I just purchased a 3500 Watt Inverter Generator to use while dry camping. When connecting it to my Progressive EMS-PT50X Surge Protector I get the code for an Open Ground and the unit will not energize my RV. The instructions for the Inverter say to connect the ground lug to a grounding rod driven into the Earth for proper grounding. This weekend we were parked on blacktop with no way to connect to ground as stated above.Is there any easy way to remedy this situation? Can I just connect the RV to the Inverter, bypassing the surge protector? Any help is much appreciated!

I would use the PI EMS bypass with an inverter/generator.Could make a bonding plug where the Neutral and Ground pins are tied together and plug it into the generator.Earth ground does nothing.

When the EMS says bad ground, what it really means is that ground is not bonded to neutral. It has no way of determining if the ground (and bonded neutral) are at earth potential or not.Portable generators generally have floating outputs, with the ground not being bonded to neutral. Time2roll said it well; you can either bypass the surge protector with its little switch on the remote (and trust the generator to put out decent power), or else make a bonding plug to also plug into the generator and bond neutral to ground.

DrewE wrote:Portable generators generally have floating outputs, with the ground not being bonded to neutral. Time2roll said it well; you can either bypass the surge protector with its little switch on the remote (and trust the generator to put out decent power), or else make a bonding plug to also plug into the generator and bond neutral to ground.Of the two choices I preferred to leave my EMS in the system and simply bonded my EU2000i output with a G-N bonding plug which solves this issue entirely but still allows the EMS to protect the trailer's electrical system.To the OP - the title of your thread is confusing in that what you're talking about is an inverter generator, not an inverter. If it were in inverter the advice to use a G-N bonding plug wouldn't be so definitive as some inverters specifically warn against bonding, depending on the internal design of the inverter.

I would leave the PT50X unit out of the circuit. The PI folks may not honor the warranty if you connect it to a generator.

Inverter Problem | Good Sam Community

pianotuna
Nomad III
Nov 07, 2017
I would leave the PT50X unit out of the circuit. The PI folks may not honor the warranty if you connect it to a generator.
Old-Biscuit
Explorer III
Nov 07, 2017
SoundGuy
Explorer
Nov 07, 2017
DrewE wrote:
Portable generators generally have floating outputs, with the ground not being bonded to neutral. Time2roll said it well; you can either bypass the surge protector with its little switch on the remote (and trust the generator to put out decent power), or else make a bonding plug to also plug into the generator and bond neutral to ground.

Of the two choices I preferred to leave my EMS in the system and simply bonded my EU2000i output with a G-N bonding plug which solves this issue entirely but still allows the EMS to protect the trailer's electrical system.

To the OP - the title of your thread is confusing in that what you're talking about is an inverter generator, not an inverter. If it were in inverter the advice to use a G-N bonding plug wouldn't be so definitive as some inverters specifically warn against bonding, depending on the internal design of the inverter.
DrewE
Explorer II
Nov 07, 2017
When the EMS says bad ground, what it really means is that ground is not bonded to neutral. It has no way of determining if the ground (and bonded neutral) are at earth potential or not.

Portable generators generally have floating outputs, with the ground not being bonded to neutral. Time2roll said it well; you can either bypass the surge protector with its little switch on the remote (and trust the generator to put out decent power), or else make a bonding plug to also plug into the generator and bond neutral to ground.
time2roll
Nomad
Nov 07, 2017
I would use the PI EMS bypass with an inverter/generator.
Could make a bonding plug where the Neutral and Ground pins are tied together and plug it into the generator.
Earth ground does nothing.

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