electrical, generator questions....

[lvcat2004]

I'm sorry to bombard all of you with Q's, but better ask than learn from my own mistakes. I did do a search, but couldn't find exaclty what I was looking for.

I have one of these


1) What voltage is "too low". I read somewhere between 105-110v is the threashold for some people.

2) When I connected my generateor (Yamaha EF2000IS)and run it, It shows "GF", which means open ground.... What am I doing wrong here to cause this reading? I have generator sitting on the ground, 15 to 30 amp adaptor, and factory 30 amp cable going to the AS. There is a "ground earth terminal" on the front panel, which is the bolt/nut sticking out. Do I need to connect this to anything?

3) I "tried" running the AC on low fan on generator with everything turned off on AS. It's a 13,500 Duo-therm AC. It ran fine for about 5 minutes and I had generator on "economy" mode, and it wasn't even revving up much. Then all of the sudden it revved up and "overload" light came up so I stopped it. I've heard of conflicting stories about running AC on low on 2000w generator. What if I ran on "reg" and not "econ" mode which revs pretty high?? I didn't get the generator to run AC (perhaps in the future running parallel"), but is experimenting like this bad for the gen./AS?

4) Lastly....does anyone use 30 amp surge protector when you hook up?? They are somewhat expensive and wondered if it's essential. Thank you all for the input.

[azflycaster]

The ground fault issue is normal with a generator. It supplies a hot line and a neutral to your trailer, but no ground.

The 2000 might power up the compressor if it is not running in economy mode, but the draw most likely exceeds the output of the generator. Attempting to start the unit with insufficient amperage can shorten the life of the unit.

[SilverCottage]

I believe it has been stated elsewhere in this forum that you need the Yamaha 2300 to run a 13,500 a/c unit. That was the main reason I purchased one rather than the Honda 2000.

[Mexray]

I've noticed the same ground fault problem when running our Honda 2KW genny...I often wondered if I grounded the genny's frame to a stake in wet ground AND grounded the AS's frame to another stake in wet ground, if my AC polarity tester would show 'normal'...???

[bryanl]

The problem is bonding between neutral and ground. That should only occur at the service entrance. RV's don't have them bonded as they are designed to be plugged into power that has the service entrance point upstream. Unless your RV is plugged in, there is no electrical connection between the neutral and ground wires in your AC electrical wiring.

Code also does not require small gensets with plugs have neutral and ground bonded together. That means 110v only exists between hot and neutral with these gensets.

Do not worry about trying to make a ground connection with a portable genset nor should you worry about connecting the neutral and ground together.

The ground fault problem is another and separate issue. That is looking for return currents via the ground path and, if that path isn't connected anywhere, there shouldn't be any to cause a GFI to trip. But some GFI devices may pick up induced currents or be noise sensitive and trip anyway. Most inverter type small gensets detect current leakage to provide a GFI like protection on their own.

[Driver1]

Hi Ivcat2004,

Check out this thread regarding the subject:
Ground-Fault if Honda is grounded or not
Post #20 by Robert Cross suggests a nice solution, though I haven't tried it.
Walt