I have purchased a Phoenix 12 I 800 inverter. The neutral to earth bond has not been manufactured in this unit as shown in the manual. Can the neutral and earth be bonded on this inverter?
Regards Greg
asked
Bonding neutral and earth in smaller 12V Pheonix inverter
Hi Greg,
Bonding Neutral and Earth on the AC output of the inverters for the safe operation of an RCD is a job for a qualified electrician, and will also require installation of additional components and test equipment. How and where it is done depends on your local regulations and electrical safety standards.
The inverter will work without this bond, and it is typically made when wiring the inverter into an AC distribution system of power points and light switches.
Thank you for reply, I am an electrician and need confirmation that the inverter will work without modifications once I carry out neutral to earth bond in the switchboard.I purchased this inverter because of the bond link shown in the manual which is not on the inverter.
There are two current versions of the 12V 800 VA Pheonix. One with VE.Direct and one without.
External bonding is possible.
The manuals for each are here and describes how the AC output is isolated from ground and has a diagram for how it can be bonded internally:
"The AC output is isolated from the DC input and the chassis. Local regulations may require a true neutral. In this case one of the AC output wires must be connected to the chassis, and the chassis must be connected to a reliable ground, see figure 1. Please note that a true neutral is needed to ensure correct operation of an earth leakage circuit breaker."
Hi Gergory, Did you ever get to the bottom of this? It sounds like you have a similar question to me. In the manual for the Victron phoenix inverter 12/375 there is a reference to earth arrangements if the inverter output is used with earth leakage. They show in appendix A in the manual an earth jumper, however when I opened the inverter this jumper is not present. It also does not have the lug spade connectors on the PCB. I have earthed the chassis using the provided earth terminal and the earth leakage operates correctly when the test button is pushed. As this is a back up system for a fish pond pump I want to make sure that earthing the chassis is adequate to ensure the earth leakage will operate correctly.
My 12/500 Phoenix inverter also lacks the internal neutral-ground jumper. According to the manual, a GFCI outlet will not provide ground fault protection without a neutral-earth bond. When a single extension cord or other electrical device is plugged directly into the inverter, there is no load distribution center on the AC side for external neutral-earth bonding.
1) Am I correct in interpreting this to mean that an extension cord equipped with a GFCI device does not provide ground fault protection when plugged into this inverter?
2) Is there a plug-in solution for providing ground fault protection?
3) Is there a VE service document that details a procedure for bonding neutral to earth internally with this inverter?
Hi @jfeiman
The manual has been updated last year, the connection has to be made outside the inverter:
https://www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/Manual-Phoenix-Inverter-VE.Direct-250VA-1200VA-EN-NL-FR-DE-ES-IT.pdf
Hi, I've read the recent manual. I have a 12/500 inverter. The earth on the back of the inverter red box in picture is this the chassis earth?
Section 3.3 mentions an earth lug on the chassis , what does the earth lug look like? is it the one on in the red box? 
