Electrical question

[Redbear]

Originally Posted by Smitty

Though you got it solved....I just used a jumper (from one lug to the other) to make both buss bars hot.

Smitty

With only two breakers, another solution is to just connect one lug making one of the two busses hot, and install the two breakers opposite each other on the same hot buss. Fill in the box with alternate breakers and blanks going down each side, such as:
1 - hot
3 - not used
5 - hot
7 - not used
etc.

The even numbered breakers in the right column will generally be on the same buss as the odd ones directly to their left

If you want to be to code, connect all the neutrals to a buss insulated from the box, and do not tie the neutrals to the ground system. Put the grounds on a separate buss tied to the panel case. The power source (campground, genset) should make the neutral bond connection for you.

[Diesel Dan]

I'm sure this has been covered somewhere else, but I'm wondering what to do about the ground in the bus 110V AC system. I should preface this by saying I know very little about this topic. Since the bus is not connected to a real ground, should I be grounding anything to the chassis, or just use the hot and neutral wires and don't connect the ground to anything? Is it different when running off the generator or batteries/inverter vs. running off shore power? What are the risks of grounding to the chassis vs. not grounding to the chassis?

[Hex]

The AC grounding thing is something I've been wondering about too, especially in the context of using metal boxes for my wiring. In all the house-builds I've done, I've liked metal boxes best, but if it becomes an issue to keep them from touching the body of the bus, I may have to use the plastic boxes ...

[Diesel Dan]

A friend of mine checked his RV trailer and found that the input ground goes to the chassis. So I will do that and of course tie all my other grounds back to the chassis as well. Then the positive will go to the breakers and the neutral to the neutral bar, but the ground and neutral will not connect to each other in the bus. Of course the neutral and ground will intersect in the shore power system.

But I'm still not sure about whether or not I should ground the house batteries. And what about the generator?

How have other people handled this grounding issue?

[bodaver32]

Originally Posted by Diesel Dan

A friend of mine checked his RV trailer and found that the input ground goes to the chassis. So I will do that and of course tie all my other grounds back to the chassis as well. Then the positive will go to the breakers and the neutral to the neutral bar, but the ground and neutral will not connect to each other in the bus. Of course the neutral and ground will intersect in the shore power system.

But I'm still not sure about whether or not I should ground the house batteries. And what about the generator?

How have other people handled this grounding issue?

I am confused by what you mean by input ground. Are you referring to the green wire from your input receptical? It should connect to the ground bar in your distribution box. The entire circuit will be grounded at the plug-in station (receptical box) at the park, your house, etc. - assuming it has been wired correctly. Thus, the reason to get a plug in curcuit analyzer and check before you plug in at any park.

Make sure within the generator wiring they have not bonded the neutral and ground together, if they have, separate them. A wire from your ground bar can be run to the ground on your generator.

Yes the house batteries are grounded to the chassis.