GFCI's Tripping on Honda generator

[JimJohnston]

Hi all

I am hoping that one of you has prior experience with this issue: when the 120V battery chargers on my boat are energized by a honda EU2200i, the GFCI's that are between the honda and the chargers Trip to 'off'. However when connected to regular 120V shorepower, there are no problems. The two chargers are feeding a pair of 24V Torqeedos in a parallel circuit.

At least one member on this forum suggested that the solution is "you have to bond the neutral & ground at the generator plug in order for the honda to work on a boat. If not the gfi's on the boat trip.". The guy at the local honda shop tells me that this isn't a good idea.

Any additional suggestions to resolving this issue are greatly appreciated.

thanks

[senormechanico]

I had the same problem with my Honda inverter generator when charging my home's system. It's very rare I need it as we have a solar grid tie with auto transfer switches. One switch is for grid/solar, the other is for solar/generator. The generator sat on our deck outside and plugged into the socket on the house. Perfectly normal wiring in the house, but the GFI didn't like it. I measured with a multimeter and could not find any anomalies.

I put a 1000 ohm resistor from green to neutral in the cord's socket and voila!

It works fine.

[S/V Illusion]

Lots of info about this recurring theme - it’s typical on any portable generator such as the Honda which is wired with a floating ground.

Bonding will cure the GFI problem but can cause other more serious dangers.

[john61ct]

Sort of stuff really best dealt with by an experienced professional.

[smac999]

I don’t see how a floating ground would cause gfi issues. A gfi has nothing to do with the ground wire. If anything by having it floating it should be less Likly to trip. As there is no ground path to leak too.

[ebs001]

Exactly how are you energizing the boat and where is/are the GFCIs? Are you plugging the Honda into the boats regular electrical inlet plug? What is plugged into the GFCIs?

[thunderhoof]

There is clearly a ground fault path when the generator is connected. The GFCI works by comparing the current flow in the hot lead to the neutral lead. If they are not equal (within a small tolerance) then the current must be going somewhere else and the GFCI trips. Do you disconnect the shore power completely when the generator is used? Is the frame of the generator tied electrically to the boat in any way?

[misfits]

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

Jim, check out this article for a better explanation.

[misfits]

Jim, your Honda. Does it have the push button circuit breaker with regular receptacle or the newer version that has the GFI receptacle?

Reason I bring it up, maybe the newer version with the GFI outlet raises hvaoc when connected to the shore power inlet on a boat IF your outlets are also GFI. I'm no expert but forgot to ask this when we were PM'n electric boat stuff.

Bob