larry cad
ohio
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Salvo is giving you good advice. A lot of your confusion is due to terminology. On the DC bus you have a PLUS and MINUS. You ground the minus or negative to the frame. In the AC circuit you have HOT, NEUTRAL, and GROUND. You connect the ground to the frame. You do not connect the ground and neutral together in the trailer. You do connect the ground and neutral together at the generator as was described above with a dummy plug.
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webdr
Atlanta
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Wow. The dummy plug on the generator is new to me. So your saying if i dont put a dummy plug on the generator, it will make the neutral hot in the trailer? What is going to happen if i dont do this?
I use this trailer for hauling model airplanes. Out of all the enclosed trailers ive seen at fly-ins, ive never seen any guys running a dummy plug on their generators.
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enblethen
Moses Lake, WA
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The inverter style gensets have a floating neutral. Putting a meter lead in each of the blades to ground normally would show 65 volts or there abouts. Since the rig's neutral is isolated from ground there is no shock hazard. Putting the jumper in a dummy plug will ground the neutral at the source as required by the NEC. This will allow test plugs to indicate the system is wired properly.
Most people do not have a circuit analyzer or energy management sytem when running a small incerter style genset.
This is the style of unit I have in my rig. When connected to my Honda 2000 it will alarm saying I have an improper connection or fault.
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webdr
Atlanta
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Got it. A little reading helped as well. I really had noidea about the floating neutral and ground on my little honda inverter. Learn something new everyday.
http://blog.rv.net/2009/10/generator-bonding-and-grounding/
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larry cad
ohio
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I want to offer my congratulations to all who contributed here. This is one of the best electrical help threads I have seen on RV.net.
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webdr
Atlanta
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Thanks Larry as well. Your article helped me fully understand the "why" and the "how".
Now, heres the crazy part. Some guys on another forum had this to say with regards to attaching the ground wire of the 120 ac to the frame:
Dirt Brakes;1461419 wrote:For 12v you can ground wherever you want. I prefer running a direct ground back to the battery as opposed to using the frame.
For anyone running 120vac in their trailer you CANNOT ground to the trailer frame. IT MUST BE A ISOLATED SYSTEM just like in a RV. Grounding to the frame could cause a difference of potential if someone leans against the metal outside of your trailer while being grounded (the actual ground they are walking on) this can be deadly.
Bill
iflyos;1461705 wrote:Just wanted to make sure you saw what Bill posted. You DO NOT want the AC ground tied to the frame of the trailer in any instance. Period. You are asking for trouble if you do this..it's only a matter of time until someone gets a shock from your trailer if you attempt to tie the AC ground to the frame.
Why would these guys be so set in NOT grounding to the frame?
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Salvo
California
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If neutral is bonded and ground connected to frame then there is a shock hazard. Bonding (connecting neutral to ac ground) is controversial. You now introduce an added shock hazard. Very few portable generators have a bonded neutral. There is no bonding requirement for your generator.
I would keep away from it. That said, if you want GFCI then you must bond the gen.
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webdr
Atlanta
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oh man. I thought I had it all figured out. you just blew my mind.
So your saying:
honda 2000i with neutral and ground connected, AND trailer breaker box ground bus attached to the frame will introduce an added shock hazard?
For the record I understand NOT to bond the neutral and ground in the trailer, I thought at the generator was ok, and 120vac ground from the breaker box to the frame was correct...
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smkettner
Southern California
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NO. Just plug into the honda or any other portable generator. Do not tie the generator neutral and ground. Just start it, plug in, enjoy. No wiring changes or additions.
On board built in is different but that is not what you have.
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webdr
Atlanta
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why does larry's article cover bonding a floating ground invertor such as mine?
http://blog.rv.net/2009/10/generator-bonding-and-grounding/
Also many comments on the article state people's trailers wouldnt accept generator power until they put a dummy plug on the generator.
And finally, Salvo stated earlier that I should run the dummy plug. You are saying not to?
Should I just NOT ground anything in this trailer? LOL
The guys whom I know that havent grounded AC or DC in their trailers are still alive after a few years of use. heh..
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