Solar Lattice

Measurement

High neutral-to-ground voltage

ID
meas:high-neutral-ground-voltage
IRI
https://solarlattice.org/kb/meas/high-neutral-ground-voltage
Status
active
Also known as
N-G voltage, Neutral-Ground

This signature is a voltage between the neutral conductor and ground that is higher than it should be on the AC side of the system. Some surge protective devices have built-in neutral-to-ground voltage indicators: when they sense excessive voltage, the red service LED blinks and the audible alarm cycles. Inside such a device, a differential voltage circuit watches the neutral-to-ground voltage. A sustained excess slowly overheats a resistor until its heat-shrink sleeve shrinks, but brief transient spikes do not cause this. A common cause is a missing XO or neutral-to-ground bonding jumper, which leaves the system ungrounded and can lead to abnormally high line-to-ground voltages. This is an installation error. It needs immediate attention, because the surge protective device keeps reacting to the overvoltage until it fails. During an inverter inspection, measure neutral-to-ground voltage together with line-to-line, line-to-neutral and line-to-ground voltage while the AC is on, but only if it is safe to do so. Before working on the AC terminals, use a voltage detector to confirm there is no voltage from neutral to ground, phase to ground and phase to neutral.

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