While anchoring out last summer we had to use our Honda generator to charge the batteries when the alternator died. Though we were frustrated by the alternator, we were relieved to have the generator with us. So we plugged it in, fired it up and started charging the batteries. Then we noticed the reverse polarity light on our electrical panel illuminated. I’ve heard of reverse polarity, but never really understood what it meant.
Reverse polarity is when the hot and neutral connections at a receptacle are wired “backwards.” Home wiring is color-coded, and the black wire is “hot,” meaning that it is electrically charged. Reverse polarity creates a potential shock hazard, but it’s usually an easy repair.
After thinking about it for a few minutes Rich surmised that maybe he had the wires reversed in the adaptor plug he made. He opened the plug and everything looked correct, but he switched it around anyway. The reverse polarity light was still on so he switched everything back. Since the batteries were charging and everything else appeared normal we decided to tackle this problem another day.
The Solution
After Googling reverse polarity and Honda generators we found that the generators have a floating ground. This means they’re not grounded. Since we’re on a boat we cannot physically ground the generator. But we could fool it into thinking it was grounded. The solution was pretty simple really, we just made a plug with the neutral and ground tied together. I should say the solution is simple for anyone with some skill in working with electrical wiring. I do not have these skills as you can see in the video below. Now when we use the generator we just put the plug we made into the receptacle on the generator and it thinks it’s grounded.
