inverter (1 Viewer)

[Terry and Nicola]

HI ALL
Just got an inverter from a mate new but no box and no onfo as well ,its 2000 watt , my mate said he thinks it needs to be eathed to the metal work of the van as wel as the + and - to the battery it has a bolt wing nut out the side with a sticker saying gnd any one no much about this .
many thanks Terry

 

[peter marshall]

HI ALL
Just got an inverter from a mate new but no box and no onfo as well ,its 2000 watt , my mate said he thinks it needs to be eathed to the metal work of the van as wel as the + and - to the battery it has a bolt wing nut out the side with a sticker saying gnd any one no much about this .
many thanks Terry

Hi Terry
Dont know the correct answer, but an inverter of that size i think needs earthing. Pete :thumb:

 

[Geo]

Where a seperate ground provision is supplied with some large inverters
this is for the AC ground
and is usualy taken back to the AC supply, the AC and DC (12v) grounds should not be conected together, by taking this extra gound (wing nut) you have, to the chassis you will be conecting the AC and DC gounds together and this according to some Manf can damage the unit
I would search the web for fitting instructions before doing any more, or await the sparky's input on here
Geo

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[pappajohn]

I agree with Geo, if you're going to earth it I'd earth it to the earth busbar in the mains breaker unit.
you MAY find the busbar already has an earth wire to the chassis as well, in which case you could earth it to the chassis/metal bodywork instead.

20 watts or 2000 watts, its still 230v and will bite if an earth fault develops and it aint earthed....there's no RCD earth protection on an inverter.

 

[scotjimland]

20 watts or 2000 watts, its still 230v and will bite if an earth fault develops and it aint earthed....there's no RCD earth protection on an inverter.

Interesting statement , if it's not 'earthed' to the chassis then there is no return path via the vehicle chassis, so how could you get a shock between live and earth ? Simple answer is you can't.

The fault protection is provided by the Earth pin of the 13A socket on the inverter, , so if the appliance develops a fault it is earthed back to the inverted via the cable.

If the inverter is wired directly to the van sockets then the earth wire of the supply cable to the sockets should be earthed to the inverter chassis, (there is usually a connection on the body,) which can also be used to earth to the van chassis.. but as explained, this is not required.