Portable Generator open ground

wnjj wrote:

185EZ wrote:
There's continuity between all of them.
upper left on the 20A and lower right and left on 30A
same with upper right pins on 20A and continuity between lower right and left on 30A
also continuity between all grounds

Yes it's a misprint of 240V in the specs.
There isn't even a switch for it.
The old Durostar had the 240V switch and that was one of the reasons I wanted the EMS in case the switch was accidently turned on

This makes even less sense. Of course when I say "continuity" I'm assuming an ohm meter that's reading near 0 ohms, not a handful or more through a coil. I should have been more clear.

Also, without your bonding plug in there, the grounds should connect to nothing but each other and the ground lug.

Correct
grounds connect to nothing but each other
I think I said it wrong.:(
I should have left the "ground" part out now that i look at it

185EZ wrote:
There's continuity between all of them.
upper left on the 20A and lower right and left on 30A
same with upper right pins on 20A and continuity between lower right and left on 30A
also continuity between all grounds

Yes it's a misprint of 240V in the specs.
There isn't even a switch for it.
The old Durostar had the 240V switch and that was one of the reasons I wanted the EMS in case the switch was accidently turned on

This makes even less sense. Of course when I say "continuity" I'm assuming an ohm meter that's reading near 0 ohms, not a handful or more through a coil. I should have been more clear.

Also, without your bonding plug in there, the grounds should connect to nothing but each other and the ground lug.

This thread reminds me of a similar problem in our RV.

When drycamping sometimes we fire up our small 650 watt Honda non-inverter generator to charge the batteries and run/charge small items, instead of using the large built-in generator.

When doing this, the propane/120V refrigerator will not switch to electric - it stays on propane.

Could this be that the Norcold refrigerator's control board is sensitive to the little generator's output not having it's neutral bonded to it's ground ... as is being discussed here?

ordered tester yesterday because I can't find mine.

Did you start and test the output of the genset? The little plug in tester works good for this. Use an adapter to test the 30 amp TT receptacle.

There's continuity between all of them.
upper left on the 20A and lower right and left on 30A
same with upper right pins on 20A and continuity between lower right and left on 30A
also continuity between all grounds

Yes it's a misprint of 240V in the specs.
There isn't even a switch for it.
The old Durostar had the 240V switch and that was one of the reasons I wanted the EMS in case the switch was accidently turned on

enblethen wrote:
Genset is not an inverter style so the neutral should be tied inside.
I would start over with nothing plugged into genset and verify it is wired correctly.
Also be aware the 30 amp receptacle could be 240 volt!!! That is according to reading but genset is marked 120 RV.
Something is definitely wrong with specs!

Tied inside makes sense, but what I meant was that the 20A receptacles selected one of the output legs as neutral and the 30A receptacle selected the opposite one. Since it is unbonded neutral vs hot is arbitrarily but once one of them hits a receptacle it isn’t anymore.

Check for continuity between the upper left pins on the 20A receptacles and the lower right one on the 30A. If they are not connected the genset is wired wrong and I would fix it.

I’m guessing there are pairs of like colored wires that just get connected to the receptacles without regard for hot/neutral.

enblethen wrote:
Genset is not an inverter style so the neutral should be tied inside.
I would start over with nothing plugged into genset and verify it is wired correctly.
Also be aware the 30 amp receptacle could be 240 volt!!! That is according to reading but genset is marked 120 RV.
Something is definitely wrong with specs!

Consumer portable generators are not usually bonded, but have a floating output. That makes it practical to connect as a backup generator in a house via a transfer switch of some sort. (A bonded generator would not be usable because it would lead to the system being bonded in two places, a no-no per the NEC.)

Jobsite generators I think are supposed to have a bonded neutral, but I'm not positive on that. Occasionally one may find one that has a switchable bond. At any rate, most portable generators one buys do not have a neutral-ground bond.

Edit: Meant to also say that the 240V part of the Amazon specification does seem to be in error. The picture clearly shows a 120V only generator (one single circuit breaker, only 120V sockets).

I wouldn't bet my life on it being 100% correct, but the specs in the manual say 120 volt only, and the wiring diagram shows the 3 receptacles in parallel, and unbonded. The manual unfortunately does not contain the words "neutral" or "bond(ed)", and "ground" is used only with respect to earth ground. Even with brands like Honda, the specs in the manual differ from the advertised specs (e.g. advertising gives power rating in watts, the manual gives it in VA).

Genset is not an inverter style so the neutral should be tied inside.
I would start over with nothing plugged into genset and verify it is wired correctly.
Also be aware the 30 amp receptacle could be 240 volt!!! That is according to reading but genset is marked 120 RV.
Something is definitely wrong with specs!