With a shore power 50A 120/240 source, I understand each leg goes to the L1 & L2 inputs of the AC input. My generator is 50A single phase. Should I connect that only to L1? I have seen some schematics where it is split and attached to both L1 and L2 which doesn’t seem right. I do not have any 240v equipment, so it may not matter, but I think there’s possibly a phasing issue hooking the gen up to both inputs. Advice?
So you know for a fact your 50 amps is not 240V? That seems highly unlikely. Consider this. If you plugged a 50amp rated single leg into one side of your 50 amp RV service panel it will be powering half(25 amps) with a 50 amp source. That would be bad. I would confirm for certain your 50 amps is not 240V. One give away will be how many holes the 50amp plug has on your generator. If it has 4 its 240V. “Single phase” doesn’t mean only one hot wire. In a “single phase” generator it is actually split phase when using the 50 amp plug.
Inside your 50amp service on your RV you are not actually powering anything at 240V. There is a 50 amp breaker that powers two sides of the load center at 120V each.
If you are not sure get me the model of the generator and I will look it up.
Thanks for your response. I am looking to replace a non-functional Onan 8kW set with a Northern Lights 6kW set (M673L3G), rated either 240V/25A or 120V/50A (this is on a boat). The Onan was set up for 120V, and in theory produced 67A (8000/120=67), which would be split into two main circuits, one for A/C, and the other for everything else. Each of the circuits is protected by a 50A breaker. Based on their ratings, the three A/C units and pump can draw as much as 31A. The other circuit has a max of about 34A. I think I need to keep the new gen at 120V/50A so that the 30+ Amp loads can be handled with the 50A output from the new gen. If I understand correctly, if I set the gen up for 240, I’ll only get 25A in each leg.
I think I may have answered my original question. Just saw this from the preamble on the Victron website “About this Product”:
….Whether it is supplied from shore power or a generator, the MultiPlus-II 2x120V can accept and passthrough both lines of a 120/240V supply, with the capability to utilize the full 50A for charging and AC loads. When connecting to a single phase 120V supply, the L1 input of the MultiPlus-II 2x120V will accept incoming power for charging and passthrough, while combining the L1 and L2 outputs for single-phase 120V on each line. So I shouldn’t jump the 120V to L2 of AC-in.
1 Like