Inverter Groundwire Connection

We are just installing and inverter. Instructions say ground wire should connect to common ground. What is the common ground? Is it the physical chasis? (Is this different than the negative black wire from battery that connects to negative bus bar?)

(At Flathead Lake MT now - heading for Coeur D'Alene Bike Trails soon.)

depends if you are talking about the input ground, output ground, or the chassis ground on the inverter. if the input ground, then it needs to connect directly to the ground on your battery bank. if the output ground then it connects to the ground bar in the ac panel. Are you using a transfer switch? if you are using a transfer switch then it would connect to ground wire coming from the shore power and the ground wire going to the ac panel. (if your transfer switch has a ground bar, connect them all to the bar.) if it is the chassis ground on the inverter case, then it connects to the frame of the rv.

a little more info would be helpful.

btw, you ARE installing a circuit breaker on the pos. battery connection, right?

Thanks in advance for the help.

We were planning on taking the 110v output from the inverter and connecting it to only 2 new seperate outlets (distinct from the 110 outlets provided with the RV). These would be used to power our computers and the microwave when not connected to electricity at a campgroound. The inverter is a 1750 XPower made by Xantrex. It has a terminal for positive and negative battery connections and a seperate grouond wire connection. Given that we want to keep our inverter provided 110 power seperate from a campground provided 110 power, where do we connect the ground wire comming from the inverter?

Marguerite said:

We are just installing and inverter. Instructions say ground wire should connect to common ground. What is the common ground? Is it the physical chasis? (Is this different than the negative black wire from battery that connects to negative bus bar?)

(At Flathead Lake MT now - heading for Coeur D'Alene Bike Trails soon.)

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It's the chassis or ground bar inside your circuit breaker panel...in an Rv it's all the same. If you go from the ground on the inverter..and earth ground you should read zero ohms. Going from the chassis to ground...zero ohms. Anything else and you are setting yourself up for a nasty ground loop that will play pure h*ll with the electronics of your rig. Remember Ground or return or the black cable attached to the battery...it's all the same.