cloudswrest
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Re: 3000W Chinese Gensets Info.
Ready?ToRoll wrote: Cloudswrest, You may want to look at this OSHA Fact Sheet Grounding Requirements for Portable Generators If I read it correctly (that's a risky bet :) ), the last paragraph on pg.2 calls for the neutral to be bonded to the generator frame. I found this link in a reply from "vermilye" in another thread Generator Grounding Thread I'm interested because I have the PowerWise also. Bruce I believe it should be grounded at some point, but if you're connecting it to your house there (should) is already a single point ground somewhere. In this situation you now have a multi-point GND and risk tripping GFIs and/or having inadverdent GND return currents. Cloudswrest (another Bruce)333Views0likes0CommentsRe: 3000W Chinese Gensets Info.
professor95 wrote: cloudswrest wrote: One thing I noticed, and it is not shown in the schematic, is the bottom terminal of the top winding (white wire) is wired to chassis ground in the generator (not in the switch panel.) So neutral on the 120V outlets is shorted to chassis GND. I hope this is not true and you are looking at a wire for the 12 volt winding or the regulator control winding. Have you made some resistance measurments with an ohm meter to be sure? If it is true, it should be disconnected and allowed to float. Only the green or green/yellow wire should be attached to the chassi. Having the white wire (AKA neutral) on the chassi is a dangerous situation. Is true. Measured with an ohmmeter as well as saw it visually. For the 120V outlet the GND terminal measures shorted to the neutral terminal. When the generator is on the meter measures 120VAC from Hot to GND (and chassis). I plan to get out there and rewire it when the weather cools off, although the cheesy schematic doesn't show the field cicuitry, only the armature circuit, so I don't yet know if the field circuit relies on the neutral to chassis connection. Also something that IS shown on the schematic is the "neutral" contact of the 240V twistlock connector is left unconnected. I found this a minor irritation. I have seen this on 3 prong twist lock outlets (JD built ELM 3000 for example), but not on 4 prong L14-20 or L14-30 outlets. Maybe one of the assemblers goofed and put the white wire that should attach the 220 center tap to the outlet onto the chassi? Wild guess on my part. Anyway, the neutral is not needed on "straight" 220, only when you use an appliance like a stove or dryer that has both 110 and 220 elements. It does come in handy when pulling a 110 leg from the twistlock outlet. In fact, without the neutral leg, you cannot get 110 out of the twist lock outlet - unless some dummy runs the neutral to the chassi ground along with the grounding conductor :E I don't think it's an assembler goof because the contact is shown floating in the schematic. Of course there is 120 to chassis GND :) Cloudswrest412Views0likes0CommentsRe: 3000W Chinese Gensets Info.
I just bought the Cosco "PowerWise" 3KW genset which schematic was posted by Alohatraveler on 05/02/06 09:21pm. So far it's working great! It has two independent windings as commented upon by Professor95 that are switch configured by a 4PDT (actually "3T" as it has a middle all off position) switch. I did some minor dissection of the wiring for inspection (pulled the outlet panel and pulled the generator back cover.) One thing I noticed, and it is not shown in the schematic, is the bottom terminal of the top winding (white wire) is wired to chassis ground in the generator (not in the switch panel.) So neutral on the 120V outlets is shorted to chassis GND. Also something that IS shown on the schematic is the "neutral" contact of the 240V twistlock connector is left unconnected. I found this a minor irritation. One BIG irritation is I've not been able to find any real documentation of this product on the web. Not even a manual. And even though I bought it at Costco it is not listed on their web site. Even the PowerWise web site listed in the paper manual from the box has no information on this product! Cloudswrest375Views0likes0Comments
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