3000W Chinese Gensets Info.

professor95 wrote:

toprudder wrote:
You mean neither of the conductors is referenced to ground? Not correct, they have 230v with one hot and one neutral. It is one leg of a three phase 400v system with a neutral, just like there is a 208/120v three phase system in the US. It is also 50 Hz.

No, I didn't mean that at all.

Before I posted that, I thought you were saying both load conductors are hot relative to ground. After I posted, I realized that you probably meant "derived" to mean a center-tap, two hot wire setup. My bad.

You have a lot of knowledge on the subject and do a good job explaining the technical stuff. I, on the other hand, know just enough sometimes to get me in trouble. :)

Someone mentioned the wiring terminology in the UK. The UK has put a lot of thought into safety. I like the plugs and outlets they have. Large, but very well engineered. The plugs have fuses built in, that protect the wire and product exterior to the plug. In the US, we can plug a 16 gauge zip-cord product or extension cord into a 20 amp circuit. I have never thought that was a good idea. In the UK, they can plug smaller wire than that into an outlet, but the fuse in the plug protects it. Also, the socket won't allow something to be stuck into just one of the holes, both holes have to have something inserted simultaneously before it will work. Both prongs are also insulated except for the very tips, which prevent someone from touching the prongs and getting shocked while the plug is part-way inserted.

I've heard (from someone that I trust) that they also wire the convenience outlet circuits differently than the US. As I understand it, they loop the branch circuit around to all the outlets then come back to the breaker. This gives two paths to the load (reduced voltage drop) and a bad connection at any one point in the system does not create a potential problem (series arc). I have not verified this, however. Perhaps someone else here can confirm that.

The wiring diagram you posted of the neutral/ground bonding is good. The important thing to note is that the RV should be considered a subpanel, and no subpanels in any residential wiring should have the neutral bonded to ground. It only happens at the main panel. However, in my RV, the built-in genset DOES have the neutral and ground bonded. When operating from the generator, the generator IS treated as the main panel I guess. The transfer switch properly isolates the shoreline from the RV system when operating from the generator. But that makes me wonder, if I have the shoreline connected while I run the generator (which I do when I perform the monthly exercise of the generator) is the RV still grounded through the shoreline. I can't think of a good reason why the ground would not stay connected. Hmmmm, I wonder. I'll have to check that out sometime.

Bob R.