Quote:
Originally Posted by canis
I say not, my client doesn't agree and is insisting the chassis be earthed. He's even talking about carrying a metal stake around with him to hammer into the ground at every pitch.
|
Your client does not understand what he's doing... putting in a grounding spike will just make his caravan more likely to be struck by lightning....
I've just had a quick flick through the 18th edition regs and I can't find anything that will be specific to this (that's not to say there isn't something, it does cover caravans when connected to the mains) but I would say with some confidence that I expect the regs to be the same whether the power source is local to the caravan (i.e. inverter) or by hook-up (240v mains). If the latter requires the chassis to be earth bonded (which I expect it does) then you should do so in this case.
By earth bonding I mean connecting the chassis to the earth terminal of the power source (hook-up or inverter) so that any fault that causes a live cable to come into contact with the chassis will (hopefully) cause that circuit's protection to operate and isolate the supply - i.e. RCD on the hook-up or overload/RCD on the inverter.
However - the above would only apply if you are using the inverter to power the "premise" wiring in the caravan (i.e. fitted lights, appliances and sockets via the consumer unit). If you are just plugging appliances directly into the socket on the inverter itself then it's simply not relevant.
That's "as I understand it". Connecting the chassis to the inverter ground will have no effect on the vehicles electrical system unless another connection is made somewhere - but you've not going to be connecting a 240 ac supply to your brake light circuit....?