A shocking development!

In the past I have detailed my electrical upgrades; adding outlets, LED lights, new converter, etc. Well it seemed odd that after a season where everything worked as it should that this year the 110v system kept tripping breakers and snapping GFCI triggers. So I thought I'd try and isolate the problem by eliminating the GFCI. Lo and behold the 110v system worked again, Yay! Then when I put the GFCI outlet back in it started tripping again. Conclusion: Bad GFCI outlet.

Not really.

What I had forgotten about was a new outlet that I had put in downstream from the GFCI, so that it, a non GFCI outlet, would also be protected.

Like I said, I forgot about that, so I merily went along to replace the "defective" GFCI outlet.

Maybe I should take a moment to clarify something.

G = Ground
F = Fault
C= Circuit
I = Interruption

In other words a GFCI outlet is there to detect Ground Faults and Interrupt the Circuit to prevent fire or other damage to the system...or the user.


What happens when you remove the GFCI from the Faulty Circuit and replace it with a regular, non-GFCI outlet, (because, you know, it is cheaper)?   ZZZZZZ! Flash! Puff! And you end up melting things.

Remember that outlet that I forgot I added after the GFCI? Well outlets don't work so well when both the hot and the neutral are wired to the same side! This I discovered after melting the Scamp's shore power cable.

Now the Scamp has a new hole in the side to accommodate the new shore power outlet.  Lucky for me the WIFCO power controller was not burnt out.