Honda 3000eu issue using a bonding plug

[Jetstreamer]

I made my own neutral ground bonding plug to use with my generator. I had it plugged into one of the outlets on the generator. When I went to use it for the first time, I had a spark and a bit of smoke very briefly come out from somewhere on the panel.
I immediately pulled the bonding plug out and the generator continued to run normally.
I double checked that the plug was assembled correctly and it was. Also there was zero evidence of any arcing or burning on the plug itself. None of the panel breakers tripped.
There was a 30 amp cord attached with a very light load.
I’m out on a road trip and maybe when I get back home I’ll take the panel apart and take a look for any arcing evidence.
Any ideas what may have happened??

[Jetstreamer]

road-runner wrote:
Another possibility, and I'm not saying I think this is the cause, is something I could see myself doing. That's using a stranded wire for making the bond, and having one wayward strand touching the hot terminal inside the plug housing. That strand would likely go up in smoke without shutting down the generator output.

That’s a distinct possibility I’ll take a closer look
Thanks

[BFL13]

BFL13 wrote:
There is a duplex 15a receptacle and a 30a twist type. You used your bonded plug in one of the two 15a? but the 30a was occupied by whatever.

Ok, in a recent thread, it came out that there is something going on between the 15 and the 30 so they are not all the same wiring, so what you got was as though before you do all that needed work with the wiring in behind there, so when you bond a 15, it does not screw up the 30 --or whatever that was all about. ( It was complicated!)

Bobbo remembered what it was in the above mish-mash. The 15 and 30 with reversed polarities. They had to take the panel apart and rewire the 30 same way as the 15. ISTR it wasn't a Honda in that case, but whatever, it could be that same thing.

[road-runner]

Another possibility, and I'm not saying I think this is the cause, is something I could see myself doing. That's using a stranded wire for making the bond, and having one wayward strand touching the hot terminal inside the plug housing. That strand would likely go up in smoke without shutting down the generator output.

[vermilye]

Jetstreamer wrote:

Bobbo wrote:
Check polarity of 30 amp outlet against 15 amp outlet, e.g. "hot wire to hot wire" should show zero voltage. If it shows 120v they are wired reverse from each other and one of them should be changed.

Triple check the bonding plug.

This only makes sense if both:
1. 30 amp and 15 amp have reversed polarity from each other
and
2. something in your RV has a neutral/ground short

The reason this would explain the problem is the RV's neutral/ground short puts one leg of power on the ground wire (the leg that is hot on the other outlet). The bonding plug puts the other leg on the ground wire. That is a dead short between the two legs through the ground wire.

Thanks.. The plug is correct and I’m just surprised that a breaker wouldn’t have tripped somewhere... Certainly could be something wired wrong...I doubt it from Honda it’s more likely that I’m wired wrong.... when I get home I’ll do some further inspection...

Bobbo pointed out a likely reason.

Since the Honda (and many other brands) don't bond the neutral, in theory there is no hot or neutral. Because of that, there is no need to carry the same polarity between the 15 amp & 30 amp connectors, and if it makes it easier/cheaper to "reverse the polarity" they do. A couple of threads here & on other forums noted the discovery of reversals between the two connectors.

[SoundGuy]

Lynnmor wrote:
Are you sure that the generator was not already bonded?

SoundGuy wrote:
All Honda EU series inverter generators have a floating neutral.

Lynnmor wrote:
Where did it say "Honda"?

Thread title. :R

[2oldman]

Lynnmor wrote:
Where did it say "Honda"?

Subject.

[Lynnmor]

SoundGuy wrote:

Lynnmor wrote:
Are you sure that the generator was not already bonded?

All Honda EU series inverter generators have a floating neutral.

Where did it say "Honda"?

[Bobbo]

If everything was wired correctly, this would have had no effect except to correct the "open ground" alarm.

[Jetstreamer]

I know I probably should have left well enough alone, but I researched the heck out of this before I did it and was completely confident that it would solve my monitor alarm issue and wouldn’t cause any harm....Oh well...

[Jetstreamer]

Bobbo wrote:
Check polarity of 30 amp outlet against 15 amp outlet, e.g. "hot wire to hot wire" should show zero voltage. If it shows 120v they are wired reverse from each other and one of them should be changed.

Triple check the bonding plug.

This only makes sense if both:
1. 30 amp and 15 amp have reversed polarity from each other
and
2. something in your RV has a neutral/ground short

The reason this would explain the problem is the RV's neutral/ground short puts one leg of power on the ground wire (the leg that is hot on the other outlet). The bonding plug puts the other leg on the ground wire. That is a dead short between the two legs through the ground wire.

Thanks.. The plug is correct and I’m just surprised that a breaker wouldn’t have tripped somewhere... Certainly could be something wired wrong...I doubt it from Honda it’s more likely that I’m wired wrong.... when I get home I’ll do some further inspection...

[Jetstreamer]

Michelle.S wrote:
OK, let me understand: The Generator was running and then you plugged in your RV using the Neutral/Ground bonded plug? If that is correct, are you sure there wasn't something on in the RV that caused a surge of current when the plug made contact with the Generator outlet?

Anything is possible... the bonding plug was already in the generator outlet when I started it.

[Jetstreamer]

2oldman wrote:
Have no direct answer, but just wondering why you made this bonding plug..?

I made the plug so I can utilize a volt/frequency meter without the alarm going off.

[Bobbo]

Check polarity of 30 amp outlet against 15 amp outlet, e.g. "hot wire to hot wire" should show zero voltage. If it shows 120v they are wired reverse from each other and one of them should be changed.

Triple check the bonding plug.

This only makes sense if both:
1. 30 amp and 15 amp have reversed polarity from each other
and
2. something in your RV has a neutral/ground short

The reason this would explain the problem is the RV's neutral/ground short puts one leg of power on the ground wire (the leg that is hot on the other outlet). The bonding plug puts the other leg on the ground wire. That is a dead short between the two legs through the ground wire.

[Michelle_S]

OK, let me understand: The Generator was running and then you plugged in your RV using the Neutral/Ground bonded plug? If that is correct, are you sure there wasn't something on in the RV that caused a surge of current when the plug made contact with the Generator outlet?