Open Ground, I mean not Open, wait, yes it is

[theavgs]

Hi all, I just installed ALL of my electrical... it went surprisingly seemless, compared to some of my other projects.


But it's generated a grounding question that is still not clear to me after doing some reading. Hoping someone can chime in and help.

My 110V outlets converge in an AC Breaker Box. The breaker box draws power from my inverter (Victron Phoenix) or from shore power. There is no transfer switch... I plan to rarely be on shore power, and have opted to manually unplug from the inverter to plug into shore power when needed.

When connected to shore power, all outlets test correctly using a three-light tester. When connected to the inverter, all outlets test "open ground".

My understanding is Victron inverters are bonded in the inverter. So I do not have ground and neutral bonded in the breaker box.

Is there a reason why inverted power would have an "open ground"? And most of all... is that safe? Seems like there's a lot of info out there which says an open ground issue in the coach is not unsafe. Unless.... And on the other hand, and bonded system is safe. Unless....

Thanks for your help

[Ronnie]

Normally the ground is bonded but not the neutral, in the breaker box. I would do that.

Is the case of the inverter grounded to anything? The internal ground just grounds it to the case, unless there is a specified external ground terminal. Either way it needs a ground.

[jazty]

I have a modified sine wave inverter that makes those testing devices go crazy.. It doesn't give a reliable reading.

I would expect a good pure sine wave inverter to work with those devices. What technology is your victron?

It's almost certainly worth reaching out to the manufacturer for clarification with this issue if it proves to be beyond trivial.

[joeblack5]

I mentioned this in another " bonding" post but bonding that most people do because the electric code requires it is very dangerous in a conductive vehicle/ housing.
The isolated inverter is set up correctly.

Do a search on operating room grounding and that will explain it nicely to you.

I realize many people just like follow code but code does not always have your best interest in mind.

Johan

[Ronnie]

Originally Posted by joeblack5

I mentioned this in another " bonding" post but bonding that most people do because the electric code requires it is very dangerous in a conductive vehicle/ housing.
The isolated inverter is set up correctly.

Do a search on operating room grounding and that will explain it nicely to you.

I realize many people just like follow code but code does not always have your best interest in mind.

Johan

Do you mean hospital operating room?

[joeblack5]

yes that is right, hospital operating room.


In the time I was still repairing television I always used an isolation transformer so that you could not get shocked. Essentially unbonding the neutral and the ground.


In that case you can only get shocked by touching the neutral and phase at the same time.



It is not my intention to tick people of here and go against code followers but truly connecting ( bonding) neutral and ground together is a fundamental mistake.

Try to imagine what happens to your electrical system if you cut the neutral ( unisolated wire) in your feeder line outside your house.... It will electrify every metal enclosure... washing machine inside your house because your ground in most case will not be able to handle the neutral current.


Johan