After 3 months of trouble free L1 charging, tripping GFCI

[s_c]

Monday morning I got a notice that charge didn’t complete

I’ve been level 1 charging with Ford mobile charge cable for about three months to top off my short commute. The GFCI on the plug had tripped. I reset it and went to resume and it trips in about 10 seconds. I took a break for a couple days and the problem persists

Unfortunately I don’t have access to the breaker as I’m in a multi-unit rental.
Any ideas what could have changed?

I plan to test the wall plug with another 12A load as well as to test my charger on another outlet so see if either of those give info on the issue

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[Monkey]

GFCI outlets can wear out if they're under constant regular load, especially cheaper grade ones. You could have a wire connection coming loose or other issue. This is probably something for an electrician to look at. And should be the responsibility of your landlord or building super. If it's an outdoor rated outlet, it should be better able to handle this, but if wires start wiggling loose this is often the first sign of trouble. Wires vibrate as electricity passes through them. Over time they can wiggle out of certain connections or begin to arc and will scorch or even start a fire. Get it checked out.

 

[hturnerfamily]

since it's the GFCI that is activating it's own protection, it doesn't sound like your vehicle's charging is the issue(amperage)...

but, it's possible that now someone else 'upstream' of the GFCI outlet is causing the issue, or another device in your own space that is now using that same circuit.

yes, living in a rental apartment or complex is not yet conducive to owning and charging EV vehicles - you don't really have your own control of your power needs.

as already stated, GFCI's do wear down over time, and can start to activate protection measures prematurely... just like any breaker, itself, can wear down over time.

Us who 'camp' in our RVs run into similar issues with campground GFCI receptacles, as the camper/rv already has it's own GFCI circuits - sometimes they don't 'play well' with each other. : /

 

[metroshot]

Remember, GFCI outlets are commonly daisy chained to other outlets and are prone to wear out as noted above by others.

My current house has multiple outlets on GFCI controlled by 1 outlet so it's confusing to know which outlet controls which upstream outlets.

Since all EV chargers have built in GFCI, so it's a tricky situation to use an outlet that also has GFCI.

I'd change out the outlet or move the charger onto a non GFCI controlled outlet.

When I was at a rental house years ago, I removed the GFCI upstream outlets and installed a dedicated non GFCI 20A outlet which was needed as my L1 was 16A draw version (Duosida dual voltage) charger.

 

[chl]

Monday morning I got a notice that charge didn’t complete

I’ve been level 1 charging with Ford mobile charge cable for about three months to top off my short commute. The GFCI on the plug had tripped. I reset it and went to resume and it trips in about 10 seconds. I took a break for a couple days and the problem persists

Unfortunately I don’t have access to the breaker as I’m in a multi-unit rental.
Any ideas what could have changed?

I plan to test the wall plug with another 12A load as well as to test my charger on another outlet so see if either of those give info on the issue

So it wasn't a breaker in the panel that tripped since you say you don't have access to that - it seems it was the reset button on the GFCI outlet itself?

So there are a lot of reasons a GFCI outlet circuit will trip repeatedly, see:

https://www.davidgrayonline.com/blo...cuit-interrupter-gfci-outlets-keeps-tripping/

Like others have said, it could be something in the daisy chain of outlets downstream from the GFCI or a defective GFCI.

I've had some that have lasted over 20 years, but with others, newer ones, I have had a few that have had issues in short order - made in a foreign country with little quality control I imagine.

I suggest you should try a different outlet if there is one available somewhere, a friend's house or a service station that will let you - that will narrow it down and eliminate the remote possibility that the L1 charging circuit from Ford has an issue - it could happen, but unlikely.

You don't actually NEED the outlet to have GFCI to work with your L1 charging, it has it built in, but the code requires outdoor outlets be GFCI. If there is a different outlet nearby that isn't GFCI, you could try that instead.

I have one GFCI outlet that trips if there is a storm lightning strike nearby.

 

[s_c]

Thanks for the replies. Haven’t had a chance to test an outlet at another location yet.

I have found more reports on other ev forums of people having issues with these gfci outlets going bad so if chargers works out I may have to petition to get that changed

 

[Cosmacelf]

Thanks for the replies. Haven’t had a chance to test an outlet at another location yet.

I have found more reports on other ev forums of people having issues with these gfci outlets going bad so if chargers works out I may have to petition to get that changed

It's almost certainly that the GFCI receptacle went bad. They only last like five years typically.

 

[s_c]

It's almost certainly that the GFCI receptacle went bad. They only last like five years typically.

That was it. Got the unit changed out and we’re live again
I hope this one lasts at least a couple years. I read someone complaining about a certain brand tripping again quickly after replacement on a Tesla forum and got a recommendation to use an Eaton so that’s what went in
Thanks y’all!

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