[bstump]

I have an off-grid system and I want to use my Lightning for backup (via the 220V plug in the bed) in case we don't have power for a few days.

Is anyone else doing this? I saw on some of the PowerBoost forums that people were having issues because of ground/neutral, but was curious if anyone has had these issues with the Lightning.

Thanks!!!!!

 

[davehu]

lots of threads and posts on this. do a site search.

 

[bstump]

lots of threads and posts on this. do a site search.

That's the first thing I did when I joined 30 minutes ago. Thanks for the helpful response.

 

[KElkhorn]

Try searching for bonded neutral. It will be an issue with many modern generators as well as Ford Pro-Power.

It causes issues because you can only have one neutral/ground bond in a modern system, when you plug these generators into a house you have two, creating a loop. Fix is to use GFI transfer switch that switches the neutral, or to open the ground between the truck and the panel.
If you wire in a 14-30 receptacle for the truck to use, you could just not land the ground. If you are using a receptacle you already use for your genset, you may need to make yourself a custom cord for the truck.

 

[bstump]

Try searching for bonded neutral. It will be an issue with many modern generators as well as Ford Pro-Power.

It causes issues because you can only have one neutral/ground bond in a modern system, when you plug these generators into a house you have two, creating a loop. Fix is to use GFI transfer switch that switches the neutral, or to open the ground between the truck and the panel.
If you wire in a 14-30 receptacle for the truck to use, you could just not land the ground. If you are using a receptacle you already use for your genset, you may need to make yourself a custom cord for the truck.

Thank you. I couldn't remember the term until I started searching again and found it.

My solar company set it up to work with my Predator 9500 generator from Harbor Freight (since we are off-grid), which from what I'm reading has a bonded neutral. It goes directly into the "grid" input on the Sol-Ark and charges my batteries at around 6kW (I set it to not go higher because I don't want the generator to die, haha). So it may not be an issue with my setup. I'm going to go test drive one and find out. lol

 

[KElkhorn]

If your generator has a bonded neutral, unless they disconnected it already, you are correct that it should be fine.

You should be able to tell with an electrical meter, with generator OFF, check for continuity between ground and neutral.

 

[R.I.P.]

Sol-Ark was just coming online about the time I retired, so I have not set any of those up. I know they are very highly regarded.

I did recently set up and test an off-grid system with SMA inverters to do exactly what you are looking for. Based on what I know about the Sol-Ark's capabilities, the general setup principal should work.

Truck>micro-grid:
I opted to use the "Generator input" mode with the Island inverter as it made for a simple uncomplicated interface. In this mode you can choose when the micro-grid (MG) starts pulling from the Lightning. In our case, I selected 70% as the MG is sitting on a lead-acid pack. With a Lith pack I would recommend 30% SOC.

MG>Truck:
For pushing current the other direction, I built an adjustable sine wave triggered relay that trips the EVSE when the MG pack reaches 80%. In this design, the solar charges the MG pack first when the sun comes up, then shuttles any extra energy back onto the truck.

A rough design over-view of what we did with the SMA MG, I am certain that is can also be accomplished with the Sol-Ark.