Hi Everyone,
The other day i bought an inverter to run from 12v dc 60Ah battery, output 230v ac. When i had it running i recieved a shock from a piece of computer equipment connected to the output. Having looked closely again at the instructions, a small paragraph in the book told me to link the neutral and earth together inside the unit to the case of the inverter, as it has afloating earth. Before i did this i checked the output voltage referenced to the case and found 115v on the live and neutral. After i tied neutral and ground together, zero volts was present on the neutral line. The inverter is primarlly used on marine applications, but in this case, it is used on land, to power up a host of computer items, incase of power failure. I emailed the inverter supplier in the uk, and i'm still waiting for reply, and i will probably carry on waiting!
So can anyone tell me what is a floating earth, and how tieing earth and neutral together, and to the case can creates a proper earth?
Also, if i now fit an rcd to the output would it trip correctly because of the above?
Still can't work out why the client has to link the wires, surely it should be done at the factory, this was not a cheap piece of equipment?
P.S pat tested all computer items, all ok.
Thanks for taking the time to look.