electrical problem.  It seems that the campsite's GFI outlets
were
> "tripping out" whenever I plugged in the Westy.  I do not have
any problem
> with regular outlets.  Are Westy's compatible with GFI?  Or is
my Westy
> harboring some electrical hazard?  If you can advise, please
let me know.

don't know for sure, but a couple of thoughts come to mind ...
both kinda related.
one is that the bus itself isn't grounded ... rubber tires, you
see. :)  so i THINK to get the gfi thingies to work properly,
you'd have to drive a ground rod into the dirt and connect the
body of the bus to that rod. that way, the bus body would have a
ground path.

and the other is that our buses were built before gfi became
popular and plentiful ... so it's likely that the outlets in the
bus really aren't even grounded to the bus body ... that is, all
you have connected is the hot wire and the negative wire, but no
ground wire. and i think that will trip a gfi almost immediately.
i dimly recall something like that.

good luck!
joel