50amp outlet in the garage
Long story short here. I am trying to put a 50 amp outlet in for my 5th wheel. There are no provisions for a ground and no really good way to get one anywhere close by. Is it possible to hook up the g...
Forum Discussion
Hi,
You need to explain a little more. Do you have a sub-panel in your garage, and you are attempting to wire in a receptacle for the RV? Or is this your MAIN panel, where the neutral and grounds are both connected to the same bussbar?
If it is a subpanel, then the ground and neutral MUST be separate. However if it is the MAIN Panel, then the ground and white are connected together!
An easy way to check is look at the ground and white wire bussbars. If they have both grounds and whites on the same bussbar, it is a main panel, while any subpanel should be separated.
So if you are at the main, connect both the ground and white wires to the bussbar. If you are in a sub panel, than the white wires all get connected to a white wire bussbar, with a white wire going back to the main panel ground. Your green wire can be connected to the frame of the subpanel, and I there is not one there already, install a grounded bussbar, attached to the bare metal frame of the sub panel, and run a ground wire all the way back to the main panel for grounding reasons only (not a power conductor).
At my uncle's house, I had no choice but to install a ground bussbar in his garage, separated from the house with about 20', and only 2 wires going overhead from the house to the garage, wrapped around a steel cable that served as neutral. So I bought a 6' long copper ground rod from Home Depot, put it in my 1/2" drill, and drove it into the dirt near the panel. It went in with a little pushing and running the dill to break the friction. Then I ran some green wire up to the subpanel, and to a ground buss that I installed there. After that, all the receptacles in his garage where actually grounded! Before they where not.
Good luck,
Fred.
You need to explain a little more. Do you have a sub-panel in your garage, and you are attempting to wire in a receptacle for the RV? Or is this your MAIN panel, where the neutral and grounds are both connected to the same bussbar?
If it is a subpanel, then the ground and neutral MUST be separate. However if it is the MAIN Panel, then the ground and white are connected together!
An easy way to check is look at the ground and white wire bussbars. If they have both grounds and whites on the same bussbar, it is a main panel, while any subpanel should be separated.
So if you are at the main, connect both the ground and white wires to the bussbar. If you are in a sub panel, than the white wires all get connected to a white wire bussbar, with a white wire going back to the main panel ground. Your green wire can be connected to the frame of the subpanel, and I there is not one there already, install a grounded bussbar, attached to the bare metal frame of the sub panel, and run a ground wire all the way back to the main panel for grounding reasons only (not a power conductor).
At my uncle's house, I had no choice but to install a ground bussbar in his garage, separated from the house with about 20', and only 2 wires going overhead from the house to the garage, wrapped around a steel cable that served as neutral. So I bought a 6' long copper ground rod from Home Depot, put it in my 1/2" drill, and drove it into the dirt near the panel. It went in with a little pushing and running the dill to break the friction. Then I ran some green wire up to the subpanel, and to a ground buss that I installed there. After that, all the receptacles in his garage where actually grounded! Before they where not.
Good luck,
Fred.
