Mobile Generator Opinions Wanted

[Will]

I'm putting a generator in my bus. It's a 6 KW diesel unit capable of either 120 20amp or 120/240 40amp.

First Point:

I have gotten two opinions on grounding and switching. One is that I should bond the neutral to ground in the transfer/breaker panel and hook the ground to the vehicle frame. That is from a guy that installs generators in commercial applications. My main problem with it is that you are connecting an output wire from the generator to the metal body of the bus--one part of an accident is already completed. Touch a hot wire and the side of the bus and you are lit.

The other opinion is from RV sites--and my Winnebago was also done like this--do not bond the neutral to ground, and ground everything to the frame of the vehicle. This way in order to have an accident you would need to touch both the hot and the neutral in order to have an accident. When plugged into commercial power, the exterior of the bus would then be grounded through the utility box.

Which one sounds best?

Second Point:

The RV sites tell you you should also switch the neutrals, not just the hots. In my Winnebago, the neutral and hot both went through a pole in the 2-pole 120/240 breaker. That means 240V is not available. I can't get my mind around why switching the neutrals would be important. It isn't important except that I can't get 40amps unless i can use both hots coming from the generator. Is there a way to rewire a generator to put out the full 40amps at 120V? I've heard rumors there is, but I don't know how it works really. Can something get out of whack?

While wiring it up like a house sounds good, I'm really queasy about bonding the neutral.

 

[smokey]

The gensets can be converted to 40 amp I have done it to a genset once. it was a small Suzuki that was 6-5 years ago not sure exactly how I did it but it wasn't hard once you get inside the genset panel you should be able to tell fairly easy just by looking at it.

What brand on genset is it. If I could find the manual with a wiring diagram I could probably tell you.

 

[Will]

This is it. There are some info sheets. I don't know if there is enough info to figure out how to rewire it.

 

[smokey]

Not really it was just mainly tying the hot lugs togather and testing the voltage and running a amp/load test till you get it.

 

[Will]

Is there a way to destroy the generator head while experimenting? I think there are about 8 wires coming out of it.

 

[smokey]

there maybe but if you don't dead short the grounds to the hot lugs I highly doubt you will hurt anything.

 

[Black'03LevelII]

Hey Will I threw your question at a guy that wires the trailers that get used by alot of racing teams (mostly NASCAR) and he also put the genpak on my buddy's semi tractor. He says to NOT tie the neutral to ground only ground to chassis.

He is also (snail)mailing me the wiring setup they use for the genpak on the tractors, as soon as I get it I can scan them into the computer and email it to you if you like.

 

[Will]

That would be awesome. I'm getting ready to start wiring this thing right now. Thanks for taking the time to do that.

 

[holyford86]

I'm curious to see how this camper conversion turns out.

 

[Will]

I put some pictures in the Show Off forum I think.