Bonded Neutral Generator GFCI Ground Fault

Q&A and troubleshooting
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1

I have a Ford F150 with 7.2kW ProPower onboard. It is a 7.2 kW 30/220 generator/inverter option on the Lightning EV or the PowerBoost Hybrid. It is a very sensitive neutral-bonded GFI system.

When attempting to use it as a backup generator for a house via interlock or “standard” manual transfer switch the system generates a ground fault error and shuts down. There are ad nauseum discussions on the subject:

https://tinyurl.com/327y5nkw

The “proper” suggested fix is a neutral switching transfer switch like the Generac 6852 transfer switch:

The most often used “fix” is just to remove the ground at home inlet or make a pigtail with ground removed for the generator power cord.

After all that background…

I am building a home backup system using split phase Quattros and would like to use my Pro Power generator as a secondary AC source.

  1. Can the Quattros be programmed with switching neutral ?

  2. Will the second method of removing ground at power inlet or cord generate error @ Quattros ?

2

Hi @fwunder
Quattro has it’s own ground relay that can be selected to do what you want. By default even, unless you deselect it. So you shouldn’t need to fiddle with anything external, but it shouldn’t be fazed if you did.

3

Thanks @ JohnC

Unfortunately, I have gathered enough anecdotal evidence the the Ford Pro Power system cannot be used as a power source with the Quattro. From one user with a system almost exactly what I want to build:

I used the F-150 Lightning as the generator back up for this system. I dealt with the exact issues that you described. The Quattros disconnect the neutral ground bond during connection to generator, unfortunately the Lightning senses this bond and disables power to the outlet until the bond is sensed to be open. This you find yourself in the chicken and egg cycle with no way out.

This follows the same scenario users have reported using the Ford system with home transfer switch or panel interlock.

Alternatively, I did gather evidence suggesting a Eg4 Chargeverter GC can be used and may be a better solution for battery bank offgrid charging due to its support for a wide range of generator input.