Forum Discussion

Explorer

Jul 01, 2015

Honda EU2000i question

I have 2 EU2000's wired in parallel; one with a 30 amp, 3 prong, twist plug. I've used these for a few years and am now concerned about the power output on the 30 amp plug. I recently purchased a Surge Guard and it shows reverse polarity when I put it in line with generator. I checked the pigtail wiring and it is correct, bottom left blade positive, bottom right neutral (white), and and top 'L' ground (green). When I probed the generator plug, the output was 124 volts on the bottom left while probing either of the other 2 as ground. However, while probing the 2 grounds, it produced 60 volts. Shore power has no power on the grounding plugs. Is this normal for a generator or could there be a wiring malfunction inside the generator?

21 Replies

RustyJC
Explorer
Jul 01, 2015
The Honda EU2000i (and the Yamaha EF2000is, a pair of which I use in parallel) have floating (ungrounded) neutrals. The Progressive Industries power protection system in our 5th wheel will error out with an E9 error message if the 5th wheel is plugged straight into the paralleled Yamahas' 30 amp outlet when a floating neutral is present.

Without getting into a discussion of ground loops and code requirements that neutral be bonded to ground ONLY at the main power distribution panel, the solution to this issue is to use a Neutral-to-Ground bonding plug in one of the 120VAC 15/20 amp outlets of one of the generators. These plugs (which you can easily make yourself) jumper the neutral terminal to the ground terminal at the generator, thus making the generators' 30 amp receptacle look like a 30 amp shore power receptacle to the power protection system.

With neutral and ground bonded, the meter readings on the 30 amp receptacle should look like this:

The Neutral-to-Ground bonding plug looks like this (cover removed):

Rusty