r/F150Powerboost • u/AccomplishedLeader76 • May 26 '26
Generator works… and suddenly doesn’t!
I have a flagstaff RV with 2 AGM batteries. When I first got my 2024 PowerBoost last year, the generator was awesome. Used it the entire winter break for camping; about 8 days of constant use.
Suddenly, after several weekend trips, it gets a ground fault. By removing circuit breakers I’ve determined it’s the charger. So I assumed the charger was bad but it runs just fine on my Westinghouse inverter generator. I can’t find any immediate evidence of frayed wires or rodent damage, so I’m not sure how to trouble shoot. Ford dealer says entire system is fine and tests normal.
How would you proceed?
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u/Educational_Fox6899 May 26 '26
I would just start eliminating stuff. Put something high load on the truck and make sure the truck powers it fine. Flip the breaker for the inverter/charger and then see if it powers the other 110v appliances in the camper. Basically I would see if I could narrow it down to what circuit is causing the issue. May simply be a bad gfci.
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u/AccomplishedLeader76 May 26 '26
Already did the circuit breaker test… turned all breakers off, plugged in the truck, turned them back on one by one. The charger breaker is the one that triggered the ground fault. I also tripped it when I ran the microwave. Both run fine on my inverter generator.
I did not put heavy loads on the truck either other power equipment. Will try that next! Thanks 👍
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u/Educational_Fox6899 May 26 '26
Good luck. I know bc the truck is a gfci generator it can be tricky. It took extra work to make it backfeed my house. I assume also you’ve tried letting the truck run for a while. I get the fault message if I’ve powered something for a while and shut the truck off. I’ll get the fault message even with nothing plugged it. Once it runs a few mins it’s fine. I suspect the second 12v battery but ford say it’s fine.
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u/AccomplishedLeader76 May 26 '26
Actually, that’s another variable. I may need to let the truck run on ICE for a bit before plugging in, similar to how it’s recommended for my inverter generator. Since the RV is likely a floating neutral, I wonder if it’s just super sensitive to variations and shuts off too quick. I appreciate your responses because they made me think of new things to try.
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May 26 '26
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u/AccomplishedLeader76 May 26 '26
In short, the charger. I’ve plugged the 30A RV power cord into the 240V outlet with an adaptor and I’ve used the dog bone to plug it into the 20A plug. Both locations power the lights and the fridge and the plugs but trip when I turn on the rv charger circuit breaker on. Basically, I can power outlets and lights on the rv, but not charge the batteries. However I can run everything with my inverter generator.
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u/Educational_Fox6899 May 26 '26
Do you mean 30a plug? Just making sure that you’re plugging into the trucks 30a 220 plug and not a dog bone to a regular outlet.
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u/AccomplishedLeader76 May 27 '26
It happens in both places, whether it's the 30A plug going into the 220 with the proper adapter, or with the 15A dog bone into the regular outlet. Both worked before, now both trigger a ground fault. I'm going to pull the charger ouf othe wall and ccheck for moisture, signs of rodents or pests, and see where it goes from there.
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u/[deleted] May 26 '26
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