portcity_gt Posted September 4, 2015 Author Share Posted September 4, 2015 Well i was at walmart this morning and they had the above mentioned tester for $7, and i picked up a ge gfci outlet for testing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega Arch Posted September 4, 2015 Share Posted September 4, 2015 Well i was at walmart this morning and they had the above mentioned tester for $7, and i picked up a ge gfci outlet for testing.Have it plugged into the GFCI receptacles first. If they trip and reset properly, then test the downstream receptacles. Hope it helps solve your issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
portcity_gt Posted September 4, 2015 Author Share Posted September 4, 2015 Will do.....thinking back im pretty sure in that breaker box the neutral and ground share the same bus bar, im not sure if that would cause an issue or not. I think i grounded my outlets to earth....but then again that same earth ground then continues to the neutral bus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega Arch Posted September 4, 2015 Share Posted September 4, 2015 If there are separate neutral bars for each side of the panel, make sure you take your ground and neutral from the same side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
portcity_gt Posted September 4, 2015 Author Share Posted September 4, 2015 I think all neautrals and grounds are on the same bar in the breaker box.I remember it being a little odd when i installed a new heatpump/a/c, in fact i bought a 10' groung rod at that time but haven't got aound to installing it, i was going to put 5' at the service drop and 5' at the a/c' breaker box.ill pull the cover off the breaker box and post i pic soon as i can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
portcity_gt Posted September 4, 2015 Author Share Posted September 4, 2015 Well the tester showed everything to be correct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega Arch Posted September 4, 2015 Share Posted September 4, 2015 Kinda like a politician. Says everything is fine, but you know better. Do you know if it's tripping the same time each day? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
portcity_gt Posted September 4, 2015 Author Share Posted September 4, 2015 No, i wish i had an analog plug in clock so id know. Ill probably swap the gfci and fo from there, being it trips with ac and dc controllers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
portcity_gt Posted September 5, 2015 Author Share Posted September 5, 2015 Well i pulled the cover and apparently i did put the grounds on the neutral bus,So i moved them to the earth ground (i know its cheesy until i can get a tap) to see if that helps.Also i reset the gfci after i tested earlier and when i went back out it was tripped....so sometime between 5:45 and 6:30 today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve synek Posted September 5, 2015 Share Posted September 5, 2015 (edited) I think all neautrals and grounds are on the same bar in the breaker box.I remember it being a little odd when i installed a new heatpump/a/c, in fact i bought a 10' groung rod at that time but haven't got aound to installing it, i was going to put 5' at the service drop and 5' at the a/c' breaker box.ill pull the cover off the breaker box and post i pic soon as i can.Please connect the bare wires to the neutral buss. That is the correct way to wire the GFI's. You do not need to connect them to the grounding electrode conductor. If you don't have a ground rod at your service, add the 10' foot rod to the service equipment, and don't cut it in half and put one at the AC disconnect. A ground rod is only required at the service. A rod is required to have 8 ft in contact with the earth. IMO you made things worse by twisting the wires in an attempt to attach them to a grounding electrode and making a connection outside the panel. (I am making the assumption that this picture is your main electrical service). Edited September 5, 2015 by steve synek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
portcity_gt Posted September 5, 2015 Author Share Posted September 5, 2015 I know the rod isnt required at the a/c breaker box, i would just like to have one there too, the a/c is about 100 feet from the drop (a lot of wire that could break) and its breaker box also suplys some outlets on the rear deck.I have no intention of leaving the wires just coming out of the box like that....this is all just testing things at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega Arch Posted September 5, 2015 Share Posted September 5, 2015 I agree with Steve, put your branch ground wires back onto the neutral buss. You could run wires from the new ground rod to the neutral buss, but don't remove any of the branch neutral and ground wires. Most new installs have the ground jumpered to the neutral anyway. Not sure about LA codes, but is normally a common practice most places. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega Arch Posted September 5, 2015 Share Posted September 5, 2015 Also, I don't see that the neutral / ground bar is bonded to the box anywhere. It might be & I just can't see it in the picture. It doesn't necessarily have to be bonded to work, just don't go grabbing that cover with dew on the ground. If a critter decides to eat some insulation of a hot wire, may not fry him - but could fry you. If box is bonded to ground, will fry him and should trip breaker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
portcity_gt Posted September 5, 2015 Author Share Posted September 5, 2015 My thinking is if this temporary ground fixes the gfci issue there might be insufficient ground going to the neutral buss, and ill address that.The ground wire coming up the pole goes into the meter, and the meter box is connected to the breaker box with metal conduit. Im not sure if the neutral buss is electrically connected to the box or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega Arch Posted September 5, 2015 Share Posted September 5, 2015 ... The ground wire coming up the pole goes into the meter, and the meter box is connected to the breaker box with metal conduit. ..... That metal conduit wasn't showing in any of these pictures. That will suffice for grounding the enclosure. So takes us back to the tripping.... Which stinks... Since you are only using at night, and the tripping isn't occurring until the next day, you might try using a timer between the GFCIs and your controller. GFCI just might not like the constant slow leak of electronics being on without draining any power. Kinda like the half wave lights needing snubbers on gen 1 controllers. That would be an easy check right now when there's only 1 controller hooked up. I don't really know either, just trying to work through it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega Arch Posted September 5, 2015 Share Posted September 5, 2015 No, you said fan stays on. That should negate the previous thought. Have you plugged into the other circuit and had the tripping the next day too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
portcity_gt Posted September 5, 2015 Author Share Posted September 5, 2015 Yes both sides will trip.I just checked...and it did NOT trip last night, now to see if it makes it to 8pm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega Arch Posted September 5, 2015 Share Posted September 5, 2015 great. what did you do differently yesterday? were they still grounded directly to the ground wire on the pole? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
portcity_gt Posted September 5, 2015 Author Share Posted September 5, 2015 Yes, only thing different is the ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega Arch Posted September 5, 2015 Share Posted September 5, 2015 Well, looks like you only pulled the neutral into this breaker box. For grounding the enclosure, that metal conduit should be fine. But like your recent deduction, I'm with you. With your grounding outside the enclosure to the bare wire and not tripping the GFCI, you may have found it. I would try to pull a ground wire from the other box's ground into this breaker box and put it on the neutral bar too. Or, using a proper clamp, tap off that ground wire on the pole and take it into the breaker box similar to the receptacle grounds you temporarily did. But all individual circuit grounds need to be inside the box. If you have a neutral break, electrons could be flowing through the ground wire... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now