Quote:
Originally Posted by LSUTiger
I have a portable surge protector and it gave me a grounding error so then I came on here to ask some questions.
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I may chime in here. I literally just installed a progressive EMS in my TT. I have a Honda gen and wanted to know how to best configure for occasional use. I had a discussion with their tech and here is what he suggested: Get a simple 15 amp plug from Lowes, a Depot, Wmart, etc. Take a short piece of 12 or 14 gauge wire and jumper it from the ground to Neutral terminal. Close it up and plug it in to an open receptacle on your generator. Then plug your RV into the generator and you have closed the ground loop. Will not harm generator or electronics in RV. You could also take some wire and run it from your trailer frame to the ground terminal on your RV. Only make sure you have a clean and solid connection. He advised against flipping the switch on the EMS unit to bypass the shut down feature for open ground. This way I get full protection through my EMS system by providing a closed ground.
By code, RV's are required to not bond the neutral and ground together because you would normally get ground through the electrical pedestal at a campground or at home. When plugged to a generator however, you would not have this ground so when you bond the neutral and ground (just as a transfer switch does), you thus now close this loop. Of course, you could also mess with pounding a rod into the ground or bonding your frame to the generator, but I understand you will need less than 100 ohms resistance to be effective for this.
Word of caution: make sure your generator has an unbonded ground to neutral by putting a meter across the neutral and ground while not running. If you do not have a connection between these two make the mentioned plug. If your particular generator is already bonded don't worry bout the plug, it will not do anything for you.
I installed my EMS system yesterday and made the bonding plug for my generator (10 minutes), hooked it all up and it works fabulous. I don't have to worry about bypassing while on generator or remembering to flip my switch back. I have full protection all the time. Here is a very helpful link with detailed info......
Generator Ground-Neutral Bonding | No~Shock~Zone