pvangel wrote:I googled "G-N "kludge" plug " just now and got no results pertaining to electrical or grounding? What is it?
Well, the "G-N Kludge Plug" is my own invention, so you won't find it published anywhere. However, it's a very simple concept.
First let's define what we mean when we say "ground". It's used for a lot of different electrical situations, many of which are NOT grounded. For instance, bonding (bolting) something to the frame of your RV doesn't "ground" it. Rather, it's connecting something to the common chassis of your RV which creates a local "ground plane". This "ground plane" could be "earthed" to the dirt below your feet via a ground rod, in which case its electrical potential will be very close to earth potential. But as I noted in my earlier post, there's no requirement to "earth ground" a portable generator via a ground rod. That's because most portable RV applications don't have multiple electrical branches running externally. However, when I myself use a portable generator to run a music stage (my main business) I need to earth ground it because a single mis-wired musical instrument contacting the earth could cause all other microphones and instruments to become electrified.
As you know, the Ground and Neutral buss's of your RV need to be separated. That's to prevent a low-impedance hot-skin situation if you plug into a "reverse polarity" 120-volt outlet at a campground or your house. A Reverse Polarity outlet is one that was wired with the Black (hot) and White (neutral) wired swapped. If your trailer's frame Ground is bonded (connected) to the Neutral wire, then a reverse polarity outlet will electrify the frame ground, which dangerous shock issues. For something really interesting with incorrectly wired outlets, check out my article on RPBG outlets (Reverse Polarity Bootleg Grounds) at
http://www.rvdoctor.com/2001/07/friends ... -mike.html Yes, I had to make up another word since the industry doesn't seem to be aware of how this occurs.
But back to the G-N Kludge plug... Your RV is supposed to have its Ground and Neutral bonded together where it plugs into the campsite or home outlet, and all is well. But when you're running from a portable generator, the generator needs to supply this G-N connection. If you have a motorhome with a built-in genny the "transfer switch" will introduce this G-N bond when running in generator mode, but will open the G-N bond when running from shore power. However, I doubt if any of you run a transfer switch, you just plug your shore power plug into your generator. Honda (and I believe Yamaha) portable generators DO NOT have an internal G-N bond (while many contractor generators do). So if you connect your correctly unbonded G-N trailer plug into an unbonded G-N genny, then your Neutral and Ground buss in the trailer aren't tied together. Most of the time your electrical gear won't notice this UNLESS you have a charger-inverter that's checking for a correct (zero) Ground to Neutral voltage. That's why many large motorhomes will shut down their own electrical systems if you connect their shore power plug into a Honda inverter generator. Again, when your transfer switch is in "shore" mode, it's not creating the G-N bond. In that case, the dealer will wire you a special "generator plug" with the Ground and Neutral bonded together. I call that a "G-N Kludge Plug" which is just slang for a non-standard gadget. The G-N Kludge plug is nothing more than a standard NEMA5-15 Edison plug that has an internal jumper from the Ground to Neutral screws. You plug it into one of the generator outlets, and plug your shore power extension cord into the other generator outlets. It effectively creates the required G-N bond, which makes all your electronics happy. I have confirmed this with Honda technical support verbally, but being litigation minded they won't publish this information. They just say that the hookup needs to meet local electrical codes. I'll see if I can dig up and post a picture of the G-N kludge plug later today, but it's a simple thing and only really required if your trailer electronics are acting strange when plugged into your portable generator rather than home or campground power.
FYI: I just found an article I wrote about this G-N Kludge plug for Gary Bunzer "The RV Doctor"
http://www.rvdoctor.com/2012/10/my-hond ... er-my.html and yes there's a picture of a G-N Kludge plug.
Does that clarify things just a bit???
by pvangel » Fri Jan 11, 2013 9:16 pm 
