6.4 Grounding boat parts In shore or in inverter operation a central earth potential must be present. All metal parts must be connected to each other. Theoretically all touchable metal parts and pipes that carry fluids must be connected to earth. Examples of these are: hull, railing, engine, power point earth contacts, lightning conductors and the earth plate (if present). It is important that the connecting earth wires are of sufficient thickness, as the currents that run through these wires can be momentarily quite high.
6.5 Isolation and grounding of Victron Equipment
Isolation of all Victron inverters and inverter/chargers: • Between the AC circuitry and chassis: basic isolation. The chassis therefore must be grounded. • Between AC and DC: reinforced isolation. Once the chassis has been grounded the DC is therefore considered safe to touch if the nominal voltage is 48V or lower. • Between the DC circuitry and chassis: basic isolation. Therefore, DC negative or positive grounding is allowed. In case of positive grounding, non-isolated interface connections will refer to the DC negative and not to ground. Grounding such a connection will damage the product. The AC ground terminal of all inverters and inverter/chargers is connected to the chassis. AC neutral grounding of Victron inverters The neutral of all inverters rated at 1600VA or more and of the Phoenix Inverter Compact 1200VA is connected to the chassis. Grounding the chassis will therefore also ground the AC neutral. A grounded neutral is required for proper operation of a RCD (or RCCB, RCBO or GFCI). If no reliable ground is available and/or if a GFCI is not installed, the AC neutral to chassis connection should be removed to improve safety. Warning: such an installation does probably not comply with local regulations. The AC neutral of lower power inverters is generally not connected to the chassis. A neutral to ground connection can be established however: please see the product manual. AC neutral grounding of Victron inverter/chargers The output AC neutral of all inverter/chargers is connected the input AC neutral when the back-feed relays are closed (AC available on input). When the back-feed relays are open, a ground relay connects the outgoing No isolation between PV input and DC output Basic isolation between input/output and chassis. Isolation of other products Battery chargers: reinforced isolation between AC and DC. Basic Isolation between AC and chassis, except for the Smart IP65 chargers which have reinforced isolation between AC and the plastic casing. DC-DC converters, diode and FET splitters and other DC products: the casing is always isolated from the DC (basic isolation). neutral to the chassis. A grounded neutral is required for proper operation of an RCD. Disabling the ground relay is possible on most models. Please see the product manual. Isolation of MPPT solar chargers
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