Bonded VS Floating Neutral Generator Does it Matter?

[@yellow_panther]

EXACTLY what I wanted to learn... how to test a generator with a meter to determine if it's floating.

[@shanwar9844]

I work on the railroad and have had to deal with this every major storm. We temporarily power interlocking bungalows with every type of generator available at the time during power outages. The 5000+ watt units with gfic outlets we have to convert to floating neutral or they trip and won't power the already bonded electrical panels. It was never an issue before gfic outlets in the new generators. The last group was a pallet of generac 8000 watt units. No big deal if you know what's going on. Like you said only 1 bond for the new fussy generators lol.

[@johnnysweekends]

Yea it’s really the new ones that have been giving some people troubles. Sometimes no issues, weird.

[@ChaJ67]

Actually, it is not weird at all, just a lack of insight into what is happening. So say you hook into a bonded panel with a GFCI generator outlet. You will create a ground loop, which is against code as in you have two bonded points. That ground loop will generate a ground - neutral differential at the GFCI outlook. GFCI is designed to look for small differences as your body is a resister and so will only draw a small current when you are completing the circuit with your body. GFCI needs to be able to trip with these small currents so that people don't die when they complete the circuit with their body. However, seeing you are bonded at the generator and at the panel and all the wires have some resistance, you create a ground circuit loop through the GFCI on the generator and pop it. There are other KZbin videos that get into this. Say you are pulling a 1,000W load, You may see say 1 amp going through the ground on the generator due to the neutral bond in the panel. 1 amp will pop a GFCI with ease. To make a big topic with GFCI simple, it is generally used where people and water may be present at the same time, like say your bathroom or kitchen or even basement where water could intrude in. Probably also want to have near a pool. If you don't need GFCI, you don't want it. Say for example you have a computer. You probably want to have your computer plugged into a surge protector or even full on UPS with a built-in surge protector when on grid power so that a lightening strike on the grid doesn't necessarily fry your computer. However, say you plug that surge protector / UPS into a GFCI outlet. Whenever there is any sort of power surge on the grid, which I find tends to happen multiple times a day every day, the surge protector will dump the excess power to ground with the intent of it going to Earth ground, say for a lightening strike. However, seeing you plugged into a GFCI outlet, it will interpret that as someone getting a shock, say like what it would see from water splashed onto a toaster oven while someone is operating it, and trip the GFCI breaker. Better for the CFCI breaker to trip than to become toast yourself, but at the same time if this is not the situation you are looking at, you can see that GFCI is actually working against you and popping even when it seems like everything is fine. And of course if you figure out what I mean by creating a ground loop with dual bonding ground and neutral with GFCI involved, you will see that you are going to trip the GFCI whenever there is any sort of load on the circuit, which is definitely not what you want.

[@condor5635]

I just removed the jumper wire on my generator. It’s over 20 years old so I don’t really care about the warranty because there is not one. Even if I bought a new one, I would do the same thing. It’s very easy and now gives me the flexibility to put a plug-in like you showed if using standalone or to use it on my house with plug removed and my manual interlock. Thanks for the video.

[@johnnysweekends]

Yea on the older units it’s definitely much easier because you can get to the engine easily. The newer enclosed frame inverter generators are not easy to swap because several pieces have to be removed. Sometimes old and simple was nice lol And you’re welcome 😀👍🏼

[@user-bd2xj7oy6l]

@@johnnysweekends So I looked in the user manual for a DuroMax XP15000EH. The specs said "floating neutral". Ok, so that's one that would be good to wire into my transfer switch. But... that wouldn't be good to use directly to power home appliances and stuff?

[@johnnysweekends]

@user-bd2xj7oy6l it would be just fine

[@condor5635]

@@user-bd2xj7oy6l - if it’s already configured to be floating neutral then yes, you can use it directly with an interlock. If you wanted to use it just stand alone I believe you’d want to bond the ground and the neutral by using the plug that makes/bonds that connection

[@MandrewP]

@@user-bd2xj7oy6l Using a floating neutral generator is safer than a bonded one when powering appliances directly. GFICs won't work but are made irrelevant anyway. GFICs protect against ground faults but it is impossible to have a ground fault with a floating neutral setup (no ground). No ground - not ground faults possible.

[@MaxAirGo]

We had power out due to a storm on new years. I ran an extension cord to the furnace by Trane from the Honda 3000 generator. The blower turned on but the furnace would not ignite. I had to bind the neutral and ground for the system to work.

[@Jasonoid]

That's what I have noticed as well. Most furnaces need the bonded connection to work.

[@johnnysweekends]

Most furnaces are like that.

[@bruceeverett5372]

Generally nowadays most do, and nearly all high-efficiency do need it.

[@kevinr5187]

Thank you for posting this. Just went thru an ice storm here in Texas and ran into this issue. I must have wired and unwired the damn thing 10 times same result every time. Thanks

[@lar4305]

What i understand , the rule of thumb is, if you are connecting to a breaker box or back feeding , it has to be unbonded. If you are using extension cords , then it needs to be bonded.

[@davidarnold344]

The second you attach it to panel it becomes bonded. The G and N are bonded in every main panel. Don't unbond the gen. The double bonding issue is only for sub panels. There would be no loads between the 2 bonds l

[@onlywenilaugh6589]

@@davidarnold344 Actually, Lar is correct, you should unbond from generator when back feeding to house.

[@davidarnold344]

@@onlywenilaugh6589 the only issue this creates is the nuisance ttripping of a GFI on the Gen?

[@DumbDadDuties]

I back feed via a sub-panel with 240v. I think my generator is bonded. I connect all 4 wires to the panel and had no issues. Very interested in learning the right way to connect. Everything in the house runs fine - even all the sensitive electronics.

[@Jasonoid]

I have never noticed that labeling on the front, I need to check my generators to see what they are. Thanks!

[@ChaJ67]

If you are curious to how I have this sorted out as a non-electrician, just someone who has been trying to pay attention, so still do your own research / consult a real electrician, this is what I have: 1. GFCI is only for certain situations, like where people and water may meet up. The human body is a resister and contact with water can lower that resistance, making for a particularly deadly situation where things go wrong with electricity. Lowered resistance when making contact with water and electricity means more current flow. More current flow tends to equal death is far more likely. Say your toaster oven is next to your sink in the kitchen and water gets splashed on the toaster oven while you are operating the toaster oven barefoot. Better to have the GFCI outlet detect the small current imbalance between neutral and ground as current flows from a live wire through you and to the case of the toaster oven and trip the GFCI breaker then be toast. GFCI trips with very small current flows to ground specifically because it doesn't take much current to kill you and this is how it can detect that you are taking a hit. So now say you are in your home office room and you have a computer setup complete with either a surge protector or a UPS with a built-in surge protector as basically all UPSes have built-in surge protectors. This computer setup needs a ground - neutral bond for the surge protector to work. The surge protector will take say a lightening strike and dump the excess power to Earth ground. On a generator, it will just dump it to the ground - neutral bond if it surges for some reason, especially if you are using a regular non-inverter generator. But if it cannot detect this ground-neutral bond and establish a sane ground reference voltage, it will not activate. (Basically it checks for ground - neutral continuity and will not activate without continuity.) Now you put in a GFCI. You get continuity with GFCI, so the surge protector activates. When the surge protector dumps power to ground during a surge, the GFCI sees a big ground - neutral current and pops the breaker. On grid power, you may see this happen several times a day and this will ruin your productivity. On generator power, especially a regular generator, you may see this every time your fridge or say older air conditioner kicks on or even a vacuum or blender or what have you and this will definitely run your productivity. For reference, with no GFCI, just a regular ground-neutral bond, the surge protector will dump to ground and you won't even know; short surges do not trip breakers. So you really don't want this GFCI outlet there, especially not on the generator itself where everything connects up to. 2. Ground - neutral bonding - This is central to having a properly working electrical system in the USA. If there is a ground fault, you need it to return to source and clear the fault as in the breaker trips. Any properly done ground wire will be able to handle the current with low resistance in order to pop the breaker. It is just if it is not connected up on the other side, it cannot work and thus you have things energized and an unsafe situation where someone could complete the circuit with their body. The human body doesn't draw that much current, but it doesn't take much current to kill you either, so the breaker will not pop when the circuit is completed this way, but you will continue to get hit by electricity by default. So if you can instead have the power flow over the ground wire back to source and draw the current needed to pop the breaker this way, that tends to work out a lot better. 3. Earth - ground electrode - Earth - ground is more focused around you have a lightening strike to the grid, you need a path to Earth ground to dissipate that energy and stabilize the voltage. I see this as especially in play if you use surge protectors as the surge protector will see the voltage spike and dump it to ground, which a lightening strike causes a differential with a voltage reference that the surge protector relieves and the ground electrode allows the voltage to be stabilized with a ground reference. With a generator, either the surge protector never trips if it can produce very stable power or if say surgy devices are in the loop like a fridge or blender or old air conditioner and the generator can't, it will dump power back through the ground - neutral bond when there is a surge. Maybe if you are operating the generator in an electrical storm, you may still want the ground electrode. But say you hook up an Earth ground electrode (grounding stake) instead of a ground - neutral bond. This doesn't help anything as there is no low resistance path back to source to pop the breaker and may make matters worse depending on what all ends up energized including things that are never supposed to be energized. Whoops. Earth - ground seems to be more icing on the cake with ground - neutral being more key to basic generator safety. I would venture to say the safest way to hook up an Earth - ground electrode is to first make sure the ground - neutral bond is correct. 4. Dual ground - neutral bonds with a GFCI generator - This is a bad idea and will ruin your day. GFCI trips with small ground currents. As every conductor you use is also a resister, what happens with a dual link is you can create a ground circuit loop with the current split between neutral and ground and a voltage differential on both as resisters create voltage differentials. Essentially you share load over the ground wire, which is a big no no. A ground wire is often a bare wire you only dump emergency loads over and the rest of the time it is more or less dormant. A ground wire is connected directly to surfaces humans can normally touch, let's say the metal case on your toaster oven. A ground wire in a loop is a wire carrying current and you don't want to be touching something carrying current. That is unsafe. So now you add in GFCI to your generator, bonding ground to neutral in the generator and say a second bond in your electrical panel. Now as power flows through neutral, it splits the current load over that ground - neutral bond in the panel and it flows through the GFCI ground on the generator as they are essentially two connected up wires in parallel. As soon as any load goes on the generator, this current flows through the GFCI outlet, going through the ground that is not supposed to see current, but is due to the ground loop and so the GFCI pops. So now the power cuts off from the generator every time you try to put any load on the generator. 5. Common ground reference voltage - Something else to throw in there maybe not thought about enough is say you have copper Ethernet cables going around your house and sensitive electronics on either side. It is probably a good idea to make sure all of this equipment has the same ground reference voltage. Especially when you get into analog audio cables, not having a common ground reference voltage is something you can hear if an analog signal is going between powered devices and they are not both bonded to ground / the same ground voltage reference. Going back to the sensitive electronics, you don't want say static discharges happening through sensitive equipment because they did not share a common ground voltage reference. I have seen things like while at work with low humidity strong electrical shocks when making contact with plastic monitor cases as the static charge buildup leaped across through the plastic and regular arching from say the VGA connector on the laptop to the desk, causing the computer to randomly restart when the building grounding wasn't properly hooked up and something was causing static charges to build up on that dry day and major voltage differentials to form. Once the ground wire was properly connected, the issues stopped as reference voltage equalized across the building. Granted this was in a huge building, so this apparently led to the possibility of huge differentials to build up without proper ground reference throughout the building.

[@edberrios3679]

One and only one bonded neutral for each separately derived system'; otherwise, you are creating a dangerous alternative path of current should there be a ground fault. You need to know whether your transfer switch opens the neutral along with the phase conductors; generally they don't; they open the phase conductors and use the home/building's neutral conductor path. In which case, the generator should be set as a floating neutral, if it isn't already When a generator is used as a stand alone power source (i.e., a separately derived system), then the neutral and ground should be bonded. A bounding plug should be handy to quickly changing from floating to bonded neutral when you use for the generator as a stand alone power source. Always mark your generator, asn to its permanent state of boding.

[@mae2759]

If your generator has GFCI outlets, will that bonding plug work?

[@screwydrewy7027]

So when hooking into a plug with just a basic transfer switch that makes sure the main is off and has a breaker in the panel to feed everything from the generator to your house you need to remove the bonding wire if I’m reading this correctly. Then if you want to use it like on a jobsite you can just use a bonding plug to keep everything bonded again and be safe. Great video by the way.

[@johnnysweekends]

Don’t even need to bond at job site. Most people dont unless a tool or specific item needs it.

[@61spindrift]

Great video. Question: I just purchased a Rigid 8kw generator and using the 30amp receptacle gen outlet and connecting it to house using an interlock. I now want to use the 20amp/120v receptacle with an extension cord to fire my gas heater in workshop in different building with its own elec service. Since using it as floating neutral to house and knowing the gas furnace ignitor will not operate, can I bond just that one outlet? So one outlet floating and one outlet bonded. Thanks

[@johnnysweekends]

Thank you. As for yours I don’t know because I don’t know how they wired the plugs. On some bigger units a bonding plug will bond a section and maybe not the others. So you can try it if you are needing it.

[@mikecon7634]

First I've heard of this. Tks JW

[@johnnysweekends]

👍🏼😀

[@ZerHour]

I've noticed on a few 240v devices like a standard 240v battery charger for example has the earth wire inside the charger connected to neutral is this normal ? How would it effect a generator with centre tap or other types like floating

[@TexasEngineer]

I am assuming the this is mounted to the North American home 240v grid power and not a generator. The NEC requires only one connection of the ground to the neutral at the first disconnect. I would investigate your connector in great detail to try to figure out if it is correct for your application and is it properly installed. You may find out is that the ground should have been disconnected. The neutral is only used to create 120v from one leg. It can get very confusing in applications in certain applications where no neutral is provided like in a three wire dryer plug or oven. Some new appliances obtain 120v by using the ground as a neutral and others use a transformer to power the lights and circuit boards. Their drawings show the wire as a neutral on the appliance and as the ground wire on the the wall side. The only difference between a neutral and a ground is where it is landed in the breaker box. Electrically they become the same when the ground and neutral are bonded. Now for the fun part. The NEC does not apply to appliances like EVs or dryers or ovens. The NEC only applies to the building wiring.

[@burlingtonbill4687]

Rosie and I just purchased a Max peeding 3500 so this winter in the desert we can run our air a few times. We have been RVing 40 years or so and have had several different generators. All worked fine and I never even heard of bonded or neutral. Still a bit confused on when you need it bonded or not. Maybe some examples of the use for them would be helpful! Burlington Bill busking on the road and you-tube.

[@johnnysweekends]

Really only needed on a Rv if you have a onboard power management system or energy management system. Or say using a watchdog type surge protector. But you can plug directly into the generator and skip the watchdog.

[@burlingtonbill4687]

After some research I found that I have a neutral bonded generator and when plugged in to my unit it becomes bonded. Checked continuity before and after plugging in from neutral (white) to ground. What you say is exactly right. Thanks.@@johnnysweekends

[@johnnysweekends]

@burlingtonbill4687 😀👍🏼

[@Shxhjs01338]

I have a MXR3500 that will be used to power my RV. I just installed a watchdog surge protector and found no power was getting through it via the generator. Turns out I need a grounding plug which is on order. Question though… should I connect a grounding rod to the generator as well?

[@kevinr5187]

I have a WH igen4300df during the Texas ice storm I connected my gen to my inside air handler/gas furnace. It would energize my t stat and you could switch the stat would click like it was calling for the blower but the fan would not run. How do I fix this?

[@johnnysweekends]

You need to bond the generator

[@kevinr5187]

@@johnnysweekendsso meaning sacrifice on of my generator recepticals and use a bonding plug like you show in the video? Thanks for your help BTW great videos.

[@johnnysweekends]

@kevinr5187 yes

[@kevinr5187]

Tha@@johnnysweekends thank you Sir!

[@aledas6793]

thank you so much for this information ,

[@patrickcannell2258]

It is critical to check this. Some countries like mine, don't allow floating neutrals or IT systems. Check your code.

[@johnnysweekends]

Yes always check how your panel is wired and if not sure consult a electrician.

[@chelo3510]

Thank you for video! Think I’m somewhat understanding now after being confused for so long. So if I’m plugging directly into house panel, I need the generator in floating neutral. So I need to unbonded. Once I do that I cannot use the inlets in generator at same time? I would have to bond them again? If I leave generator in floating neutral could I hook a plug to bond it so I can use it as portable without having to reopen the generator and plugging everything back up?

[@davec6016]

QUESTION. If your generator is unbonded because you are connected to the house panel neutral should you still ground the generator frame to a grounding rod ?

[@johnnysweekends]

No unless it’s a permanent mount. Portable unit uses the homes bond.

[@hoody2141]

I have the genmax 7250, need to make it a floating neutral, do you know how to do it on the 7250?

[@johnnysweekends]

You would have to take the case off the rear of the generator it self and remove the white wire I believe. Small jumper wire normally. You can call the Genmax location in San Diego and see if they have an instruction sheet to email…🤷🏼‍♂️

[@undpossum]

You can definitely bond more than once, it’s required for each separately derived system. The building I’m working in has like 30 or so bond points in the building

[@johnnysweekends]

Yea but that’s a building verses a home in which says only one point of bonding. But that’s what I read from NEC…🤷🏼‍♂️

[@judjohnson4640]

I have a home that’s has two separate ground/neutral bondings. First would be at the utility power disconnect. Second would be at the whole home backup generator. I use a transfer switch to switch between each of them, and the switch is a 3 pole, so it switches L1 + L2 + Neutral. As possum stated above, you must bond for each self derived system. I have two…utility & generator.

[@LinksterGaming]

But why don't you bond a neutral and ground wire? I have a new construction home and I'm trying to test my ac before sheetrock is done.

[@antoniosagamuccio7370]

So, you're saying the building that you work in has "30 or so" separate utility feeds? If in fact you have one utility feed to a "main" panel and 29 more panels that are being supplied from that main panel, then those 29 other panels are considered sub-panels where you are not allowed to have a bonded neutral.

[@Mixwell1983]

I think you're twisting words. You should have only ONE bonded neutral in a COMPLETE circuit . If your panel is bonded your generator needs to be floating

[@thetintwizardsllc3128]

Question I connected the ground and neutral wire in the generator is that ok to do instead making a plug

[@johnnysweekends]

It’s basically the same thing but plug you can remove

[@t.d.harris1311]

Champion generators have several videos on converting their generators from bonded neutral to floating neutral. Inverter generators can be a little more complicated, but most conventional generators are simple to do. But take Johnny's advice and always consult a qualified electrician or you may do more than trip a breaker.

[@johnnysweekends]

Yes I have not really seen any inverter generators that are enclosed frame have a instruction in the manual showing you how. So maybe these types of units they prefer you not to mess with it. Verses open frame units it seems more common.

[@DonSharonAllen]

I have a regular open-frame Champion generator, and it specifically states near the outlets that it's "floating neutral.". The same is the case on a recently purchased Wen inverter generator - "floating neutral." I purchased the Wen for powering our natural gas forced air furnace during winter power outages, thus using it with a neutral-ground bonding plug in one of its outlets for the furnace to operate properly.

[@BradiKal61]

As I understand it (maybe) you only want ONE bonding point because a major short in the affected electrical system should only be able to earth in one location, which for a home is the breaker panel. In a system with multiple bonding points you have a short going to multiple locations and creating multiple shock opportunities

[@vatoloco1528]

Hey peeps! Just bought predator 5000 inverter generator. Floating neutral. Do I need to ground this thing when the travel trailer is plugged in?

[@johnnysweekends]

No. The generator will use the trailers bond. Unless you are using a power watch dog, or have a on board power management system

[@vatoloco1528]

@@johnnysweekends Gotcha! Thanks

[@msujdog]

Thanks for this video! I have line of 10/3 wire running from my panel to my garage to power my EVSE car charger. In other words, no neutral wire. If I was going to attach a generator to this wire to backfeed a panel theoretically, I would need a bonded neutral generator that would be sending the neutral to the ground, right?

[@johnnysweekends]

Normally 10/3 has a neutral in it. Unless it’s 240v with a black and red and neutral but should have a ground wire. Unfortunately I don’t know what you have wired so only thing I can say is a neutral floating generator is east to bong. Verses a bonded unit depending can be more work verses a bonding plug.

[@f-j-Services]

Some UPS battery backups will continue to beep running on a floating neutral generator as it knows that something is incorrect.

[@MJF40]

Good info, Johnny 🤘👍

[@johnnysweekends]

Thank you..😀👍🏼👊🏼

[@fredflintstone-bedrock]

what if im do both? i run 1 50 amp into breaker box but also run the 30 amp directly to central ac?

[@DragonPilot]

What about grounding the Gen? my gen is bonded. I don’t have a transfer switch near the panel. My panel has a mechanical interlock that drops down when I turn off the city power so that I’m not backfeeding up line. My understanding is that I should have a floating neutral and do not ground the gen.

[@brennanhill2385]

So by "Appropriate Transfer Switch" he means THREE WIRE Transfer Switch which also intercepts the neutral (grounded conductor) Vs TWO WIRE Transfer Switch which only isolates the Hot or Ungrounded conductors when sourcing to the Generator Vs the Utility So if you DON'T HAVE A FLOATING NEUTRAL (ALL modern portable generators with GFCI protected receptacle outlets come this way) you need a THREE POLE TRANSFER SWITCH which intercepts the neutral also. If you can Un-bond the neutral in your generator (remove the system bonding jumper) OR it comes with a Floating Neutral, then this is not a Separately Derived System and you only need a TWO POLE TRANSFER SWITCH.

[@BillSmith-rx9rm]

So I have a portable generator for which I use extension cords, it is not hooked up to my electrical panel. I have learned that it is not bonded, but rather the floating neutral type. Isn't it supposed to be bonded for the way I am using it? It seems like if a device has a fault, if my generator is not bonded, the breaker will not trip and everything is energized leading to the possibility of an electrical shock. Isn't that correct? So should I go in there and add a wire to the neutral and ground lugs to bond them?

[@johnnysweekends]

Most generators are floating, and if there is a short the generator will trip shutting down electrical flow. It has its own breakers.

[@BillSmith-rx9rm]

@@johnnysweekends That's certainly not what everyone else is saying. If a neutral is not bonded to the ground and there is a fault on a device, how is the charge going to eventually wind up back to its source (neutral)? The charge will just sit on the ground waiting for someone to touch something metal in the circuit, device, and generator. This is what everyone else is saying.

[@johnnysweekends]

@BillSmith-rx9rm I’ll have to make a video I did this years ago touching the two wires and the gens trips…now sure shock on tool or item could be possible if holding it but its a split second at 120v…any electrician has been buzzed by that several times. It will scare you but not kill you. There are thousands of generators out there being used every single day using extension cords. I dont see anything ever in the news about people dying or even getting hurt enough to make a news article. You could easily bond it if you want with a bonding plug. But bonding it is not needed for floating N gens when on its own. The gen will use a homes bond if using it for back up power for the home. I’ll put together a video I guess on what can happen…..why not make some sparks and blow stuff up…😀👍🏼

[@Philintx]

If I'm backfeeding a generator to a breaker panel, could I just leave the neutral out of it? Basically, only connect L1 and L2? Also, thanks for the video. Was interesting. Basically, my arc fault breakers go crazy when I backfeed my generator.

[@Nick-gi6ym]

Hello need your help. I have a manual transfer switch called Reliance Pro / Tran2 and my generator Honda EU2200i companion30A. Question will this work don’t know if it’s bonded honda stamping neutral floating. What do I need can’t see anything on the reliance that says anything about bonding. I could send you a photo of the transfer switch. Just need your email. Love your channel thank you

[@johnnysweekends]

The Honda is a Neutral floating and will use the bonding from inside your main panel. So one bonding point. This is after you wire the TF in according to the instructions from reliance. So you should not have any issues.

[@Nick-gi6ym]

@@johnnysweekends you think this is all set for me to use. Or do I need that ground plug 🔌 to generator

[@Nick-gi6ym]

@@johnnysweekends what is the TF. that transfer switch is all hooked up. Thanks

[@johnnysweekends]

Only reason you would need bonding plug is if furnace doesn’t kick on or water heater maybe. But all depends what you have. But you should be good to run fridge, microwave, or little heater and more. No plug needed because the reliance TF switch will be bonded to your main panel

[@Nick-gi6ym]

@@johnnysweekends so what I told you about my generator & transfer switch. You think I’m all set. Thank You

[@bruceeverett5372]

Hey Johnny, totally off topic but is that LP Smart Siding on your house? It looks great.

[@johnnysweekends]

Unfortunately no, lol. I wish though. Normal lap siding that is due for paint, camera trickery 😂👍🏼

[@darrylhunn2681]

Question... I'm running 2 3,500 inverters in parallel. Do i need a single bonding plug in one of the inverters or both?

[@johnnysweekends]

Normally just one. Some gens could be different.

[@coreybabcock2023]

I have the wen 3800 inverter generator

[@johnnysweekends]

Great unit, I don’t hear much bad about it. 😀👍🏼

[@coreybabcock2023]

@@johnnysweekends it is a good unit easy to fix and maintain I bought it from Facebook marketplace guy had it for 2 years and it had 800 hrs on it now it's rolled over and I have 75 hrs on it so close to 1,075 1100 hrs on it and I'm thinking of getting the wireless remote start kit for it

[@johnnysweekends]

Wow awesome. Man loving hearing feedback on these for my resources! Yea a remote kit would be great for sure. And if it ever gave way just keep the kit. But hopefully you get another 2-3k out of it..👍🏼👊🏼

[@MrPatdeeee]

Bonded neutral in electricity. But it did not start this way. So many were using the "grounds" in the same connected. This went on for many many decades. Then the engineers began to see some funny things; where more and multi bonding was causing dangerous things...to the systems and people. It would take too long to tell you why. But it can really be a major problem; IF the systems that are connected together have more than ONE bonding (wiring the neutral to the common wiring AT the power panel). So, The Federal law makes it simple. "ONE bonding at the entrance and NO exceptions". This made companies all over the US; to change it. So they had to go out to ALL of their systems and remove all of their bonding's. Then connect theirs neutral to the ONE bonding where the Power comes in. This applies in every home also. I know this, because my company RCA had to do it (a long time go); or be in trouble with the Federal Electricity laws/codes. So, IF one has a Generator that IS bonded (many do); they MUST break the bonding IN their Generator; IF the power panel is bonded. IF not you can let your gen be bonded.

[@johnnysweekends]

Exactly the critical loads panel would have to have the transfer switch break the neutral on a bonded unit. It will only get more complicated, or will it..🤔😂👍🏼

[@akbaxb165]

My small inverter generator has a Floating Neutral. I plan on using it with extension cords only (fridges/computers/toaster/microwave) in emergencies. Would it still wise to use a bonding plug on one of its receptacles? Thanks for your video/advice.

[@johnnysweekends]

You shouldn’t need one with those items.

[@yellow_panther]

@@johnnysweekends unless you are powering a furnace, right?

[@johnnysweekends]

@yellow_panther furnace will need to see a bond most times

[@Honestandtruth007]

A Floating Generator 😅😂 ... Same as a floating Neutral....yep yep 👍

[@davec6016]

Why do all these videos assume you are using a transfer switch ? For that matter a lot assume you have an external disconnect to your house. Since the disconnects have only been code since 2020 I believe and you can get a generator interlock for 20 dollars off the internet as opposed to pricey transfer switches, I think they are not properly addressing a good chunk, if not the majority, of the viewers of these videos.

[@johnnysweekends]

A transfer switch is just another way to easily power your critical loads. A interlock doesn’t power anything. It just locks the main out. You still need to get a generator inlet box if you wanna power the whole panel.

[@jasons8104]

@@johnnysweekends I have an interlock setup with inlet box. Looking at replacing small 2kw inverter generator with larger one, but all of the larger (5kw) seem to have bonded neutral. The bonding plug is to easily convert a floating neutral to bonded. The only way to convert bonded is to actually get inside the generator and change wiring. Will this be an issue or should I really hunt for 5kw with floating neutral?

[@dkat1108]

Inverter Generators with neutral floating : Can someone answer this in my manual it states (Circuit Breaker - The receptacles are protected by an AC circuit protector. If the generator is overloaded or an "external short circuit occurs the circuit protector will trip".) note last part short will trip ? But I thought a neutral floating wont trip because its not bonded to ground and if say a toaster is shorting out you'll get shocked but the toaster still works ? BTW this is using just an extension cord to say a toaster.....

[@Jakepp235]

I’m a novice and don’t want to disrespect you, why is this important maybe for average users ? Thank you

[@johnnysweekends]

It’s more for when you are trouble shooting why your GFCI breakers keep flipping or your breakers in the box. Sometimes this will cause it to see a short so it trips the breaker. So you need to break the neutral at the transfer switch

[@John-te1kw]

WTF are they talking about

[@Theistliecatcher]

My new eu2200i gen is an open neutral. It doesnt alliw me to use any electricity. Dead. So why make it that way at all? So dumb

[@johnnysweekends]

I dont think i understand the generator is not putting out ac power at all..?