I loved it. I identify as a Jack of all Trades. Plumbing, Heating, and Electrical. Your comment cracked me up. I had originally discovered this issue last year, but had I found your video then I would have saved myself time. Does anybody have kids? Guess what you're not just a doctor. You're a therapist, a problem solver, likely an electrician, and even a plumber. I'll let you figure that one out but it's pretty obvious. At least to this once-single Mr. Mom. Now, Ladies, I didn't forget you!! I've seen some ladies and men even take on the role of a mechanic. Yep, changing their own oil, working on brakes and rotors, or even swapping out a car battery. Ladies and Gents, you identified as a mechanic. (OKAY BACKYARD MECHANIC). JDS Outdoors keep up the great work!
Stumbled upon your site looking for a solution to what I thought was a problem with my 3500 Predator. Same problem you identified. BINGO!... problem solve! WOW did I hit the jackpot. And... you made me chuckle a couple of times... REALLY enjoyed your presentation... you're a natural pro with communications. And I do communications for a living. Actually... I lie for a living... I'm a TV Meteorologist. But I digress. Thanks for the help and the smiles. I've subscribed and am now backtracking thru your library. Thanks much for all of your efforts and info... GREAT STUFF!
Greatly appreciate it Tim. I've come a long way since videos of years past. I'm sure you know it's a little awkward talking to a camera at 1st but after a while it gets a lot easier and more natural.
Thanks for trouble shooting that out, I purchased a new rv travel-trailer last summer and am looking to purchase a generator for off grid camping , I will definitely remember this if it comes up thanks for posting.
I'm glad you came to a solution. I don't remember if I commented before, but if I did, it was something along the lines of hoping you found the solution.
You the man thanks for the vid straight to the point . I was having the same problem with tester different model. I thought it was my cord and generator . It wasn’t thanks bro . Thanks it’s was the tester I returned it got my money back . Got a different tester . Thanks bro
Well there you go. I was one that originally claimed the fault was because of the open ground with the gen set. Then after thinking and replying with another commenter I talked about a job I had where the customer claimed a hot / ground reversed on one circuit in their RV. That actually turned out to be an open neutral. That's when I thought it might be a neutral fault. Its funny because the last sentence I said is how I hate those outlet testers because I can't trust them and their is no substitute to an actual multimeter. Hey, either way I'm glad to see you figured out the cause. For me that's the fun part of troubleshooting. I enjoy the hunt. Subbed to your channel btw.
I appreciate it. Your comment and talking with other electricians is what helped find the answer. You were definitely right and also correct on the hunt is fun.
@@JDSOutdoors 🙂 hey thanks for saying that. I've always enjoyed troubleshooting especially on the electrical side of things. I just find it interesting. I was an electrician but left the trade to become a RV technician (just wanted something different). I love working on campers because I get to be a "jack of all trades". I try to help people when I can here on RUclips but I stopped for a while due to people not appreciating it and others just being trolls. I actually did not think you even saw my comment. Like I said I'm glad you got it figured out. Thanks again for your kind words. 🍻
@OneRoomShed I try to see as many as possible especially the good ones. I will take a min if I'm bored to troll the trolls sometimes as well. But there is some good ones out still and I do see that.
Damn. Great team work, and great you all found this out. I was about to go replace my “stolen” tool with a Klein. I wonder if other models do that as well… need to test and replace some GFCIs outside. Want to make sure I don’t fry nothing, including me in the process. Lol! Thanks again and here’s to ya on another great vid.
Why would you need to replace any GFI's? It's not going to hurt you in any serious way even if you do get shocked with 120 volts. 220 hurts pretty bad, but you will live, and I wouldn't suggest the 3 phase 440 that I got hit with once but I was fine that time too. No need to worry about 120 volt.
@@wesman7837 Well actually 120 will kill you faster then the higher voltage. 120 makes you grab tighter higher voltage throw you off. It is usually the throw that kills the people in higher voltage. as it is the amps that you need to work about not voltage.
@@JDSOutdoors I bought that Inverter and loved it so much bought a 2nd one. 2020 models. 1 Inverter will run gas furnace or window unit, chest freezer, fridge, T.V.'s, and some lights all at the same time with power to spare at the farm house. A noisy, gas hog, regular gen is used to run well when needed. Quiet, reliable and use little gas. Another vid shows there is a special 120V plug that connects the neutral and ground prongs that I think solves your floating neutral when its plugged into Inverter. Great video, Thanks.
I had 30 ft coach and I had both ac running, turned the microwave, every light on and small items plugged in and only pulled 3200 watts to the best of my memory. That 3500 is adequate for that coach. It’s rare you have that kind of a load on a coach
I worked with a lot of electrical stuff from HVAC to generators over the last 35 years and never owned one of those outlet testers till just recently. I always used a meter and amp clamp, which means I never got to experience being led astray by some fancy little gadget!
Every testing device has its place, even digital multimeters have drawbacks. Since digital multimeters do not burden the circuit (doesn't provide a load like a wiggy type tester that has a solenoid and draws some current) it will pick up transient and stray voltages that really aren't there for a lack of a better word (meaning no power behind it). Maybe in your work you've never experienced this but I have in my 40 years as a journeyman electrician. Having said that, digital multimeters have been a godsend to the industry. Even this "fancy little gadget" showed that there was a problem with this circuit and shouldn't be ignored. Taking Hot to neutral readings is not enough. I wish I was there to take Hot to ground, neutral to ground measurements but it's likely that there was no neutral to ground bond and if so very dangerous.
@@liffy8333 ... in an RV there is no neutral / ground bond because any time you have shore power that connection is provided from the utility feed. BTW, all new RVs come with an owner's manual that probably spells out generator needs. Some of these manuals go into great detail with diagrams and troubleshooting as well.
@@rupe53 Yes, shore power provides the neutral to ground bond but a generator with a floating neutral does not. Your right you should read and follow all manuals.
I learned today that if u have a built in surge protector in your rv, that it wont work with a generator because of the open ground. U have to make a plug that ties the neutral and the ground together and then the surge protector will work and allow power to the rv.
Haters gonna be haters, and the keyboard warriors are always gonna be around... to boost their own egos I guess, I really don't know why. Thanks for the video and thanks to those who helped you figure out the problem.
It would be cool to have a Xtra pair of test leads for your multimeter and then wire up a standard 110 volt male plug to the end to where you could just plug your meter into the wall. Good info thanks
Doesn’t make sense. Used the same tester multiple times on various power options but it only shows bad on one of them. Even going direct to the 3500 should, in theory, show bad if it’s truly the tester. Right?
Because all his other options were closed frame and had a bonded to ground neutral. Predator 3500's are floating neutral. The tester works on the Predator 9500 because it's bonded neutral. The tester is trying to find reverse polarity by measuring voltage from hot to ground and neutral to ground, expecting to find ground bonded to neutral like a house. Since the ground pin and the neutral are not connected, the tester defaults and just says 'floating ground.' while displaying 30v. Campers don't do this for safety (If you had a bonded generator, touched it and the camper, and there was a wiring issue on the camper, you would be electrocuted.) Champion generators has this in the FAQ on their site, its a common 'problem' caused by all in one testers.
I have the same generator predator 3500. Trying to run my camper a/c. 13500 btu. It will run the a/c fan and compressor but if anything else is plugged into camper (phone charger or small tv). It will blink when the compressor kicks on. Every time. Fan already running but when compressor kicks on it’s just enough draw to blink everything else. Is it simply just to small of generator? I can run the camper off of 20amp plugged into my garage wall and this doesn’t happen. Just looking for other ideas to check. Generator has 30 hours to on it. Not in economy mode.
My question. I believe in your short video, you pluged your tester into the 120v duplex outlets of the small gen and read fine. Do they have an internal bonded neutral? If so, I wonder why isn't the twistlock recep bonded? Would it be prudent to bond the twistlock? The bond would be at the source as should be.
My Klein outlet tester also showed 30v open neutral on the outlet on my Genmax gm3500iaed 3500w generator. I wasn't getting power from the two 20a AC outlets so I saw this and tested the outlet with my multimeter. All I got was 6.4v and it is impossible to get in touch with the manufacturer or the warranty service. I hate sending it back since it now has gasoline in it and it will be a pain boxing it up
Thanks for the video! I have a Grand Design 22MLE, which is a 30amp rig.. my 12v lights and fridge have an issue while on the generator. 120v items are fine... do you think my converter has an issue with only seeing 30v?
No the converter is actually seeing 120. For some reason that tester defaults to 30a when it reads and open ground. Testing with a volt meter shows a true 120
Your neutral bonding needs to be considered, otherwise your setup is potentially dangerous. That cord is expecting a connection that includes bonding in the panel box.
I saw some video on YT where they guy had a standard NEMA 5-15Plug that he bought of of EBAY that fixed this issue in a way and for the life of me I can find the video.......He actually just plugged it into the Generators NEMA outlet even though he was useing the Hubble outlet.
We have the same generator for our 30 watt 5th wheel and we just tried to use it to just run the ac and our generator couldn’t handle it. It was also 98° outside and wandered if the generator circuit board was overheating 🤷🏽♀️
@@Diamondranchfarmstead put a soft start on your ac. Get the good one it's about 300 bucks but it helps big time. I can send the link to the one I have if you like
How did you even keep yours running off the shelf? My brother couldn't even keep his running only after a few hours of running and he did everything the manual said. It started running like it wasn't getting fuel. Not impressed by Predator as of now.
Never had that problem with dozens of generators. Thousands of hours of run time. He got a bad one they will swap it out for free. Best warranty around.
@21TaylorG - my identical generator just died after a whopping 10 hours. It will run maybe a min with a heavy misfire. I’ve done everything imaginable. Removed the Spark arrestor, cleaned the plug, cleaned the carb. The fuel was literally brand new with B-12 treatment. It was running fine until it wasn’t. 🤣 I truly wanted to hook a chain to it and drag it behind my truck! Also the digital screen quit working after maybe 2 hours. What a turd 💩
I have 3500 predator inverter that has caused the resin in CDI to be cracked, so the spark plug is not firing . I tested the spark plug, carb is getting gas. About 7 months ago I replaced the CDI & I thought I had fixed the problem, I think something else is causing the CDI problem . HELP
As your warranty may have expired so swapping may not be an option. 2 issues may be the problem. On some models the red wire going to the starter solenoid can rub through insulation on the metal tab by the round capacitor destroying CDI so make sure wire is clear of CDI. Other issue is low oil shut off is grounding out ignition even though engine has oil. Simply unplug green connector right there by the starter solenoid. Great units, hope this helps.
Nice job. Call em out!! Can't comment and run!!!... .. I have had stuff like this kick my butt. I am NOT an electrician. But i am a good mechanic and i understand how things work.. So in hindsight you forgot to verify the verifier!. Yep. It lied to ya. And that can also get ya killed. Nice job figuring it out man. I lean on people to help regularly and they do it! I love people(some of em)... short story , a tic tracer, a kind of voltage detector will lie to ya too. I had the meter in my hand while I'm inside the house getting voltage readings on a pipe with wires in it disconnected at both ends and the houses meter(main disconnect) in my hand. I'm walking circles around the house like where is the extension cord that is powering this house!?. Nope Chinese garbage product lying to ya. Well in the products defense there WAS voltage in that pipe. 0.00033247 of a volt (ghost voltage ,happens when you put any 2 dissimiliar metals any where near each other). Iyiyiyy. Forehead slap.. i learned tho!.... p.s. i just bought this jenny. Hope to make friends with it this year. It was a refurbished one that i walked out the door paying 600$for.
You do still have a problem though. When using the 3500 watt generator it sounds like your neutral isn't bonded (grounded) anywhere, so it can float to potentially dangerously high voltages. Also if you don't have the RV ground grounded anywhere, the ground too can float to a dangerously high voltage. Most people just consider the shock potential, but high voltages on circuits designed for only 120v can jump, igniting a fire inside a wall, appliance or device (not to mention damage electronic devices, like laptops). We had the same problem at our cottage. In our case we had several old appliances, including an old 1970's kettle and a 1970's TV that we used. These older devices, including our metal kettle, often bond the outside to the neutral. What used to happen, seemingly randomly, was when we touched the outside of our kettle we would get a huge electric shock. Initially my father thought the live and neutral was hooked up backwards to the kettle, but flipping them resulted in still getting the huge zap plus now we'd be left with a constant 120v between the kettle and floor (which made your fingers tingle most of the time when touching the plugged in kettle and zapped you with close to 120v when in bare feet). Touching the kettle again, right away, we wouldn't get as big a shock, but if we waited a few minutes the shock would be huge again. The problem confused us for many years and we lived with the old kettle, the old toaster, our old canister vacuum seemingly randomly zapping us. It became something of a laughing joke, with each of us getting randomly zapped over and over... Eventually we figured out this occurred when the TV was on and we then figured out that it was leaking high voltage onto the neutral line relative to the ground (the TV had a 3 prong plug). By grounding the neutral (and house ground) at the panel to a large copper rod hammered into the ground we were able to completely fix the problem. A lack of bonding your neutral to ground and lack of physically grounding your RV/house ground can result in very strange, confusing and dangerous things happening.
That is confusing. How can testing the plug at the generator look good but testing the plug in the RV be messed up, if the ground and neutral are properly bonded somewhere as well as grounded to earth?
I was wondering the same thing u would think it would always do it since he said campers have a open ground I understand that part but I'm not a electrician I would really like to know the answer from someone that does know why that's for sure
Campers do not have an open ground. The generator has the open ground. This is why some generators have a grounding post to connect to a ground rod or another grounding source. The problem is that the tester is mainly designed to used in residential (household) situations. When using it in a RV that's connected to a generator that has an open ground (not grounded) you see a false reading on the tester. The tester sees this as a hot /ground reversed even though it's actually just an open ground. The reason some generators do this and others do not is because there's basically 2 types of generators. Some are open ground and others are bonded. Bonded is when they connect the neutral and the ground wires together. This eliminates the open ground and also if there an electrical short, it sends the spike in amperage back the generator breaker and it will trip off. If your really interested in the technical stuff just Google why are some generators open ground and others bonded. It's too much for me to get into here. The sum of this is that the bigger gen set is must likely bonded (not open ground) and the smaller one was not (showing the open ground). The funny thing is that all along the camper is ok using both generators. It's the tester being used in a situation it was not really designed for (RV on a gen set). Hope this helps and doesn't read out like a bunch of gibberish 😉
@@OneRoomShed Actually the national electrical code requires the neutral/ground be bonded at only one point so as not to create circulating currents from multiple bonding points. When feeding a house: Since a house is already bonded at the service disconnecting means YOU DO NOT BOND at the generator leaving the genset with a floating neutral. (the genset is grounded from the grounding conductor from the house as all equipment must be grounded) When feeding a trailer: I don't have much experience with travel trailers so don't quote me on this but the neutral/ground must be bonded somewhere and I have heard some travel trailers won't accept a power source from a generator with a floating neutral. (GFCI,s won't work properly ect) The grounding conductor must be able to get back to the power source (genset) and without a bond it can't. They do make a plug that will connect the neutral and the ground together that you only need to plug into a genset receptacle that will accomplish this. Grounding and Bonding is one of the most misunderstood principles of an electrical system so consult a qualified electrician. When the hot and neutral conductors are wired wrong it will trip a breaker or the load just won't run. When the grounding and bonding isn't right you may not know it until your on the wrong side of the grass.
@@OneRoomShed Not calling you out on anything. Sorry you took it that way. You are right, you must know if your genset is bonded or has a floating neutral and if what your feeding already has the neutral/ground bond and act accordingly. Thought I would add to your comment from a 40 year journeyman electrician and apprenticeship instructor.
That's plenty enough power for your rv you can put your ac on and run everything else except the microwave but if you want to run your microwave you just need to turn your ac off then when you are done with the microwave turn your ac back on really people are just dumb
You mean a tool that shows ground fault error is displaying ground fault error? You could have said this in your short btw. You just played the content game
Oh and I have original not copied from anyone content that's informative so dam right I'm going to use it. Thanks for the 6 minutes of your time on the toilet.
@MsMarkpeggy no problem. It took the 1st video in order to find the actual problem instead of the guesses in the comments. I never would of thought the kline tool was the issue
This could have all been done in a short without a bunch of stupid commentary. Take it as constructive criticism. If you wanna make youtube videos, listen to the people. The people don't want Multi part videos. Always cram it into one when possible
I loved it. I identify as a Jack of all Trades. Plumbing, Heating, and Electrical. Your comment cracked me up. I had originally discovered this issue last year, but had I found your video then I would have saved myself time. Does anybody have kids? Guess what you're not just a doctor. You're a therapist, a problem solver, likely an electrician, and even a plumber. I'll let you figure that one out but it's pretty obvious. At least to this once-single Mr. Mom. Now, Ladies, I didn't forget you!! I've seen some ladies and men even take on the role of a mechanic. Yep, changing their own oil, working on brakes and rotors, or even swapping out a car battery. Ladies and Gents, you identified as a mechanic. (OKAY BACKYARD MECHANIC). JDS Outdoors keep up the great work!
I almost didn't buy the predator 3500 because of your first video but this video definitely eased some worries! Thanks my man!
Yea it was definitely weird thats for sure. I put to much trust in kline I guess. Weird feature for sure.
Stumbled upon your site looking for a solution to what I thought was a problem with my 3500 Predator. Same problem you identified. BINGO!... problem solve! WOW did I hit the jackpot. And... you made me chuckle a couple of times... REALLY enjoyed your presentation... you're a natural pro with communications. And I do communications for a living. Actually... I lie for a living... I'm a TV Meteorologist. But I digress. Thanks for the help and the smiles. I've subscribed and am now backtracking thru your library. Thanks much for all of your efforts and info... GREAT STUFF!
Greatly appreciate it Tim. I've come a long way since videos of years past. I'm sure you know it's a little awkward talking to a camera at 1st but after a while it gets a lot easier and more natural.
Thanks for trouble shooting that out, I purchased a new rv travel-trailer last summer and am looking to purchase a generator for off grid camping , I will definitely remember this if it comes up thanks for posting.
You need a neutral ground bonding plug. You plug that into one of the outlets on the generator and it will work like it should.
The bonded plug is what I found out as well. I have a 4500 watt champion and was doing the same. Added the bonded plug and no more issues
Glad it was just the tool. I was looking at one of those Predator 3500s until I saw your original video. Appreciate the update!
Thanks man, I was confused from some of the shorts and comments. Definitely would put this generator on the list for camping
Great information. I learned something today. I thought the generator was going to be wired wrong from the factory.
Glad you got her figured out. Never know when a multimeter will save the day.
I'm glad you came to a solution. I don't remember if I commented before, but if I did, it was something along the lines of hoping you found the solution.
Glad you figured it out. I was wondering what the heck was going on. I always got 120ish with my fluke meter.
It is a great Video! and a great explanation of how you troubleshoot a problem.
Thanks for making this video. I saw your other video and will be buying a tester just to make sure I’m all good
You the man thanks for the vid straight to the point . I was having the same problem with tester different model. I thought it was my cord and generator . It wasn’t thanks bro . Thanks it’s was the tester I returned it got my money back . Got a different tester . Thanks bro
Great video & perspective!
🤜🏻💥🤛🏻
Well there you go. I was one that originally claimed the fault was because of the open ground with the gen set. Then after thinking and replying with another commenter I talked about a job I had where the customer claimed a hot / ground reversed on one circuit in their RV. That actually turned out to be an open neutral. That's when I thought it might be a neutral fault. Its funny because the last sentence I said is how I hate those outlet testers because I can't trust them and their is no substitute to an actual multimeter.
Hey, either way I'm glad to see you figured out the cause. For me that's the fun part of troubleshooting. I enjoy the hunt.
Subbed to your channel btw.
I appreciate it. Your comment and talking with other electricians is what helped find the answer. You were definitely right and also correct on the hunt is fun.
@@JDSOutdoors 🙂 hey thanks for saying that. I've always enjoyed troubleshooting especially on the electrical side of things. I just find it interesting. I was an electrician but left the trade to become a RV technician (just wanted something different). I love working on campers because I get to be a "jack of all trades". I try to help people when I can here on RUclips but I stopped for a while due to people not appreciating it and others just being trolls. I actually did not think you even saw my comment. Like I said I'm glad you got it figured out. Thanks again for your kind words. 🍻
@OneRoomShed I try to see as many as possible especially the good ones. I will take a min if I'm bored to troll the trolls sometimes as well. But there is some good ones out still and I do see that.
Thanks for the update! I almost bailed on this purchase!
Thank you. Was thinking of getting this same one for my 5th wheel Backup.
Damn. Great team work, and great you all found this out. I was about to go replace my “stolen” tool with a Klein. I wonder if other models do that as well… need to test and replace some GFCIs outside. Want to make sure I don’t fry nothing, including me in the process. Lol! Thanks again and here’s to ya on another great vid.
I mean it's still a good tool but if it reads funny just double check with a real multimeter.
Why would you need to replace any GFI's? It's not going to hurt you in any serious way even if you do get shocked with 120 volts. 220 hurts pretty bad, but you will live, and I wouldn't suggest the 3 phase 440 that I got hit with once but I was fine that time too. No need to worry about 120 volt.
@@wesman7837 Thanks. I have a couple of faulty gfcis need replacing. I’ve done them before.
@@wesman7837 Well actually 120 will kill you faster then the higher voltage. 120 makes you grab tighter higher voltage throw you off. It is usually the throw that kills the people in higher voltage. as it is the amps that you need to work about not voltage.
@@JDSOutdoors I bought that Inverter and loved it so much bought a 2nd one. 2020 models. 1 Inverter will run gas furnace or window unit, chest freezer, fridge, T.V.'s, and some lights all at the same time with power to spare at the farm house. A noisy, gas hog, regular gen is used to run well when needed. Quiet, reliable and use little gas. Another vid shows there is a special 120V plug that connects the neutral and ground prongs that I think solves your floating neutral when its plugged into Inverter. Great video, Thanks.
Great video love ya work! 👍🤟
I love the predator 3500, i have two of them. Work great 👍
I had 30 ft coach and I had both ac running, turned the microwave, every light on and small items plugged in and only pulled 3200 watts to the best of my memory.
That 3500 is adequate for that coach. It’s rare you have that kind of a load on a coach
I worked with a lot of electrical stuff from HVAC to generators over the last 35 years and never owned one of those outlet testers till just recently. I always used a meter and amp clamp, which means I never got to experience being led astray by some fancy little gadget!
Every testing device has its place, even digital multimeters have drawbacks. Since digital multimeters do not burden the circuit (doesn't provide a load like a wiggy type tester that has a solenoid and draws some current) it will pick up transient and stray voltages that really aren't there for a lack of a better word (meaning no power behind it). Maybe in your work you've never experienced this but I have in my 40 years as a journeyman electrician. Having said that, digital multimeters have been a godsend to the industry. Even this "fancy little gadget" showed that there was a problem with this circuit and shouldn't be ignored. Taking Hot to neutral readings is not enough. I wish I was there to take Hot to ground, neutral to ground measurements but it's likely that there was no neutral to ground bond and if so very dangerous.
@@liffy8333 ... in an RV there is no neutral / ground bond because any time you have shore power that connection is provided from the utility feed. BTW, all new RVs come with an owner's manual that probably spells out generator needs. Some of these manuals go into great detail with diagrams and troubleshooting as well.
@@rupe53 Yes, shore power provides the neutral to ground bond but a generator with a floating neutral does not. Your right you should read and follow all manuals.
I learned today that if u have a built in surge protector in your rv, that it wont work with a generator because of the open ground. U have to make a plug that ties the neutral and the ground together and then the surge protector will work and allow power to the rv.
Haters gonna be haters, and the keyboard warriors are always gonna be around... to boost their own egos I guess, I really don't know why. Thanks for the video and thanks to those who helped you figure out the problem.
I had the same issue, I Purchased a bonding neutral plug for my generator. Issue solved!
Awesome video👍👍👍
It would be cool to have a Xtra pair of test leads for your multimeter and then wire up a standard 110 volt male plug to the end to where you could just plug your meter into the wall.
Good info thanks
Doesn’t make sense. Used the same tester multiple times on various power options but it only shows bad on one of them. Even going direct to the 3500 should, in theory, show bad if it’s truly the tester. Right?
Because all his other options were closed frame and had a bonded to ground neutral. Predator 3500's are floating neutral. The tester works on the Predator 9500 because it's bonded neutral. The tester is trying to find reverse polarity by measuring voltage from hot to ground and neutral to ground, expecting to find ground bonded to neutral like a house. Since the ground pin and the neutral are not connected, the tester defaults and just says 'floating ground.' while displaying 30v. Campers don't do this for safety (If you had a bonded generator, touched it and the camper, and there was a wiring issue on the camper, you would be electrocuted.) Champion generators has this in the FAQ on their site, its a common 'problem' caused by all in one testers.
I have the same generator predator 3500. Trying to run my camper a/c. 13500 btu. It will run the a/c fan and compressor but if anything else is plugged into camper (phone charger or small tv). It will blink when the compressor kicks on. Every time. Fan already running but when compressor kicks on it’s just enough draw to blink everything else. Is it simply just to small of generator? I can run the camper off of 20amp plugged into my garage wall and this doesn’t happen. Just looking for other ideas to check. Generator has 30 hours to on it. Not in economy mode.
Thanks for sharing
My question. I believe in your short video, you pluged your tester into the 120v duplex outlets of the small gen and read fine. Do they have an internal bonded neutral? If so, I wonder why isn't the twistlock recep bonded? Would it be prudent to bond the twistlock? The bond would be at the source as should be.
No it's the tester for sure
My Klein outlet tester also showed 30v open neutral on the outlet on my Genmax gm3500iaed 3500w generator. I wasn't getting power from the two 20a AC outlets so I saw this and tested the outlet with my multimeter. All I got was 6.4v and it is impossible to get in touch with the manufacturer or the warranty service. I hate sending it back since it now has gasoline in it and it will be a pain boxing it up
LMAO. YOU GOT ME GOING WHEN YOU SAID YOU IDENTIFY AS AN ELECTRICIAN.
It is 2024 lol
You got that right internet sucks because of these big bad keyboard warriors!
Happy to see this play out to a good end! Glad to here your shits not fucked lol
I guessed the problem might have been the meter but I didn't know. I'm not an electrician but when troubleshooting I never assume anything.
Thanks for the video! I have a Grand Design 22MLE, which is a 30amp rig.. my 12v lights and fridge have an issue while on the generator. 120v items are fine... do you think my converter has an issue with only seeing 30v?
No the converter is actually seeing 120. For some reason that tester defaults to 30a when it reads and open ground. Testing with a volt meter shows a true 120
@@JDSOutdoors I got that, I'm just wondering what my 12v charger/converter is seeing and why it's having issues when connected to the Generator
Your neutral bonding needs to be considered, otherwise your setup is potentially dangerous. That cord is expecting a connection that includes bonding in the panel box.
Ugh ok so now I feel better about buying one of these
I saw some video on YT where they guy had a standard NEMA 5-15Plug that he bought of of EBAY that fixed this issue in a way and for the life of me I can find the video.......He actually just plugged it into the Generators NEMA outlet even though he was useing the Hubble outlet.
Easy search on Y.T.,,here's 2. Bonding a neutral for an R.V. generator. What is the purpose of an electrical Neutral/Ground bonding plug?
wow good info
We have the same generator for our 30 watt 5th wheel and we just tried to use it to just run the ac and our generator couldn’t handle it. It was also 98° outside and wandered if the generator circuit board was overheating 🤷🏽♀️
@@Diamondranchfarmstead put a soft start on your ac. Get the good one it's about 300 bucks but it helps big time. I can send the link to the one I have if you like
@@JDSOutdoors ours has a soft start and it was a brand new ac unit 😓
Bond your ground and neutral at your generator. Cheap, easy, safe.
Try a neutral-ground bonding plug
How did you even keep yours running off the shelf? My brother couldn't even keep his running only after a few hours of running and he did everything the manual said. It started running like it wasn't getting fuel. Not impressed by Predator as of now.
Never had that problem with dozens of generators. Thousands of hours of run time. He got a bad one they will swap it out for free. Best warranty around.
@21TaylorG - my identical generator just died after a whopping 10 hours. It will run maybe a min with a heavy misfire. I’ve done everything imaginable. Removed the Spark arrestor, cleaned the plug, cleaned the carb. The fuel was literally brand new with B-12 treatment. It was running fine until it wasn’t. 🤣 I truly wanted to hook a chain to it and drag it behind my truck! Also the digital screen quit working after maybe 2 hours. What a turd 💩
I have 3500 predator inverter that has caused the resin in CDI to be cracked, so the spark plug is not firing . I tested the spark plug, carb is getting gas. About 7 months ago I replaced the CDI & I thought I had fixed the problem, I think something else is causing the CDI problem . HELP
Thats easy. Harbor freight warranty is the best out there. Swap it out with a new one.
As your warranty may have expired so swapping may not be an option. 2 issues may be the problem. On some models the red wire going to the starter solenoid can rub through insulation on the metal tab by the round capacitor destroying CDI so make sure wire is clear of CDI. Other issue is low oil shut off is grounding out ignition even though engine has oil. Simply unplug green connector right there by the starter solenoid. Great units, hope this helps.
If you plugged a Neutral-Ground Bonding Plug into the 3500, would that solve the problem with the tool? Asking for a friend. 😉
Did you figure this out?
I run my air conditioner in my 8x18 30 amp camper, 11,000 BTU with a 2000 watts generator, no soft starter.
Nice job. Call em out!! Can't comment and run!!!... ..
I have had stuff like this kick my butt. I am NOT an electrician. But i am a good mechanic and i understand how things work.. So in hindsight you forgot to verify the verifier!. Yep. It lied to ya. And that can also get ya killed. Nice job figuring it out man. I lean on people to help regularly and they do it! I love people(some of em)... short story , a tic tracer, a kind of voltage detector will lie to ya too. I had the meter in my hand while I'm inside the house getting voltage readings on a pipe with wires in it disconnected at both ends and the houses meter(main disconnect) in my hand. I'm walking circles around the house like where is the extension cord that is powering this house!?. Nope Chinese garbage product lying to ya. Well in the products defense there WAS voltage in that pipe. 0.00033247 of a volt (ghost voltage ,happens when you put any 2 dissimiliar metals any where near each other). Iyiyiyy. Forehead slap.. i learned tho!.... p.s. i just bought this jenny. Hope to make friends with it this year. It was a refurbished one that i walked out the door paying 600$for.
For the money they are great. This year I'm swapping it fir the 5500 or 5k I don't remember the exact number but remote start will be nice.
You do still have a problem though. When using the 3500 watt generator it sounds like your neutral isn't bonded (grounded) anywhere, so it can float to potentially dangerously high voltages. Also if you don't have the RV ground grounded anywhere, the ground too can float to a dangerously high voltage.
Most people just consider the shock potential, but high voltages on circuits designed for only 120v can jump, igniting a fire inside a wall, appliance or device (not to mention damage electronic devices, like laptops).
We had the same problem at our cottage.
In our case we had several old appliances, including an old 1970's kettle and a 1970's TV that we used.
These older devices, including our metal kettle, often bond the outside to the neutral.
What used to happen, seemingly randomly, was when we touched the outside of our kettle we would get a huge electric shock.
Initially my father thought the live and neutral was hooked up backwards to the kettle, but flipping them resulted in still getting the huge zap plus now we'd be left with a constant 120v between the kettle and floor (which made your fingers tingle most of the time when touching the plugged in kettle and zapped you with close to 120v when in bare feet).
Touching the kettle again, right away, we wouldn't get as big a shock, but if we waited a few minutes the shock would be huge again.
The problem confused us for many years and we lived with the old kettle, the old toaster, our old canister vacuum seemingly randomly zapping us. It became something of a laughing joke, with each of us getting randomly zapped over and over...
Eventually we figured out this occurred when the TV was on and we then figured out that it was leaking high voltage onto the neutral line relative to the ground (the TV had a 3 prong plug).
By grounding the neutral (and house ground) at the panel to a large copper rod hammered into the ground we were able to completely fix the problem.
A lack of bonding your neutral to ground and lack of physically grounding your RV/house ground can result in very strange, confusing and dangerous things happening.
I did use a grounding rod in one test and it still had the same results. Just a generator thing I'm guessing
That is confusing. How can testing the plug at the generator look good but testing the plug in the RV be messed up, if the ground and neutral are properly bonded somewhere as well as grounded to earth?
Problem starts at 4:02
Wait, why doesn't the big generator do the same thing?
I was wondering the same thing u would think it would always do it since he said campers have a open ground I understand that part but I'm not a electrician I would really like to know the answer from someone that does know why that's for sure
Campers do not have an open ground. The generator has the open ground. This is why some generators have a grounding post to connect to a ground rod or another grounding source. The problem is that the tester is mainly designed to used in residential (household) situations. When using it in a RV that's connected to a generator that has an open ground (not grounded) you see a false reading on the tester. The tester sees this as a hot /ground reversed even though it's actually just an open ground. The reason some generators do this and others do not is because there's basically 2 types of generators. Some are open ground and others are bonded. Bonded is when they connect the neutral and the ground wires together. This eliminates the open ground and also if there an electrical short, it sends the spike in amperage back the generator breaker and it will trip off. If your really interested in the technical stuff just Google why are some generators open ground and others bonded. It's too much for me to get into here. The sum of this is that the bigger gen set is must likely bonded (not open ground) and the smaller one was not (showing the open ground). The funny thing is that all along the camper is ok using both generators. It's the tester being used in a situation it was not really designed for (RV on a gen set). Hope this helps and doesn't read out like a bunch of gibberish 😉
@@OneRoomShed thanks for the information
@@OneRoomShed Actually the national electrical code requires the neutral/ground be bonded at only one point so as not to create circulating currents from multiple bonding points.
When feeding a house:
Since a house is already bonded at the service disconnecting means YOU DO NOT BOND at the generator leaving the genset with a floating neutral. (the genset is grounded from the grounding conductor from the house as all equipment must be grounded)
When feeding a trailer:
I don't have much experience with travel trailers so don't quote me on this but the neutral/ground must be bonded somewhere and I have heard some travel trailers won't accept a power source from a generator with a floating neutral. (GFCI,s won't work properly ect) The grounding conductor must be able to get back to the power source (genset) and without a bond it can't. They do make a plug that will connect the neutral and the ground together that you only need to plug into a genset receptacle that will accomplish this.
Grounding and Bonding is one of the most misunderstood principles of an electrical system so consult a qualified electrician.
When the hot and neutral conductors are wired wrong it will trip a breaker or the load just won't run. When the grounding and bonding isn't right you may not know it until your on the wrong side of the grass.
@@OneRoomShed Not calling you out on anything. Sorry you took it that way. You are right, you must know if your genset is bonded or has a floating neutral and if what your feeding already has the neutral/ground bond and act accordingly. Thought I would add to your comment from a 40 year journeyman electrician and apprenticeship instructor.
Flux capacitor is a problem. Duh..Everybody knows that.
That's plenty enough power for your rv you can put your ac on and run everything else except the microwave but if you want to run your microwave you just need to turn your ac off then when you are done with the microwave turn your ac back on really people are just dumb
You mean a tool that shows ground fault error is displaying ground fault error? You could have said this in your short btw. You just played the content game
Yea except it's not displaying a ground fault error it's showing hot ground reversed 🙄
Oh and I have original not copied from anyone content that's informative so dam right I'm going to use it. Thanks for the 6 minutes of your time on the toilet.
Thanks for the follow up video. The first one really had me wondering.
@MsMarkpeggy no problem. It took the 1st video in order to find the actual problem instead of the guesses in the comments. I never would of thought the kline tool was the issue
This could have all been done in a short without a bunch of stupid commentary. Take it as constructive criticism. If you wanna make youtube videos, listen to the people. The people don't want Multi part videos. Always cram it into one when possible
You have 8 subscribers with a total of 48 views, and you think calling a video stupid is constructive criticism?
He's right.