Yamaha EF1000iS and 3-wire circuit analyzer

[rtcassel]

I recently purchased a Yamaha EF100iS to use to recharge the batteries while boondocking. I have used it to run lighting and a drill, but have not yet plugged the Trailmanor into it.

If I plug the 3-wire circuit analyzer I use on power posts when camping into the generator, I see 2 green lights and an orange light; a correctly wired receptacle will show 2 green lights and an unlit one.

http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...ad.php?t=11398 is a discussion re a Honda generator that produced an open ground in the TM, and Bill pointed out that the Honda manual gives a reason for it. An open ground on my analyzer is indicated by unlit, green, unlit configuration. The OP did not mention plugging an analyzer into the generator, so I do not know what that would have produced to compare it to what I am seeing.

I questioned a tech at the dealer about the situation and got a vague "I think it's OK" answer. I cannot find anything about this in the manual.

I am inclined to assume that it is correct, especially since the light configuration is not one of the listed faults and I think that Yamaha knows what it is doing.

I would appreciate any thoughts. Is the light configuration on the analyzer correct? If I plug the TM into the generator, should I see an open ground?

Thank you for your help.

[wbmiller3]

I have an EF3000iSEB. I will pull it out and do this same test, but it will be a day or two till I get back to you.

[Bill]

In your home, the ground pin of the outlets is connected to the neutral pin of the outlets. The connection is made at the service entrance fuse box. Therefore a 3-light tester will light two lights - hot-to-ground, and hot-to-neutral.

The manual for the Honda EU1000i says that the ground pin of the outlets is NOT connected to the neutral pin of the outlets, and therefore a 3-light tester will show only one light - hot-to-ground. The wiring diagram shows the same thing.

The manual for the Yamaha 1000iS does not seem to address the issue in the text, but the diagram shows that, like the Honda, the ground pin of the outlets is not connected to the neutral pin of the outlets. Therefore I would expect a 3-light tester to show only one light, as in the case of the Honda.

If you are showing two green lights, I'm not sure why. And the orange light makes me nervous. Can you tell me the mfr/model of the circuit tester? I'm assuming your generator new out of the box.

Bill

[rtcassel]

Originally Posted by Bill

Can you tell me the mfr/model of the circuit tester? I'm assuming your generator new out of the box.

Bill - I bought the tester 11 years ago at Home Depot. Snapit Cat. No. 07002 made by Cable Electric Products, Division of Leviton Mfg. Co, Inc. The generator is new. It was modified by a Yamaha dealer to operate on propane also. The mod came with a tach and hour-usage meter, which is connected to the generator by one wire wrapped around the spark plug wire. The tach shows 3000 rpm with nothing plugged in, but jumps to 12000 with no noticeable increase in speed when something is plugged in. I am mentioning this in case this wire has some bearing on the circuit tester light display.

[Bill]

So all 3 lights are on? Assuming the tach/hour meter is battery-powered like this one

http://www.electricgeneratorsdirect....-4C/p1193.html

I don't see how it could cause all three lights to light. I also don't know why it would say 3000 RPM and then 12000 RPM with no change in motor speed. Something is weird, but I have no idea what. Can you temporarily unwrap the tachometer sensor wire from around the spark plug wire, leave it hanging into space, and see if anything is different? It is at least possible that this wire is acting as an antenna, and radiating the spark plug impulses (very high voltage) into the ground connection, which could light the ground-to-neutral and ground-to-hot lights that are normally off. I don't have much faith in that thought, but I have no other.

Remember that two lit lights is correct for a household outlet or a campground power post outlet. But for an outlet on a generator, only one light should light. Two lights is NOT correct on a generator outlet.

Bill

[Padgett]

Suspect all the ac testers with three lights are the same: two lights the same color that are both on if everything is good & a third with a different color that indicates an error. OK tried mine:
900W 2-stroke: both orange on, red off - good
2000W Honda orange on end and red on: hot-ground reverse
2500W Predator all three on (red is dimmer than others, code not on label

edit: added picture

[rtcassel]

Originally Posted by Padgett

Suspect all the ac testers with three lights are the same: two lights the same color that are both on if everything is good & a third with a different color that indicates an error. OK tried mine:
900W 2-stroke: both orange on, red off - good
2000W Honda orange on end and red on: hot-ground reverse
2500W Predator all three on (red is dimmer than others, code not on label

The lights when testing your Predator are the same as the lights when testing my Yamaha except that it does not look like my third light (orange) is dimmer.

[wbmiller3]

My Yamaha showed hot/neutral reverse. (socket is upside down on the generator). I tried 2 different testers with the same result.

[rtcassel]

Originally Posted by Bill

So all 3 lights are on? Assuming the tach/hour meter is battery-powered like this one

http://www.electricgeneratorsdirect....-4C/p1193.html

I don't see how it could cause all three lights to light. I also don't know why it would say 3000 RPM and then 12000 RPM with no change in motor speed. Something is weird, but I have no idea what. Can you temporarily unwrap the tachometer sensor wire from around the spark plug wire, leave it hanging into space, and see if anything is different? It is at least possible that this wire is acting as an antenna, and radiating the spark plug impulses (very high voltage) into the ground connection, which could light the ground-to-neutral and ground-to-hot lights that are normally off. I don't have much faith in that thought, but I have no other.

Remember that two lit lights is correct for a household outlet or a campground power post outlet. But for an outlet on a generator, only one light should light. Two lights is NOT correct on a generator outlet.

The meter looks to be the same one, except it has US Carburetion printed on it instead of Yamaha.

I grounded the generator to the TM and the weird RPMs went away: nothing plugged in = 3000, 100w bulb = 3000, touch the meter with nothing plugged in = 3000, touch the meter with 100w bulb plugged in = 7000. (That last one is still weird.)

The meter came attached to the metal framework (outside the generator - comment: not what I expected based on the web picture) that holds on the propane regulator and related stuff. Today I took it off the metal framework and unwrapped the red wire around the spark plug wire. With the meter and wires nowhere near the generator, I still got green, green, orange.

The meter is supposed to have a black wire grounded to the generator and a red wire wrapped around the spark plug wire. In that configuration, the RPMs are way too high, so the tech at US Carb told me to take off the black wire, and normal RPMs were observed with nothing attached. Now the red wire is no longer wrapped and if I put the meter near the generator it picks up the RPMs.

I think that if I rewrap the red wire to the spark plug wire and attach the meter to the plastic part of the generator that I may be OK as far as RPMs as long as the generator is grounded to the TM.

However, I still have the green, green, orange display.

[wbmiller3]

Originally Posted by Bill

The manual for the Honda EU1000i says that the ground pin of the outlets is NOT connected to the neutral pin of the outlets, and therefore a 3-light tester will show only one light - hot-to-ground. The wiring diagram shows the same thing.

Bill

Bill, my testers don't have a label for "hot-to-ground". Is the one light that you expected the one labeled "open neutral"?

Thanks,