3000W Chinese Gensets Info.
professor95 wrote: EDIT ADDED 45/5/2013- When this thread started in March of 2005, I never expected to see it survive this long or amass the quantity of information that has been shared here. In...
Forum Discussion
Dan,
You have the expected 30 amp service for a motor home. You threw me when you said your outlets were only 2-wire. While the box may say 50 amps, it is only in reference to the total rating. The 50 amp service typical on larger RV's is actually TWO 120 volt 50 amp feeds. Thus, it is capable of providing 100 amps at 120 volts.
As you noted, the neutral and grounding circuits are isolated from each other. The neutral "floats" and the grounding wire goes to the RV frame. True grounding is not achieved until the RV is plugged into shore power. When plugged in, you have bonding at the main service entrance panel for the shore power.
Much debate and differing opinions exist on generator and inverter bonding for use with an RV. I am one that advocates NOT bonding the neutral and frame (grounding point) of a generator to the RV frame. IMPO, when bonding is used without a true earth ground the risk of electrical shock increases. But when you are not bonded a fault from the hot side of the wire to ground will not trip a circuit breaker - which is why many advocate bonding of a generator and inverter. On the other hand, when you bond a generator/inverter you are connecting an ungrounded neutral that is really a hot wire to the RV frame. With this type of connection you can get a pretty good jolt by touching the RV frame and moist earth ground even with no physical connection to earth ground being part of the circuit.
Knowing that the inverter and possibly the generator are internally bonded -- if I were installing your equipment into my RV I would mount the generator and inverter so that they were not in any way attached to the RV frame. This will prohibit their internal bonding from completing the circuit from the RV frame to the neutral.
An alternative is to allow the inverter and generator frames to bond to the RV frame, thus making a physical connection, but NOT using the grounding wire as part of your power feed to the RV (0nly two wires - hot and neutral or black and white).
Please be advised that not everyone agrees with my advice for not bonding a generator and/or inverter when used inside a RV.
You have the expected 30 amp service for a motor home. You threw me when you said your outlets were only 2-wire. While the box may say 50 amps, it is only in reference to the total rating. The 50 amp service typical on larger RV's is actually TWO 120 volt 50 amp feeds. Thus, it is capable of providing 100 amps at 120 volts.
As you noted, the neutral and grounding circuits are isolated from each other. The neutral "floats" and the grounding wire goes to the RV frame. True grounding is not achieved until the RV is plugged into shore power. When plugged in, you have bonding at the main service entrance panel for the shore power.
Much debate and differing opinions exist on generator and inverter bonding for use with an RV. I am one that advocates NOT bonding the neutral and frame (grounding point) of a generator to the RV frame. IMPO, when bonding is used without a true earth ground the risk of electrical shock increases. But when you are not bonded a fault from the hot side of the wire to ground will not trip a circuit breaker - which is why many advocate bonding of a generator and inverter. On the other hand, when you bond a generator/inverter you are connecting an ungrounded neutral that is really a hot wire to the RV frame. With this type of connection you can get a pretty good jolt by touching the RV frame and moist earth ground even with no physical connection to earth ground being part of the circuit.
Knowing that the inverter and possibly the generator are internally bonded -- if I were installing your equipment into my RV I would mount the generator and inverter so that they were not in any way attached to the RV frame. This will prohibit their internal bonding from completing the circuit from the RV frame to the neutral.
An alternative is to allow the inverter and generator frames to bond to the RV frame, thus making a physical connection, but NOT using the grounding wire as part of your power feed to the RV (0nly two wires - hot and neutral or black and white).
Please be advised that not everyone agrees with my advice for not bonding a generator and/or inverter when used inside a RV.
