Reverse Polarity Warning Light?

[Seahope]

I just wired up my new Genyx generator invertor (http://genyx-energy.com/inverter_g1500i.html) as though it was from the marina power socket and all worked fine, except the reverse polarity warning light came on on the boat's power panel when I turned on 'shore' power. I switched around the live and neutral wires from out of the generator but it made no difference. Apart from the warning light all the electrical appliances I tried on the boat worked fine.


On returning home and checking the boat's operating manual it says that if the reverse polarity warning light is on it is a potentially dangerous condition and the power should be turned off immediately.

Any ideas/suggestions?

Regards

Seahope

 

[nrbx]

I'm not 100% sure on this, however it may well be to do with the earthing.

Neutral is connected to Earth on shore power, but your inverter may not do this. Therefore your polarity sensor will be seeing a "live" on both neutral and live as the neutral is not earthed.

As i said, this could be a load of rubbish, but i suspect you may need either an inverter that connects your earth to neutral, or you could add a relay connected to the shore power so that when shore power is removed it will turn off and connect the neutral/earth at the inverter.

Get advice from someone who knows more than me before you try anything silly!

 

[starfire]

Reverse polarity warning lights are usually a neon wired between neutral & earth.

The neutral is normally earthed at the substation or in the suppliers cutout.

I suspect the generator has a neutral that if floating, ie not connected to the generator earth.

This is the norm for small power tool use, but on most larger generators & ones feeding fixed installations, the neutral is earthed within the set or within the generator isolator switch.

I would check with the supplier first for information on this mod being safe for this particular inverter/generator

 

[Seahope]

Guys,

Thanks for your responses. I haven't done anything clever with the wiring. just connected earth to earth, live to live, neutral to neutral for now. There is an external earth connector on the generator which I haven't connected to anything yet as I'm not sure what to connect this to on the boat.

 

[VicS]

A link to a instruction manual in English might be help shed some light on this!

Maybe the generator output has a centre tapped earth . So that both of its output wires are 115 volts live with respect to earth.

Does the warning light glow less brightly than it does with a reversed polarity on a real shorepower connection.

I am concerned that you seem to have hard wired your generator to the shorepower system. Do you have a proper change over switch ... one that is designed for switching between an on board generator and the shorepower supply or could the both be on together.

If you do not have a proper change over switch then the safe method of connecting a generator to the on board installation is to plug it into the shorepower receptacle. that way only one can be connected at a time.

 

[Seahope]

A link to a instruction manual in English might be help shed some light on this!

Maybe the generator output has a centre tapped earth . So that both of its output wires are 115 volts live with respect to earth.

Does the warning light glow less brightly than it does with a reversed polarity on a real shorepower connection.

I am concerned that you seem to have hard wired your generator to the shorepower system. Do you have a proper change over switch ... one that is designed for switching between an on board generator and the shorepower supply or could the both be on together.

If you do not have a proper change over switch then the safe method of connecting a generator to the on board installation is to plug it into the shorepower receptacle. that way only one can be connected at a time.

I have emailed the manufacturer for an English manual, without as yet any response. There is a separate Electrical Principle Chart diagram in English, but all it shows is that the central part of the AC Socket-outlet is the earth and the Red connection to the AC Socket-outlet connects to the Governor cell which in turn is connected to the Inverter unit as well as the Step dynamo. The Black connection to the AC Socket-outlet connects directly to the Inverter unit.

I have cabled it so that the generator outlet goes to a standard (Webber?) outdoor female connector which connects to the input cable to the boat. I can only have the generator or the shore power connected to the boat at any once time

I have never seen the reverse polarity light on with normal shore power connected.

 

[Thepipdoc]

I run a Honda e20i genny and on my previous boat - a Searay 270 I had exatly the same problem that you have described and it was cured by linking the earth and the neutral. This worked perfectly but you MUST remenber to remove the link wire when you connect to the shore power otherwise you'll hear a nasty bang, or so I was told by a qualified electrician.
I never put it to the test but the sensible thing to do is to have two power leads - one for you genny and one for when your using shore power.

 

[Seahope]

I run a Honda e20i genny and on my previous boat - a Searay 270 I had exatly the same problem that you have described and it was cured by linking the earth and the neutral. This worked perfectly but you MUST remenber to remove the link wire when you connect to the shore power otherwise you'll hear a nasty bang, or so I was told by a qualified electrician.
I never put it to the test but the sensible thing to do is to have two power leads - one for you genny and one for when your using shore power.

Thanks guys I will give that a try next time I visit the boat. Since the generator has a French connection there is no risk of me using the incorrect cable for the shore power.

 

[hlb]

When ever I use my little honda, I always get a sort of half way between normal and reverse polarity. Apparently it's something to do with it not being earthed.

Anyway every thing seems to work OK.

 

[Seahope]

Quick update. Connecting neutral to earth worked on the generator connector I also connected a cable to an engine earth and brought it up through the wet bar so I can now safely earth the generator too when I need to use it. Result!