Honda EU200i Generator Question

[Rather Play Pinball]

The Honda EU2000i Generator does not tie the Neutral and Ground connections together. (View schematic here:

) If I attempt to power an A.O.Smith water heater (gas fired, but a little control panel to control the thermostat and power vent) with the Honda generator, the water heater faults and will not operate. The resulting LED code on the water heater control pad indicates a wiring problem with the Neutral and Ground. Will sure - a simple circuit tester shows an "open ground". This is because of the Neutral and Ground being independent from the generator and not tied together.

What's a solution to fix this? I'd like to run the water heater from the generator during times of power outages. Note that I'm not hooking this generator up to the building's main power panel - just plain ol' extension cords from the generator into the house.

Thanks

[Rich256]

For this purpose I would tie the ground and neutral together at the generator and hook it to an earth ground too. The generator doesn?t because it does not know what kind of circuit it will be seeing. Two common ground tie points are also to be avoided. That would most likely happen if you hooked the generator to the buildings power panel.

[Stormin Mormon]

Buy a short extension cord. Cut the socket off. Wire the cord into a junction box, with an electrical socket. Wire the cord to the socket, and a jumper between neutral and ground.

Plug WH into custom made cord. Custom cord into extension cord.

Store custom cord near WH.

[Percival P. Cassidy]

IIRC, it was generators belonging to this series that some electrical inspectors were threatening to "red tag" whenever they came across one.

Perce

[gfretwell]

They would have a hard time coming up with a code section to cite.

[Percival P. Cassidy]

OK, it may not have been this specific model. In fact it may have been all Honda generators.

The discussion to which I am referring is at

They refer specifically to 250.20(b) and other sections. Sorry; I am a simple home owner, and most of this stuff is above my head. I happened across it while looking for something else.

Perce

[Rather Play Pinball]

Talked to a tech at Honda in Georgia. They were very polite. They were also very firm. On this model, you can NOT bond neutral and ground. Why the hell they can't say that in their manual or marketing fluff is beyond me.

No wonder these things end up like-new on Ebay...

:-(

[zxcvbob]

How would it know if you grounded the neutral wire external to the generator (at the distribution panel) and let the frame float (or connect it to a separate earth electrode).

Bob

[Toller]

Well, that's just not true. I use it on my transfer switch (and before that backfed... oops). Since the neutral and ground are bonded at the breaker box, it is exactly the same as bonding them at the generator. I think what they mean is that the internal ground is not attached to anything and/or that there is no internal provision for bonding the ground like some generators have. If you attach it to a real ground (water pipe...) and then attach the neutral to that it would be a bonded ground.

The EU2000 is kinda funny, in that the voltages off the hot and neutral are pretty random until you ground the neutral. That forces the hot to 120v and the neutral to 0v. Maybe that is why you are having a problem.

OTOH, I am not a generator expert. It seems clear, but maybe I am overlooking something. Comments?

[Mark]

Is the EU2000 one of those generators that is actaully a DC generator and has a built in inverter? Some inverter circuits will not work if you connect either one of their outputs to ground.

Or is it a real AC generator?

Mark

[Jim Redelfs]

Yes.

I own one and love it. It is only occasionally used and then only when "camping" in my travel trailer without an electrical hookup.

[Toller]

It is a DC/Inverter but, as I said, it works just fine when the neutral is grounded. Though it probably couldn't be called a neutral until it is grounded.

[Mark]

OK,

does that mean you connected the "generator neutral" to the "generator ground" , i.e. to the frame of the generator and it works fine.. (this would be good)

or does that mean you connected the "generator neutral" to the "building ground" i.e. the water pipes etc...and it works fine? (this could be a problem)

which one, or both?

Mark