DrewZA

Oh, there's nothing wrong with the changeover switch itself. It's the way it's wired in those pictures that I have an issue with. When the changeover is in the 'bypass' position and the 'AC Output' breaker is ON, there is direct connection between the inverter AC output and grid AC. I've attached my scribbles, the way it's wired in the pic and how I've rewired.

Resurrecting the dead, but for good reason. This pops up as examples of changeover/bypass wiring and this seems to me like a terrible idea! I had to draw out the schematic to understand what was going on here. Correct me if I'm wrong, but when you set the changeover to bypass, the centre breaker MUST be off, if you forget or someone else is working on the system and they don't know. You have a situation where Inverter AC output is connected out of phase/frequency directly to Eskom supply. Scratch 'bypass', rather 'self-destruct'.

I checked out the EL with a plug tester over the weekend and it's tripping at 25mA. I'm really happy with the outcome, thanks for the help all!

I'll check this measurement shortly. Wouldn't it be irrelevant though, this requires intentionally unbonding the connection between gen chassis earth and system earth?

In testing the generator was standalone, isolated from any installation wiring. The measurements were: L-N = 230V L-Chassis E = 230V N-Chassis E = 0V

With the neutral bonded to earth at the inverter output, it is no longer V-0-V... N-E=0V L-E=230V L-N=230V Please advise how it will differ from a standby genny @phil.g00?

Perfect, thank you!

I tested with a 40w light bulb and the voltage across N-E dropped to around 15V, I proceeded to make a hard connection and it's looking good. N-E=0V L-E=230V L-N=230V. Just a question regarding grounding. Am I correct in thinking that with the neutral/ground bond in place, if the generator were not connected to a ground spike, there would be potential between the chassis of the generator and terra firma, essentially making the ground points on the generator "live"?

Thanks @P1000. So in order for this to work properly I'm going to have to bond the neutral and earth on the output, but reading up and I'm seeing mentions that split phase inverters might not like having the Neutral and Earth bonded. I'm assuming this inverter is split phase, because I'm getting 120V N-E and 120V L-E. I found this suggestion to test it before making a hard connection so going to give this a try. "You might try with a resistance making a connection between Neutral and Earth, for example with an incandescent light bulb. If you measure no current, and if the voltage difference between Neutral and Earth disappears, then I assume you can connect Neutral to Earth without provoking a short circuit."

Ok, so it turns out I was completely off the mark. The schematic is from another ryobi inverter generator that looks to be very similar internally. If I am correct in my assumption that a "centre tap" would be where the green arrow is. Then the generator doesn't appear to be centre tapped according to the schematic, I also confirmed this by meter readings of 5.5Ω across the windings, but infinity between any winding and earth. So I should rather be looking at the inverter. I believe this is called a floating neutral on the inverter? Now to figure out if the neutral can be bound to earth without letting the magic smoke out...

Hey All I have a Ryobi RG-2000i inverter generator that I wired into the db, it was working well to keep the lights on, internet up and the beers cold but then I noticed that my LED motion sensor light was dimly lit even when it wasn't activated so I did some tests and found live between neutral and earth. I immediately shut everything down, sat in the dark mumbling to myself about the state of the country A quick google search later and I found this whole story of V-0-V generators and safely wiring them to a db. I would like to modify the generator so that it is no longer V-0-V but at this stage being an inverter type, I don't know if it's even possible. Everything is compact, with only a small access panel so I don't see any exposed alternator contacts like the picture floating around shows. If needs be I'll strip the whole thing down to pieces but I'm not looking forward to that. There is however an exposed an earth busbar on the side of the motor. My thinking is that one of them may be the centre tap? Disconnect it, insulate the ring terminal, wire a neutral from the inverter output to the earth busbar and done, or is that a bit too optimistic? I just need to find the centre tap. From left to right 1, 2, 3, 4. 1. Unknown earth, heat shielded, disappears under the motor - possible candidate for centre tap? 2. Wired to the ignition coil. You can stay. 3. Unknown earth, disappears into a plastic box - possible candidate for centre tap? 4. Yellow/Green, wired the the inverter chassis, gnd terminal, plug gnd, and plug plate. You can stay. Am I on the right track here?