Yamaha 3000 iSEB and gfi

Hi Wayne,

Today it did not trip the gfi. GRRRR you are truly right about narrowing in on the problem. It just might be to do with the fridge. I think I had it auto yesterday while starting the genny. Today I switched from propane to auto after the generator was started.

Now, if I can remember that with my pea sized brain--I'll be able to duplicate the fault.

Something is not right, but you knew that already. If the Yamaha inverter generators have the same degree of output isolation as the Honda's, it should be impossible to cause a GFCI trip with a single ground fault, even if you try. If the GFCI itself isn't bad, I would think that there has to be a problem downstream of the GFCI. GFCIs trip from hot-neutral imbalances or neutral-ground leakages. If everything upstream of the GFCI is working correctly it won't be possible to create a hot-neutral imbalance with a single downstream fault. A neutral-ground leakage I would expect would still cause a trip, so I'd suspect that first because that's the only single fault that would cause the trip. If there were leakage from one of the power outputs to ground in the generator or adapter, then a hot-neutral imbalance downstream of the GFCI would cause a trip. Not being a hard failure, this one might be pretty "interesting" to zero in on.

Hi SWD,

Thanks for that tidbit of information. I hope you are having a grand time.

Hi Don.....Sorry I didnt get here sooner. Was transporting the boat up to the Lake. My Yami does trip the GFI too....and usually its because of the floating neutral and that the GFI gets old and a tad too sensitive. I replaced my GFI and it made a difference. Either way its not your Yami but the GFI.

Hi,

I'm not going to void the warranty.

On the first running of the genny the gfi did not trip.

On the next two times the gfi did trip--but resets and operates well after that. I.E. it doesn't "flip off" again.

greatwhitenorth69 wrote:
Does it trip plugged into shore power? I would try replacing the GFI before ripping into the generator as above poster suggested.

Does it trip plugged into shore power? I would try replacing the GFI before ripping into the generator as above poster suggested.

I have at least four GFI protected circuits in my bus, and they don't trip when running on my Yamaha 3000 iSEB (what a name to type). GFI circuits trip when there is a current difference between hot and neutral, the presumption is that stray currents are going back to ground. Usually the problem is the GFI outlet, but there is a potential issue with the Yamaha - it floats neutral with respect to ground, and code requires that the power source bond neutral and ground - so you may have a neutral/ground bonding thing causing a too-sensitive GFI outlet to have issues. You can make a bonding plug for the 15 amp outlet on the generator that ties neutral to ground, you can do it inside the twist-lock plug or you can take the generator apart and do it inside the generator panel. I would think about that.

Brian