Quote:
Originally Posted by JRTJH
From what I understand, RVIA and most electrical codes stipulate that there can only be "one neutral/ground tie" in an electrical circuit. Hopefully there's an electrician that's more familiar with the codes that can expand on that.
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The bonding of neutral and ground are allowed only once in a system because if there was a second (or more) bonding of the neutral and ground downstream, two things would result:
A parallel path would be created that would allow current to flow on the ground wire. In normal operations (no faults), no current flows on the ground. If more than one bond existed, the ground between the bondings would essentially be a second neutral and have current flowing on it. This is a safety problem and renders the purpose of the ground useless.
In addition, with current flowing on both the ground and neutral, it is possible to overload the ground wire since the ground does not have to be the same size as the neutral over a certain size. Current doesn't split across the two based on conductor size.
This is why it is critical to NOT bond in a house sub panel.
The main panel in your camper is just like a sub panel in your home (if you have one). All neutral and ground wires are isolated; the neutral/ground bonding occurs upstream-- probably in the pedestal.
If you look inside your main panel in your home, the neutral and ground are bonded there. That is why the neutrals and grounds are scattered and connected to the same buss... it doesn't matter. (Sometimes bonding is done in the meter and the main panel is kept not bonded. Less common though.)
The most technically correct way to use a generator would be to bond the neutral and ground in the genny, then ground the genny to a ground rod. Since that almost never happens, I think it is more acceptable to have the neutral and ground not bonded since the generator is not grounded. Of course we all know the floating ground issue with the EMS.
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