Forum Discussion

brulaz's avatar
brulaz
Explorer
Apr 25, 2017

Inverter Bonding Neutral to Ground

Here's a picture of how a Kisae 2000W inverter's GFCI outlet is wired.

The neutral side is not bonded to socket ground other than through a capacitor, as is the hot side. I guess the caps have something to do with the GFCI? Otherwise there's nothing connected to Grd on the socket internally.

However the neutral is connected to the case ground via a green wire with a big black blob in it. Any ideas what that would be?

And case ground will go to the chassis, so this socket's AC Neutral will go to chassis via the blob.

But over at the trailer's AC distribution centre, AC Grd goes to chassis. AC neutral is not bonded to AC Grd over there.

So it seems AC neutral will be bonded to AC ground via the chassis when this inverter is connected? (Initially will just run an extension cord from the inverter to the trailer's 120V input)

  • Bill_Satellite's avatar
    Bill_Satellite
    Explorer II
    Apr 25, 2017
    While there is not any onboard bonding when NOT inverting, the bonding should be taking place at the RV power pole when plugged into shore power.
  • Dutch_12078's avatar
    Dutch_12078
    Explorer II
    Apr 25, 2017
    RoyB wrote:

    Then later on I had a similar problem using my 1500WATT PSW Inverter feeding my Trailer 120VAC Power Distribution panel using the traler shore power cable so I plugged the BONDING PLUG into one of the empty sockets on the Power Inverter and got the same results...

    Roy Ken

    As Bill wrote in his post, the Kisae bonds the neutral and ground ONLY when it's appropriate to do so when in service. When the RV is connected to shorepower, there should NOT be any onboard neutral/ground bonding.
  • RoyB's avatar
    RoyB
    Explorer II
    Apr 25, 2017
    I had to use a bonding plug on my 2KW Generator to keep my GFCI circuits from popping... I did what I found online being a plastic 120VAC receptacle plug with the GND and NEUTRAL contacts wired together as shown here... Worked fine plugged into the second receptacle socket while I was using the other socket for the load...





    Google Images

    Then later on I had a similar problem using my 1500WATT PSW Inverter feeding my Trailer 120VAC Power Distribution panel using the traler shore power cable so I plugged the BONDING PLUG into one of the empty sockets on the Power Inverter and got the same results...

    Roy Ken
  • RCMAN46's avatar
    RCMAN46
    Explorer
    Apr 25, 2017
    The two blue things that you thought are capacitors are most likely Metal Oxide Varistors that provide transient protection . If you look on the side we can not see there should be a device ID number.
  • Bill_Satellite's avatar
    Bill_Satellite
    Explorer II
    Apr 25, 2017
    The manufacturer says that when the inverter is actually in inverter mode (converting 12V to 120V) the neutral and ground are bonded within the chassis of the inverter. When the inverter is in by-pass mode (120V power coming in and simply passing through the inverter) the neutral and ground are not bonded but needed to be bonded on the incoming 120V service line. That's normal for RV circuits as the neutral and ground are bonded at the power pole when you plug in.
    I also have a Kiase and have been doing a lot of reading about this stuff so this is all based upon the information I have been able to cull from the owners manual and the input from several folks with much more experience than me.
  • 2oldman's avatar
    2oldman
    Explorer II
    Apr 25, 2017
    Can't answer directly, but I did bond n to g on my Prosine.

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