Charging issues

[dcomins12]

This is probably the 100th topic on charging issues but I haven?t found an answer specific to my issue.

We have a 2009 Wildwood 28? travel trailer that charges fine on shore power and with our 30 year old Honda EM 3500 but will not charge when we use our new EM 4000sx. We have plugged to the household outlet and the 30a outlet with the same results. We?ve taken the generator back to the Honda dealer and everything works fine.

Any info is greatly appreciated.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

Do you have an Electrical Management System (EMS) from Surge Guard or Progressive in your trailer?  One that would specifically be checking to see if the neutral and ground are bonded together, and not allow current to flow if they aren't?  Cause not all generator's have that.  It's possible your old generator does, and it's for sure the shore power does.

 

[darsben]

Are you saying the 110 outlets work as well as microwave but the only problem is the batteries will not charge?
Or does nothing line voltage 110 work

 

[dcomins12]

No surge guard.

 

[dcomins12]

Yes everything works except the battery charger. The only difference would be using the new generator.

 

[darsben]

Wow now I will  have to ruminate on this for a while

 

[darsben]

I got nothing positive to add.

I would wonder if your Battery charger has a circuit to protect it from low voltage or crappy power(HZ)

Also are you using the twist connection and have the switch on 120/240?

 

[dcomins12]

I?ve used the household adapter and plugged to the 110v 30a plug with the same results.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

The new genset probably lacks a ground, i.e. the the ground pin on the receptacle isn't bonded to neutral and there is no earth ground unless you drive a rod into earth and hook a wire to the genset (it has a ground terminal somewhere).  I cannot imagine why the lack of a ground connection would bother the charger function, but it's easy to make a ground bond plug and try it out.  You should probably have a bonding plug anyway.

This article discusses the Portable genset grounding issue and has instructions for making a Neutral-Ground bonding adapter.

http://noshockzone.org/generator-ground-neutral-bonding/

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

If you're not handy with tools, or just uncomfortable working with electricity, you can now buy one of these plugs pre-made:

https://www.microair.net/products/generator-bonding-plug?variant=12272654155860