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Thread: Voltage reading between supply live and disconnected load neutral

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    Voltage reading between supply live and disconnected load neutral

    When disconnecting the neutral of the cable supplying the pool db from the main db neutral bar and then measuring the voltage between the main db live and the disconnected neutral I get 230V, I would expect to get 0V. What am I missing?

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    Platinum Member Derlyn's Avatar
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    The neutral of the cable is probably down to earth somewhere. Megger test the cable.

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    I suppose the earth leakage was tripping, the reason for you disconnecting the cable.

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    Platinum Member Derlyn's Avatar
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    Disconnect the cable at the pool end as well and then measure the voltage again.

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    aquamoon (08-Apr-24)

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    I was getting intermittent earth leakage trips, once I disconnected the neutral the trips went away.

    It only seemed to start after a db rewire where previously the pool was on its own leakage and now it’s part of the main earth leakage. That rewire was fine until it started raining, then the trips began.


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    Platinum Member Derlyn's Avatar
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    Yep. Cable down to earth somewhere, for sure.

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    The trips have resumed, so it is not the cable to the pool causing the trips, since then I have disconnected the geysers neutrals as well, still trips.

    I have 2 Victron Multiplus connected in parallel mode. These are connected to the main db earth leakage. The Victrons each have 2 outputs, which are combined in parallel. Each of these outputs is connected to an earth leakage. All plugs and lights are on the first output and the stove on the second. I want to be able to program the system to only allow the second output to be on under certain conditions.

    I have no trips when the inverters switch to inverting or when they switch back to grid power. All worked well until recently. When on grid power I experience intermittent trips. No trips when on inverter power.

    Should the inverters be connected directly to mains and not via the earth leakage? When on grid there are essentially 2 earth leakages power will flow through to any endpoint. The sans recommended layout for a UPS system seems to indicate doing it the way I have done it.


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    Quote Originally Posted by aquamoon View Post

    Should the inverters be connected directly to mains and not via the earth leakage? When on grid there are essentially 2 earth leakages power will flow through to any endpoint. The sans recommended layout for a UPS system seems to indicate doing it the way I have done it.


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    Something sounds wrong with the positioning of your ELU - Should be mains power - inverter - earth leakage -plug CB

    I am reading that you have the ELU before the inverter ?

    The Annex P shows ELU but be careful that they are not referring to a +/- 100ma unit because no decent earth can be obtained

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    Quote Originally Posted by GCE View Post
    Something sounds wrong with the positioning of your ELU - Should be mains power - inverter - earth leakage -plug CB

    I am reading that you have the ELU before the inverter ?

    The Annex P shows ELU but be careful that they are not referring to a +/- 100ma unit because no decent earth can be obtained
    I do have the inverters connected after the main EL. I also have an EL for each of the 2 outputs of the combined inverters outputs.

    So when on grid power, power flows through 2 EL’s to an endpoint (e.g a plug point) Could this, having power flow through 2 EL’s be causing a problem?

    I felt that having the inverters on the min EL would be a safer option if something were to go wrong with the inverters themselves although Aircon’s are not connected to EL because they often cause nuisance trips being exposed to the elements. They are also “supposedly” out of reach of users.

    Could you explain more about your comment on Annex P?


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    The geysers and pool were connected to the main db earth leakage as well, they are disconnected for now while I try and find the fault.


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