Outlet plug for my 803

[Daybreak]

I've got Mike Holt's illustrated guide to the National Electrical Code 2017 and it has a great chapter on grounding and bonding. I've read those 95 pages several times now and highly recommend it as a resource. I'm not an electrician (not even an internet electrician) so do your own research and form your own opinions.

The reason for bonding in one place and before any load is to prevent a parallel path for neutral current traveling back to the source. If you bond it in the wrong place, or multiple places, neutral current will flow on the ground conductor, and then everything tied to the ground conductor becomes a shock hazard.

Another scenario where this principle applies is when you run a feeder from your main breaker panel to another panel. In that case you run two hots, neutral, and ground to the panel. You do not tie the neutral and ground together in the panel being fed, that only happens at the main breaker panel.

My thought for load testing is to bond the neutral and ground just like when you generate with the house: in one place and before any load. On the other side of the twist lock I'd tie neutral to the ground rod and leave the bar off in the generator. The generator will be grounded via the cord, just like it is when generating for the house.

When the generator is grounded via the cord, that connection is keeping all the metal parts of the case near the same potential as earth. Adding more grounds helps reduce the impact of lightning on the unit and attached wiring.
-- Carl

Howdy,
What you have done is fine. You have made your 4 wire cords, when connected to the house, you are using the ground in that system. When you hook to your panel with the 4 wire cord, you are fine since you have it set like your house. Neutral and ground bonded in your mini panel, with ground rod attached via a wire to the mini panel.

You have it setup with not needing to make changes with the generator bonding strap.

Good Job.

 

[m32825]

...where will your ground and neutral be bonded when testing with stove?

Picture where ground and neutral are tied together on your house: right where the transition from supply side to load side occurs. When you are generating for the house, that location is after your generator inlet and before any load. With a stove it needs to be in the same place. I would tie neutral and ground together right after the twist lock and run to the ground rod there. With this approach the generator always operates as a non SDS, so the jumper bar in the generator stays open.

 

[m32825]

Mike,

Thanks for the feedback.

I want a minimalist setup for load testing. My thought is to mount a twist lock (TL) to the back of the stove, wire TL ground connection to rod, tie TL ground to TL neutral, and wire the stove right into the back of the TL.

I'm on the fence about a breaker between the TL and the stove because we're load testing at the limit of the generator. If something fails spectacularly, the generator will overload and drop the stove. If it's not enough of a failure to take the generator offline, it wouldn't cause a properly sized breaker to trip either.

We have more than one way to kill the power at the generator if a problem arises with the stove, so we've got a disconnecting means. Do I really need a breaker between the TL and the stove? What does it buy me?

-- Carl

 

[Zed254]

Understand. Your setup is similar to mine except I bond the ground and neutral at the stove's connection box. Still before the load, but away from the generator by 10 or so feet of connection cable. I guess I need to do a better job of reading: Mike understood what you were doing.......but not me. Anyway looks like you are good to go.

 

[69birdman]

I see where your going now as well, just kinda through me for a loop with the TL inlet on stove. I just have a store bought 5' 4 wire stove cord I plug right in. Yeah man I intend to bond my stove internal as well so I don't have to mess with buss bar either. Still I think you should have a ground rod @ machine.

 

[devilphrog]

I've been thinking of adding a heavy duty battery disconnect to allow for going bonded/ unbonded with the twist of a switch