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I am converting a van and do not have any shore power connection. I am using solar panels and an Orion charger as back-up. I'm wondering if I truly need to ground the phoenix inverter to the chassis of the the vehicle or whether I can get away way with a floating neutral ?
Thanks for your insights!
Im Not 100% sure, but….
if you plan an rcd on the input side of your van, you need the grounding, that the rcd can work if there is voltage on the housing of the inverter.
Do you plan to install an rcd AFTER the inverter?
the inverter (in principle same like a Transformator ) has N, and (chassis-) PE in its starpoint? If you want to use an rcd you must separate N and PE after the inverter….
So, If you have the inverter chassis grounded and there is residual current on the housing of the inverter, the 2nd rcd can switch off also. (Because current can flow over the chassis, and bypass the rcd, that it will drop (hopefully :-)
But, you are right it doesn‘t matter internally, because when the housing of the inverter has residual current, it has it anyway no matter if grounded or not? (Maybe I am wrong?)
Other advantage would be if the housing gets DC current ( from short with pluspol) there is enough current to drop the big DC fuse immideately? And there is enough cable dimension to prevent it from fire (minus cable + ground cable diameter)
Hello and thank you very much for your reply,
No I do not plan on using an RCD.
