Solar Generator Bonding

Will a Neutral-Ground bonding plug work on a Solar Generator (like a Jackery)?

Dear readers,

Here’s a follow-up question from my recent article about ground bonding your neutral generator. Read it HERE:

Will a Neutral-Ground bonding plug work on a Solar Generator (like a Jackery)?

Hey Mike..

You may have answered this in another news letter but I can not find it. I have a relatively new ‘generator’ often called a solar generator because it can be charged using solar panels. It is basically a lithium battery pack with a built in inverter and other components mfg by companies like Bluetti or Goal Zero. I have a unit made by a Hong Kong company named All Powers. We own an 2019 Leisure Travel Van with a progressive electrical management device built in. I am not able to use the All Powers ‘generator’ because the Progressive unit detects the floating ground. Purchased this device: Southwire Company LLC Neutral-Ground Bonding Plug off of Amazon but no joy.

This is not a deal breaker but it would be nice to take along as an ew option for that early morning coffee when traditional generators can not be used until 8AM.

Thanks for considering my question. - Bruce

Dear Bruce,

Great question, and I figured this out a few months ago during a bench test in my FunkWorks Lab of a Jackery Explorer “Solar Generator”. The reason why you can’t use an N-G plug to “ground” a Solar Generator is that these “generators” don’t have any ground contacts in their outlets. SAY WHAT????

That’s right! If you look closely at any of these Portable Power Stations (often called Solar Generators) you’ll see that there are empty slots where the ground pins of the extension cords plug in. This is also how all “solar generators” from Jackery, Southwire and Bluetti are built, so there must be some reason for this design.

Is there a fix for this problem?

Well, yes there is a fix and it’s really simple. All you need is to add a 3-way outlet adapter like this one.

It’s as easy as plugging in one of these 3-way adapters to your solar generator, then plugging in an N-G bonding plug into one of the outlets on the adapter, and plugging an extension cord into the other outlet on the adapter. That way the ground pin in the extension cord is connected to the ground pin in the N-G bonding plug.

Pretty simple... If you want to use a portable power station a.k.a. (solar generator) to power your RV with a built-in EMS Surge Protector, and it won’t run because of an “open ground” error, then you just need to add one of these 3-way adapters, insert a Neutral/Ground bonding plug and extension cord into it, and the output of the inverter in the solar generator is '“bonded”. So, a pretty simple fix for a not-so obvious problem.

Let’s play safe out there… Mike