Does Your EMS Shut Down When Running On a Generator?

[S&M_G]

Thanks Rob.

What I found with my multimeter set to 2M on scale & genset off:
--20amp outlet. N-G .221 L-G .238. N-L .241
--30amp RV outlet. N-G .550. L-G .548. N-L .541

Pulled the panel and inspected the wiring and outlets appear to be wired properly. Champion uses RED, BLUE, GRN/YLW for its wires. Red was wired to all "hot" ports, Blue to "neutral" and Grn/Ylw to grounds.
They had me inspect the wire harness connections to ensure all were fully seated and no wires coming out of back of connector. All good.

Champion believes it's a bad control unit or a programming fault within the control unit. Senior Technician (took 40 mins to get to him) said with a floating neutral the bonded plug should fix my issue and allow power to flow through the EPO/Surge Protector and GFI outlets to work. So....guess I will wait and see.

Question: If I had to use the generator, what would be the risk be to the RV, in addition to the obvious that we can't use a EPO/Surge Protector?

UPDATE: 29 Nov 21
Champion Senior Technician said it has to be a "bad control unit"...waited 2 weeks for part, installed new & no change, issue persists.

Next, Champion Technicians Supervisor walks me through operation over the phone & then emails me instructions to remove panel & install a permanent jumper.
--Jumper from "Ground to Neutral side of the 125v/20amp receptacle"

This did not work either...as I suspected it wouldn't and asked him how is a permanent N-G Jumper any different than the N-G Plug installed on the front?

Attached is wiring diagram model #200991...hoping those of you that are much smarter than me can look at it & provide input.
--Is model 200991 truly a "Floating Neutral" as stated in the manual?
--Or...does the Inverter winding send 60vac to the hot and neutral?
COM13B to COM13A connector. RED wire goes to "hot". BLUE wire goes to "neutral"
If both those wires carry 60vac to the plug, that would explain why neither bonding plug not jumper would work. I think there was a video or link in a thread that mentioned some Chinese model inverters that were wired this & there is no fix.

I'm currently waiting for a supervisor to call me...if it can't run with a N-G Plug & allow GFI outlets to work & run through my EMS then it's getting returned.
Too bad, because this thing is awesome otherwise...quiet, runs my 15k but A/C easily & the rain cover attachment allows me to use it in any weather.

[Country Campers]

I would send it back and move on. I do not think they are going to "fix" this over the phone or by sending parts to replace. I am thinking that you got a bad unit as in searching, and researching for my own Champion, I have not seen any other issues similar to what you are going thru. Just my 2 cents.

Brian

[Jlawles2]

I'd ask about the exciter winding and how it gets power. If the exciter is weak or opening up after it reaches a set temperature, then the power required to energize the electro magnets or other items that it takes to generate the power will not be active.

[TedS]

I see only two wires coming out of the INVERTER with no bonding of either to ground.

[Schiefswret]

An electrical management system (EMS) is a great investment, and can save you hundreds or thousands of dollars in damage if the electrical supply at the pedestal is having issues. It will turn off the electricity for things like low voltage, High voltage, incorrectly wired circuits, etc. So why does it shut down power when you try to run from a generator?

When your EMS sees power from most generators, it will shut down do to a grounding issue. But is there really a ground issue? No - your generator is missing a connection that is provided by shore power. And the EMS sees this as a fault.

In your home or the RV park wiring, the neutral and the ground circuits are tied together at one point. This is called a "Bonded Circuit". According to the National Electrical Code, you can only have one bonded circuit in an electrical system. Your RV will typically be plugged into shore power, so the wiring in the RV is not bonded. If you tried to power your home with a generator, and the generator had a bonded circuit, then you'd have two bonds, and be in violation of the code. Most generator manufacturers do not bond the circuit because of this. Since your RV AND your generator do not have a bonded circuit, the EMS will catch this and shut off power.

So what can you do if you want to power your RV by a generator and have an EMS in the circuit? If you have about $5, you can easily remedy this situation:

Step 1 - Purchase a male extension cord replacement plug at your local home improvement store. Also purchase a couple of inches of 14AWG wire.
Step 2 - Remove the cover on the replacement plug, and connect the piece of wire between the silver colored terminal and the ground terminal.
Step 3 - Replace the cover on the plug, and insert the plug into an outlet on the generator.

Once you've installed the "bonding plug" your EMS will recognize the bond and pass electricity from the generator to the RV.



Moderator Update: The link below is to a technical article written by Mike Sokol. The link was taken from post # 22 in the Car Generator thread where boyscout referenced it.

Mike Sokol is an electrical and professional sound expert with 40+ years in the industry. Visit NoShockZone.org for more electrical safety tips. His excellent book RV Electrical Safety is available at Amazon.com (and is highly recommended by your humble moderator, Howard).

RV Electricity – Generator neutral bonding basics by Mike Sokol

https://www.rvtravel.com/rv-electric...onding-basics/

It appears that at least Champion is now including this ‘bonding plug’ in with the shipment of the generator. At least for me, in early March 2022, I received a plug like this in the box with my Champion 2500/1850 Dual Fuel Gen. Can I safely assume that this is likely to be the ‘bonding plug’ discussed here? TY in advance.

[howson]

Schiefswret -- take out your multimeter and check it. (You DO have a multimeter, right, and know how to use it? If not, this is a perfect opportunity to learn.)

[Schiefswret]

Yes and mostly 😄Tks!