3000W Chinese Gensets Info.

wla7 wrote:
I have a 2012 American Coach Revolution that I store in a garage. During prolonged storage I have connected the coach's electrical cord, with a 30 amp adapter, to my Champion generator. The coach's electrical system will not accept power from the Champion generator. The message from the coach system is "no ground". The storage area is a metal building so I connected the generator ground to one of the metal pillars. The message from the coach system is, again, "no ground". Also, is there any chance that the power from the Champion generator will or could damage the many computers in the coach?

IF (and that is a big IF.....) the metal pillars are truly tied to an electrically grounded source like an 8' galvanized or copper coated ground rod, you may safely "bond" the neutral on you generator to the grounding terminal and run a secure grounding wire from the generator to the metal building ground. Under this particular situation you will be providing power to the RV with the same single true grounding source as your 120 VAC commercial power. A "simple" method of making a temporary bond is to purchase a 120 VAC 3-prong plug. Run a #12 wire about a foot long from the silver screw and another #12 wire from the green screw. - nothing goes to the gold screw. Use a red wire nut to tie the wire from the silver screw and green screw together with a single #12 wire that goes to the earth ground. Now, plug it into a 120 volt outlet on the generator. You will be both bonded and grounded as long as the plug is in the outlet.

The so called neutral on a generator does not have the benefit of a true earth ground and as such should NOT be bonded when connected to a RV - which has separate neutral and grounding bus bars. Bonding without the benefit of a true electrical ground will put the metal frame on your RV at an electrical potential ranging from 60 to 120 volts. Not a very inviting situation when you touch the RV metal and earth ground at the same time.

The Champion is a "synchronous" generator and derives its wave form by the timing of the spinning 8 or 12 pole rotor (armature). Since each pole leads-lags the ones on either side there will be some distortion to the output wave form - meaning it is not a perfectly formed AC sine wave. But, unless you are still using old analog TV sets or charging bricks with transformers your risk of damaging anything in your RV is slim to none. Modern switching power supplies are purposely designed to run from anything between 40 and 80 Hz and 90 to 240 volts. Stories about "dirty power" from generators harming electronic equipment and computers would only be true if you were using a Commodore 64 or Atari 800.

There is one exception though........ should the AVR (Automatic Voltage Regulator) on the synchronous generator croak the voltage supplied to the RV can spike to as much as 170 volts frying equipment like your refrigerator control board, possibly your converter, fans, heaters, etc. Many Champion models have a built-in VoltGuard circuit that shuts down the engine if the voltage should go over 140. If your generator is not equipped with the VoltGuard it is advisable to purchase a Kill-A-Volt protection module from SuperGenProducts even if your "Coach System" also provides over/under voltage protection. The Kill-A-Volt will provide over-voltage protection to all of the generator outlets. The good news is AVR's rarely fail except during extreme heat and high loads. The combination of both - like running the generator fully loaded in 100 degree heat with an A/C and converter turned on - can spell sudden death.