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Jeremy,
Most modern portable "contractor's special" generators have GFCIs, because seldom are they used with a ground connection. The GFCI is incorporated as a safety feature and the neutral is integrally bonded to the chassis of the generator. By hooking it to an inverter with its own neutral-ground bond, you automatically create a ground loop and the GFCI trips. These generators are designed to be a sole source of AC, and not to be wired into an existing system with its own neutral-ground bond. Typically only higher-quality generators allow the neutral to be unbonded from the chassis (i.e. floated), and those that do don't have the GFCI. There's no fully Code-compliant solution of which I'm aware. Ideally, you would move the generator far enough from anything grounded to the main system, treat the gennie as a "separate structure", ground it to its own rod, use its internal bond, and hardwire the output without a grounding conductor between the two systems. In many installations this approach isn't possible. Years ago I asked John Wiles about this. His advice then was to connect all conductors between the gennie and the system - one or two hots, neutral and grounding - and allow the ground loop. The grounding conductor would carry a portion of the neutral conductor's current between the two. The logic is that this is safest option when it can't be wired correctly. To do this you'd bypass (or replace with a standard receptacle) the GFCI. Make sure that the neutral and ground are bonded at the mains panel; otherwise you're dependent on the gennie to make the bond. Allan Allan Sindelar A
Certified B CorporationTM
Wrenches I recently visited a site where their backup gen has GFCI outlets used for input to the FX inverter. They finally tried to charge the batteries, and it trips the GFCI. As a test I replaced it with a standard outlet and it works fine. I have never used a gen with GFCIs, In fact most are hard wired. Is the outlet the problem or is there really a ground fault? Is there a safety issue? I'm pretty sure the neutral and ground are bonded at the mains panel.Thanks Jeremy Rodriguez All Solar Sent by Jeremy's iPhone. Sorry for typos and shorthand! _______________________________________________ List sponsored by Home Power magazine List Address: [email protected] Change email address & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List rules & etiquette: www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out participant bios: www.members.re-wrenches.org |
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