help with circuit breaker box please

[iceman341]

Hello all,

I'm having issues with my circuit breaker box and am not sure what the problem is. I've got my solar panels hooked up, my inverter connected to the battery, and shore power goes to the inverter without any problem. The inverter is able to supply power from the battery bank without problem as well. The issue is when I have the ac output wires from the inverter connected to the circuit breaker box. When connected, the gfi at the outlet supplying the shore power trips. I've confirmed the voltage of the output wires is 120v. I have tried both of the red circled areas for the hot wire, and have attached the negative wire to the white circled lug. The top ground wire goes to one of the metal ribs on the side of the bus. The bottom ground wire is the one coming from the inverter. The main breaker is a 100 amp breaker and I chatted with the maker of the box when I was trouble shooting how to add a main breaker and they said that the box did not need a ground bar and negative side bars could be used for the ground. I appreciate any help you all can give.

 

[Iceni John]

Buy a cheapo outlet tester and check that the bus's AC wiring is correct first. Home Despot sells one for $12.97 that checks regular and GFCI outlets.

John

 

[iceman341]

I probably did a poor job explaining things in my post. The shore power is coming from an outlet in my garage, through an extension cord, to an extension cord - 30 amp cord, to the shore power outlet on the side of the bus, and then to the ac input on the inverter. The outlet in the garage has a garage freezer also plugged into it. I tested a different outlet/circuit that didn't have an extra load such as a freezer, and the gfi tripped again. If the wires are not connected to my ac circuit breaker that I installed then nothing trips with the shore power outlets and the inverter recognizes the shore power input and behaves accordingly (charges the battery, supplies 120v power to the ac outlet lines). So the issue is something within my circuit breaker box that I'm trying to install.

 

[DeMac]

Grounding, Bonding & Conductors

Hello all,

I'm having issues with my circuit breaker box and am not sure what the problem is. I've got my solar panels hooked up, my inverter connected to the battery, and shore power goes to the inverter without any problem. The inverter is able to supply power from the battery bank without problem as well. The issue is when I have the ac output wires from the inverter connected to the circuit breaker box. When connected, the gfi at the outlet supplying the shore power trips. I've confirmed the voltage of the output wires is 120v. I have tried both of the red circled areas for the hot wire, and have attached the negative wire to the white circled lug. The top ground wire goes to one of the metal ribs on the side of the bus. The bottom ground wire is the one coming from the inverter. The main breaker is a 100 amp breaker and I chatted with the maker of the box when I was trouble shooting how to add a main breaker and they said that the box did not need a ground bar and negative side bars could be used for the ground. I appreciate any help you all can give.

------------------
Standard garage receptacles ought to be 20A rated GFCI protected. The 30A rated receptacles look totally different. Are you plugged into the dryer receptacle?

The panel shown in your post does NOT have a Ground bar installed. There are two Neutral bars (vertical) bonded vis the bar where you've circled a terminal in white.

You're attempting to terminate the White Neutrals (aka: Grounded Conductor) AND the bare Copper Ground(s) to the Neutral Bus, thereby bonding the two. Also. #12/2UF is not 100A/3-conductor service cable. Use a smaller breaker & larger three conductor(+ground) feeder wire, secured with a cable connector.

Short Answer:
Yes, the White Neutral belongs under the lug circled in white. Bare grounds, do not. Doing so creates a Ground Fault.

Buy & add a Ground bar (also, pick up Cable Connectors, Bare #8or#6 Cu & a Ground lug). Separate the Grounds & Neutrals. Secure the feeder cable to the box via cable connectors. The Bare #8 bonds the new Gnd bar to vehicle chassis. Should look similar to this:⤵

Instructions for adding a ground bar can be found starting at
Post #61 of my Electrical Rough-In thread. Use the same brand ground bar as the panel brand, for easy installation. Please read the entire thread. I've answered many questions which haven't even been asked. I hope the information you discover therein helps you to build safely

 

[brokedown-SKO]

Would help to know what inverter you had as well. not all of them properly separate ground and neutral!

 

[iceman341]

I separated the ground and neutral wires and everything is all good now. I figured out that I had to run an additional hot wire to the other side of the main breaker as well because only half of my circuit breakers had power with just the one wire. I appreciate all the help and I'll likely be asking for more as my next task is placing all the outlets and setting up the circuits.