Honda 2000i generator and reverse polarity light

[Rich]

I have a Honda 2000 watt generator (EU2000i) and also noticed the reverse
polarity light. Having a background in electrical and electronics, I
noticed the manual says the generator does not produce a 'grounded'
output. That's the source of the trouble.

So I took the standard 15 amp male to 30 amp female adapter (Marinco #104A)
and fixed it by joining the wires for neutral and ground.

Here's how to do it:
Cut the wire in the middle, into two parts.
Remove about an inch of yellow insulation on either side of the cut.
Remove about a quarter inch of insulation from each of the three wires,
exposing the three wires on the inside.
For bonus points, use heat shrink insulation as you re-attach the wires
according to these instructions.
It is important to use wire crimping hardware as you re-attach the wires.
Re-attach the black wires on each side of the cut.
Attach the remaining white and green wires to make them into one electrical
connection.
Be sure to fully insulate the re-attached wires with electrical tape, or
better yet with heat shrink tubing.

If you don't have an electrical background or experience, give the Marinco
cable and these instructions to your local electrician - or let someone
with good electrical experience do this work for you.

This adapted cable has been working well for me, for a few years now.

-Rich

[Timothy Caulfield]

Thanks. Great input from everyone. We're leaving early Wednesday for 5 days at Cat Harbor on Catalina, so not having to worry about what the red light means the entire time will be nice. Given the timeframe, I think I'm going to ignore it this trip and then make the modifications to the connector that Rich describes.

 

Tim

[Brian Mikiten]

You might be careful doing this if you plan to use a ground fault
interrupter in the future. Tying neutral and ground can be a safety
issue.

Brian

[Rick Itenson]

On Aug 18, 11:23 pm, Brian Mikiten <bmiki...@gmail.com> wrote:
> You might be careful doing this if you plan to use a ground fault
> interrupter in the future. Tying neutral and ground can be a safety
> issue.
>
> Brian
>

Interesting. What is the reason you have to join the wires together.
I have run the Honda without doing that for three seasons. The reverse
polarity light flickers. Most of the cruisers I know do this. Can
anyone tell me what harm this does, if any. I have never met anyone
that re-wired the 15/30 amp adapter.

Rick
B393