Good afternoon team. I’m looking into a parasitic drain in a class A. They are dry camping. They have 700 watt solar. All power appears to be clean until you measure between neutral and ground. I measured 36 to 41 volts Ac.
If I shut inverter off it goes away.
In the power box grd and neutral are not bonded. Auto transfer switch is not bonded.
As a boy of about 8 or 9 I was standing around while an electrician was trying to figure out why the pump on our water well on the farm wouldn’t work. I was standing in mud an inch or so deep with water puddles in cow tracks. I was wearing leather boots. I told my dad that my feet were getting shocked when I stepped in one area. They found a bad wire buried directly, no conduit or anything. It was buried, as I recall, a foot or more deep. With the standing water and mud the earth wasn’t totally getting rid of the current.
Obvious question is what about boondocking? There is no shore power connection to provide a ground but we seem to survive. It seems simple enough that 12V does not usually produce lethal shocks. But what about large solar arrays and high powered inverters? Mike, have you heard about situations in which people get shocked while boondocking?
Had to go check the manual on the inverter. It appears to also have a neutral-ground bond. Basically that neutral-ground bond needs to be at or near the source of the power, so that stray/leaked voltages can get back to the neutral connection at the source. (If I have missed anything Mike, please chime in.)
My on board generator IS neutral-ground bonded, connected thru the automatic transfer switch (ATS)(as I understand things) so when I am connected to shore power, the ECG is connected to the green wire of the shore power plug, the neutral to the white wire. When on generator, the ATS contactors connect to the generator and disconnect from the shore power. The neutral-ground bond is in the generator, and thus only bonds to the chassis when the ATS is connected to the generator .
Good afternoon team. I’m looking into a parasitic drain in a class A. They are dry camping. They have 700 watt solar. All power appears to be clean until you measure between neutral and ground. I measured 36 to 41 volts Ac.
If I shut inverter off it goes away.
In the power box grd and neutral are not bonded. Auto transfer switch is not bonded.
Why would neutral be carrying so much voltage.
As a boy of about 8 or 9 I was standing around while an electrician was trying to figure out why the pump on our water well on the farm wouldn’t work. I was standing in mud an inch or so deep with water puddles in cow tracks. I was wearing leather boots. I told my dad that my feet were getting shocked when I stepped in one area. They found a bad wire buried directly, no conduit or anything. It was buried, as I recall, a foot or more deep. With the standing water and mud the earth wasn’t totally getting rid of the current.
Once again great article.
Here is what I found at my current Rv park. Two wire incoming ground lug. One #6 bare, one #6 in a sheath.
No strap to ground lug. No ground straps to any of the receptacles.
Park says been that way since 2006.
Can you email me a picture? Please send to mike@noshockzone.org
Obvious question is what about boondocking? There is no shore power connection to provide a ground but we seem to survive. It seems simple enough that 12V does not usually produce lethal shocks. But what about large solar arrays and high powered inverters? Mike, have you heard about situations in which people get shocked while boondocking?
I’ve written about this a good bit and will repost a few articles.
Had to go check the manual on the inverter. It appears to also have a neutral-ground bond. Basically that neutral-ground bond needs to be at or near the source of the power, so that stray/leaked voltages can get back to the neutral connection at the source. (If I have missed anything Mike, please chime in.)
My on board generator IS neutral-ground bonded, connected thru the automatic transfer switch (ATS)(as I understand things) so when I am connected to shore power, the ECG is connected to the green wire of the shore power plug, the neutral to the white wire. When on generator, the ATS contactors connect to the generator and disconnect from the shore power. The neutral-ground bond is in the generator, and thus only bonds to the chassis when the ATS is connected to the generator .
That’s exactly how an on-board generator is supposed to work.
I was mostly trying to help you teach. Don't know if I accomplished that.