A New Twist in My GFI Story

[W. eWatson]

I think this calls for the replacement of another GFCI (GFI). Same
story above the "Voltage Drop Along a Long Cord". 14 gauge three prong cord.

I used the Stihl electric trimmer closer to the house, and in an outlet
on the back side of the house. After maybe 10 minutes of use, it flipped
the GFI. I'd reset it, and 2 minutes later it had flipped again. That
went on 3-4 more times until I finished the work.

Only 20 minutes earlier I had spent 30 minutes mowing down weeds at a
station 150' from the house, and never had such a problem.

Reading the users manual, I discovered this trimer should be able to
work well with a 14 gauge wire of a length of 150'.

I have a phone call into Xantrex who made my 600HD 12 rechargeable
battery to see if I could get one hour of time out of with the trimmer.
That would help in some extreme areas of the property.

 

[ehsjr]

W. eWatson wrote:

I think this calls for the replacement of another GFCI (GFI). Same
story above the "Voltage Drop Along a Long Cord". 14 gauge three prong
cord.

I used the Stihl electric trimmer closer to the house, and in an outlet
on the back side of the house. After maybe 10 minutes of use, it flipped
the GFI. I'd reset it, and 2 minutes later it had flipped again. That
went on 3-4 more times until I finished the work.

Only 20 minutes earlier I had spent 30 minutes mowing down weeds at a
station 150' from the house, and never had such a problem.

Reading the users manual, I discovered this trimer should be able to
work well with a 14 gauge wire of a length of 150'.

I have a phone call into Xantrex who made my 600HD 12 rechargeable
battery to see if I could get one hour of time out of with the trimmer.
That would help in some extreme areas of the property.

The trimmer trips 2 different GFCIs? No tripping of those GFCIs
when using the mower? If so, your trimmer is defective. Get a new
one.

Ed

 

[W. eWatson]

On 6/14/2011 7:37 PM, ehsjr wrote:

W. eWatson wrote:
I think this calls for the replacement of another GFCI (GFI). Same
story above the "Voltage Drop Along a Long Cord". 14 gauge three prong
cord.

I used the Stihl electric trimmer closer to the house, and in an
outlet on the back side of the house. After maybe 10 minutes of use,
it flipped the GFI. I'd reset it, and 2 minutes later it had flipped
again. That went on 3-4 more times until I finished the work.

Only 20 minutes earlier I had spent 30 minutes mowing down weeds at a
station 150' from the house, and never had such a problem.

Reading the users manual, I discovered this trimer should be able to
work well with a 14 gauge wire of a length of 150'.

I have a phone call into Xantrex who made my 600HD 12 rechargeable
battery to see if I could get one hour of time out of with the
trimmer. That would help in some extreme areas of the property.

The trimmer trips 2 different GFCIs? No tripping of those GFCIs
when using the mower? If so, your trimmer is defective. Get a new
one.

Ed
It only trips on one circuit.

 

[ehsjr]

W. eWatson wrote:

On 6/14/2011 7:37 PM, ehsjr wrote:

W. eWatson wrote:

I think this calls for the replacement of another GFCI (GFI). Same
story above the "Voltage Drop Along a Long Cord". 14 gauge three prong
cord.

I used the Stihl electric trimmer closer to the house, and in an
outlet on the back side of the house. After maybe 10 minutes of use,
it flipped the GFI. I'd reset it, and 2 minutes later it had flipped
again. That went on 3-4 more times until I finished the work.

Only 20 minutes earlier I had spent 30 minutes mowing down weeds at a
station 150' from the house, and never had such a problem.

Reading the users manual, I discovered this trimer should be able to
work well with a 14 gauge wire of a length of 150'.

I have a phone call into Xantrex who made my 600HD 12 rechargeable
battery to see if I could get one hour of time out of with the
trimmer. That would help in some extreme areas of the property.


The trimmer trips 2 different GFCIs? No tripping of those GFCIs
when using the mower? If so, your trimmer is defective. Get a new
one.

Ed

It only trips on one circuit.

Ok. Replace that GFCI. Or, if you don't mind possibly spending the
time twice, remove the GFCI, clean the j-box and GFCI and re-install.
You might get lucky and save the price of a GFCI. I figure the
time is worth the price of a GFCI. GFCIs (actually, any receptacles)
installed in an outdoor j-box pick up "grunge" over the years. That
"grunge" can create a resistive path to ground, and can also muck
up the PCB inside the GFCI.

The first diagnosis action is also a repair action - pull the receptacle
and clean the grunge. Replacing with a new receptacle or GFCI
receptacle instead of re-installing the old one is low cost, since
you have to do the same work whether reinstalling the old one or
replacing it.

Ed