How can I ground a 1000 watt Yamaha portable generator( EF1000is) to a
boat ?

wrote in message
...
How can I ground a 1000 watt Yamaha portable generator( EF1000is) to a
boat ?


Why ??

--
Regards ........ Rheilly Phoull

If this is for any purpose besides a temporary electric need like
powering Christmas lights for a one time boat parade I would suggest
rethinking your whole strategy.... or name me in your will....

portables and marine gensets have almost nothing in common, except the
fact that they both make power.

If it is for a one time activity on CALM water..... may I suggest you
put it on the SWIM platform (Fuel leaks can ruin your whole day... or
life) As far as grounding.... they usually have a grounding lug on them.
Just attach a wire from that lug to the ground of your boat. Not sure
why you would want to do that. you cannot combine power from multiple
gensets to power one large item. (Unless they are synced.... impossible
with a portable genset like you are talking about)




Rheilly Phoull wrote:

wrote in message
...

How can I ground a 1000 watt Yamaha portable generator( EF1000is) to a
boat ?



Why ??

Please help me understand. MyYamaha manual says" be sure to ground (
earth) the generator" and the picture is showing a wire connected to the
generator and the other end is a nail burried to the earth ground. How
to I do that on a boat?
I have a 26 foot Monterey with shore power.I purchased a boat shore
power adapter to regular household plug ( 3 prong) and I was thingking
of pluging that to the generator. I am confuse about grounding of the
generator to the earth ground ( the nailing to ground thing) ????

wrote in message
...
Please help me understand. MyYamaha manual says" be sure to ground (
earth) the generator" and the picture is showing a wire connected to the
generator and the other end is a nail burried to the earth ground. How
to I do that on a boat?
I have a 26 foot Monterey with shore power.I purchased a boat shore
power adapter to regular household plug ( 3 prong) and I was thingking
of pluging that to the generator. I am confuse about grounding of the
generator to the earth ground ( the nailing to ground thing) ????

Well you might be getting out of your depth a bit :-) but if the earth pin
of outlets on the generator are bonded to the neutral then the adaptor
should be OK. If not then the ground connection on the genny should be
conected to the earth on the board on your boat.
Since you seem a little unsure it might be safer to get a little
proffesional advice.
With regards to earthing on boats, it is a lot deeper than most are aware
and long term effects in the form of electrolysis can cause real damage.
If you are just going to bring the genny aboard now and then IMHO I would
not be too concerned about the earthing situation since the supply (The
genny) is independant from the mains and would be very much like "double
insulation" with regard to earth faults.


--
Regards ........ Rheilly Phoull

On Sun, 18 Apr 2004 22:46:45 -0400, wrote:

Please help me understand. MyYamaha manual says" be sure to ground (
earth) the generator" and the picture is showing a wire connected to the
generator and the other end is a nail burried to the earth ground. How
to I do that on a boat?
I have a 26 foot Monterey with shore power.I purchased a boat shore
power adapter to regular household plug ( 3 prong) and I was thingking
of pluging that to the generator. I am confuse about grounding of the
generator to the earth ground ( the nailing to ground thing) ????

I have never understood that issue either. I have been on the edge of
buying a portable generator for several years, but never got around to
it because we rarely need it. Meanwhile I have been researching that
question on the net and in books like Nigel Calder for years too, and
never found a practical answer Surely there is a simple recipe for
non-electrrician boaters like us?

Our boat has an AC shore power 3-pronged inlet socket. We have a big
yellow 30-amp shore power cable, wihch of course we cannot use with a
portable generator like Romeoo's: such generators typically output
electricity through a normal household outdoor 3-pronged extension
cord. I have a 30-amp pigtail shorepower adapter that can be used to
adapt the household extension cord to the boat's shore power inlet
socket.

Our boat's AC wiring presumably is independent of the boat's DC
wiring. Or at least I certainly hope it is. The DC system's ground
is the battery/engine block. We have no "ground" to the ocean, nor
would I want stray current in the ocean around my boat.

Say I'm at anchor. If I put the generator on the swimdeck, run the
landlubber extention cord to the boat's AC input plug (with the
pigtail adapter), and turn on the generator, then where is ground? Is
it necessary to emulate the nail in the dirt, as if setup in a
campground when powering an RV?

Jim

For short term use, you should be fine from a grounding point of view.
The round pin on the standard plug is the ground and that should carry
the ground to the boat. There are many other dangers here you should
consider that the grounding will not solve... including but not limited
to: Fuel issues, shock issues, CO issues, etc.

Jim Thompson wrote:
On Sun, 18 Apr 2004 22:46:45 -0400, wrote:


Please help me understand. MyYamaha manual says" be sure to ground (
earth) the generator" and the picture is showing a wire connected to the
generator and the other end is a nail burried to the earth ground. How
to I do that on a boat?
I have a 26 foot Monterey with shore power.I purchased a boat shore
power adapter to regular household plug ( 3 prong) and I was thingking
of pluging that to the generator. I am confuse about grounding of the
generator to the earth ground ( the nailing to ground thing) ????


I have never understood that issue either. I have been on the edge of
buying a portable generator for several years, but never got around to
it because we rarely need it. Meanwhile I have been researching that
question on the net and in books like Nigel Calder for years too, and
never found a practical answer Surely there is a simple recipe for
non-electrrician boaters like us?

Our boat has an AC shore power 3-pronged inlet socket. We have a big
yellow 30-amp shore power cable, wihch of course we cannot use with a
portable generator like Romeoo's: such generators typically output
electricity through a normal household outdoor 3-pronged extension
cord. I have a 30-amp pigtail shorepower adapter that can be used to
adapt the household extension cord to the boat's shore power inlet
socket.

Our boat's AC wiring presumably is independent of the boat's DC
wiring. Or at least I certainly hope it is. The DC system's ground
is the battery/engine block. We have no "ground" to the ocean, nor
would I want stray current in the ocean around my boat.

Say I'm at anchor. If I put the generator on the swimdeck, run the
landlubber extention cord to the boat's AC input plug (with the
pigtail adapter), and turn on the generator, then where is ground? Is
it necessary to emulate the nail in the dirt, as if setup in a
campground when powering an RV?

Jim

Thanks for the reply. Fuel, CO and other non-electrical issues aside,
what did you mean by shock issues? And how does the round pin carry
the ground to the boat, if the boat is fibreglass, sitting on water,
and the generator is connected to the boat's shore power plug with a
3-wire shore power cable? Where does that round pin ground lead to?
Thank you for any insights you can provide to this issue.

Jim

On Tue, 20 Apr 2004 22:19:33 -0400, Ed wrote:

For short term use, you should be fine from a grounding point of view.
The round pin on the standard plug is the ground and that should carry
the ground to the boat. There are many other dangers here you should
consider that the grounding will not solve... including but not limited
to: Fuel issues, shock issues, CO issues, etc.

Jim Thompson wrote:
On Sun, 18 Apr 2004 22:46:45 -0400, wrote:
Please help me understand. MyYamaha manual says" be sure to ground (
earth) the generator" and the picture is showing a wire connected to the
generator and the other end is a nail burried to the earth ground. How
to I do that on a boat?
I have a 26 foot Monterey with shore power.I purchased a boat shore
power adapter to regular household plug ( 3 prong) and I was thingking
of pluging that to the generator. I am confuse about grounding of the
generator to the earth ground ( the nailing to ground thing) ????

I have never understood that issue either. I have been on the edge of
buying a portable generator for several years, but never got around to
it because we rarely need it. Meanwhile I have been researching that
question on the net and in books like Nigel Calder for years too, and
never found a practical answer Surely there is a simple recipe for
non-electrrician boaters like us?

Our boat has an AC shore power 3-pronged inlet socket. We have a big
yellow 30-amp shore power cable, wihch of course we cannot use with a
portable generator like Romeoo's: such generators typically output
electricity through a normal household outdoor 3-pronged extension
cord. I have a 30-amp pigtail shorepower adapter that can be used to
adapt the household extension cord to the boat's shore power inlet
socket.

Our boat's AC wiring presumably is independent of the boat's DC
wiring. Or at least I certainly hope it is. The DC system's ground
is the battery/engine block. We have no "ground" to the ocean, nor
would I want stray current in the ocean around my boat.

Say I'm at anchor. If I put the generator on the swimdeck, run the
landlubber extention cord to the boat's AC input plug (with the
pigtail adapter), and turn on the generator, then where is ground? Is
it necessary to emulate the nail in the dirt, as if setup in a
campground when powering an RV?

All metal (on most boats) is bonded together (green wires). This
includes the outdrives, shafts, thru-hulls etc. The bonding wire is
usually connected to ship's ground (Negative battery) and to the Green
side of the 110/220 sytem. SOMETIMES... there is a device that sits in
the middle to help save your zincs in areas with lots of current in the
water... this aside... the Ground wire on your shorepower is connected
to the bonding system.

As far as shock issues... if you touch a hot wire... or are on the swim
platform when a wave hits you and the generator... or if the plug gets
wet and you touch it (or any number of things...) you will get
shocked.... GFIs help but will not eliminate the issue.

Ed





Jim Thompson wrote:
Thanks for the reply. Fuel, CO and other non-electrical issues aside,
what did you mean by shock issues? And how does the round pin carry
the ground to the boat, if the boat is fibreglass, sitting on water,
and the generator is connected to the boat's shore power plug with a
3-wire shore power cable? Where does that round pin ground lead to?
Thank you for any insights you can provide to this issue.

Jim

On Tue, 20 Apr 2004 22:19:33 -0400, Ed wrote:


For short term use, you should be fine from a grounding point of view.
The round pin on the standard plug is the ground and that should carry
the ground to the boat. There are many other dangers here you should
consider that the grounding will not solve... including but not limited
to: Fuel issues, shock issues, CO issues, etc.

Jim Thompson wrote:

On Sun, 18 Apr 2004 22:46:45 -0400, wrote:

Please help me understand. MyYamaha manual says" be sure to ground (
earth) the generator" and the picture is showing a wire connected to the
generator and the other end is a nail burried to the earth ground. How
to I do that on a boat?
I have a 26 foot Monterey with shore power.I purchased a boat shore
power adapter to regular household plug ( 3 prong) and I was thingking
of pluging that to the generator. I am confuse about grounding of the
generator to the earth ground ( the nailing to ground thing) ????

I have never understood that issue either. I have been on the edge of
buying a portable generator for several years, but never got around to
it because we rarely need it. Meanwhile I have been researching that
question on the net and in books like Nigel Calder for years too, and
never found a practical answer Surely there is a simple recipe for
non-electrrician boaters like us?

Our boat has an AC shore power 3-pronged inlet socket. We have a big
yellow 30-amp shore power cable, wihch of course we cannot use with a
portable generator like Romeoo's: such generators typically output
electricity through a normal household outdoor 3-pronged extension
cord. I have a 30-amp pigtail shorepower adapter that can be used to
adapt the household extension cord to the boat's shore power inlet
socket.

Our boat's AC wiring presumably is independent of the boat's DC
wiring. Or at least I certainly hope it is. The DC system's ground
is the battery/engine block. We have no "ground" to the ocean, nor
would I want stray current in the ocean around my boat.

Say I'm at anchor. If I put the generator on the swimdeck, run the
landlubber extention cord to the boat's AC input plug (with the
pigtail adapter), and turn on the generator, then where is ground? Is
it necessary to emulate the nail in the dirt, as if setup in a
campground when powering an RV?

On Thu, 22 Apr 2004 05:22:45 GMT, WaIIy
wrote:

I always heard you NEVER mix the AC and DC ground together. Never.
Of course, I'd like to know if this is true, but it makes a lot of sense
not to.

I was under the same impression. I thought that my AC system was
grounded through the shore power plug to the 3-wire system ashore.

Here is my rudimentary understanding:
http://jimthompson.net/boating/Elect...lectronics.htm

Jim