neutral and earth

[oldade]

Hi I Have a sterling invertor/charger.

It wont won't charge my batterys when conecterd to two gennys I have I

It works Ok with the shore power.

I think it is an Neutral and earth bonding problem.

How do it if I tell if I can bond earth to neutral with out damaging the genny.

The genny is one out of cage with 12v dc output 110volts ac as well as 240volts ac

The other is a little two stroke jobby.

What tests do I need to do to tell if it is safe to connect neutral to earth on the genny.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

ADE

[blackrose]

Hi I Have a sterling invertor/charger.

It wont won't charge my batterys when conecterd to two gennys I have I

It works Ok with the shore power.

I think it is an Neutral and earth bonding problem.

How do it if I tell if I can bond earth to neutral with out damaging the genny.

The genny is one out of cage with 12v dc output 110volts ac as well as 240volts ac

The other is a little two stroke jobby.

What tests do I need to do to tell if it is safe to connect neutral to earth on the genny.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

ADE

 

First you need to find out what type of arrangement your generator has. Many portable suitcase generators have a "floating earth" and N - E are not bonded. In this case if you want to run the AC ring on your boat you can bond N - E at the generator's AC output but you must then connect the earth stud of your generator to the earth stud on your boat's hull. If you choose to do this the generator must only be used through the AC consumer unit on your boat and not used direct to power tools without going through a RCD/RCBO trip, otherwise you will have no protection should there be a fault. First, you need to contact the manufacturer and find out whether the generator has a floating earth or not. * All of this assumes earth on the the AC system of your boat is bonded to your hull as it should be.

 

I'm not sure if that's why the generator won't run your charger. Could it be that the AC waveform produced by the generator is not very smooth?

Edited March 9, 2009 by blackrose

[david and julie]

I'm not sure if that's why the generator won't run your charger. Could it be that the AC waveform produced by the generator is not very smooth?

I can only agree with the above oldade. I have a Sterling combi and use it from a decent generator and it works fine. I did have a problem with the RCD not tripping and that was definately caused by the lack of the E/N link. With or without the link the charger still worked properly.

 

Don't you know anyone with an Honda EU or similar that you could try?

[Gibbo]

Stick a couple of hundred watts of lightbulbs on it and try again. I suspect it's more to do with the waveform and that can clean it up a touch.

 

IIRC none of the Sterling combis have ever cared about neutral/earth bonding but I might be wrong on that.

 

Gibbo

[Neil TNC]

Stick a couple of hundred watts of lightbulbs on it and try again. I suspect it's more to do with the waveform and that can clean it up a touch.

 

IIRC none of the Sterling combis have ever cared about neutral/earth bonding but I might be wrong on that.

 

Gibbo

 

ISTR that my old 1500w Sterling inverter charger did and that is why It blew up when I sorted out my earthing. (+ and - 110v ac) I repaired it and gave it to Mrs TNC!

[Gibbo]

ISTR that my old 1500w Sterling inverter charger did and that is why It blew up when I sorted out my earthing. (+ and - 110v ac) I repaired it and gave it to Mrs TNC!

 

That sounds like an unlucky coincidence to me.

 

Equipment that won't run from a supply that is either isolated or centre tapped is either broken or has something in there to deliberately stop it working from such. It should never, ever, break it.

 

Gibbo