I have an electric golf cart and I have it rigged up with an aftermarket smart charger that stays mounted in the golf cart under the seat and is kept plugged in all the time to keep it charged. The electronics in the charger prevent it from overcharging. The charger is plugged into an exterior receptacle (a standard receptacle) in my carport that is protected by a GFCI receptacle upstream of it. Yesterday, I was washing the golf cart and I got the charger slightly wet by mistake (I had it unplugged). I dried off the charger and plugged it back in and immediately the GFCI tripped. I figured I needed to let everything dry out and would try it again the next day, and that's what I did, and everything is working properly now. I'll be more careful next time I wash it. Anyway, there is a GFCI receptacle, around the corner from the carport and on an exterior wall of the house, and I assumed that it was the GFCI that tripped when I had plugged in the charger. But it turns out that the receptacle into which the golf cart charger is plugged is not fed by that just mentioned exterior GFCI receptacle, but instead, is fed by a GFCI on the interior wall directly behind the golf cart receptacle wall. That is where I have my utility room and in that room is all my home networking equipment, internet gateway, and TV cable modem, and those networking devices all are plugged into that GFCI receptacle that feeds the golf cart charger receptacle. There are no other receptacles in that utility room. So when the golf cart charger tripped the GFCI, all my home networking went out too and it took about 15 minutes to get it all back up and online again. There are plenty of other scenarios in my use of tools, etc. where I could see myself popping that GFCI, and I'd like to not have my home networking devices affected every time. Here's my question: If I replace that conventional receptacle that now powers the golf cart charger with its own GFCI receptacle, and THAT GFCI is still fed by the GFCI in the utility room, would that new GFCI trip first and therefore prevent the utility room GFCI from tripping if I were to repeat the boneheaded move of getting the golf cart charger wet or if I were to do something else that would trip a GFCI?
Question about feeding a GFCI receptacle from another GFCI receptacle that feeds "critical" home networking equipment.
- Thread starter JEG in Raleigh
- Start date
Help Support House Repair Talk:
I would go to the inside GFCI and move the wires that feed the outside from LOAD to LINE. That will provide non GFCI power to the garage outlet. Then I would replace the garage regular outlet to a GFCI.
Doing that there would be no chance of a double trip and if you get a trip at the garage you will only have to reset it at the garage
Doing that there would be no chance of a double trip and if you get a trip at the garage you will only have to reset it at the garage
Gotcha, thanks very much!
Depending on the GFCI you have inside you may have a double slot on each wire clamp and you should be able to do it as I described. If the other LINE spot is used or you just don’t like using the clamp to continue the circuit you can make a pigtail and wire nut in the back of the box. This sometimes makes it simpler down the line for someone to replace the GFCI inside the house as it doesn’t have a bunch of wires to get mixed up.
I would likely do the pigtail myself if the inside box was a deep box and had room for the pigtails in the back.
YW for the help and welcome to the forum.
I would likely do the pigtail myself if the inside box was a deep box and had room for the pigtails in the back.
YW for the help and welcome to the forum.
Yes, I'm aware of that possibilty, thank you. I've done a good bit of wiring and know how to pigtail. Thanks again.
