dSilanskas said:
Okay so I know that you only have to drop a ground rod at a generator if its a SDS
No you also
HAVE TO ground if the generator: 1) supplies equipment
not mounted on the generator, remote, 2) bonding and equipment grounding of all devices does
not take place at the generator frame, 3) and if the generator frame is
not bonded to the vehicle frame, if it?s vehicle mounted.
dSilanskas said:
my question is why would you want to seperate the ground from the main power to the generator
I don?t think the ground ever has to be separated from the main power and it certainly is not required for circuitry to function. The
grounded (neutral) conductor may have to open and operate with the phases if the generator is a supplement to the utility service, I?m not sure, but if it is used as service equipment the electrode ground must be installed anyway.
Any generator is considered a source and it usually supplies a feeder in most cases it is not a separately derived system because it?s transfer switch does not operate the grounded (neutral) conductor. I?m sorry to be so critical of your wording but I feel like I?m twisting your thinking and I really don?t know how else to approach this. When you say ?the ground from the main power to the generator? I think you are trying to say the grounded (neutral) conductor?
from the generator because you don?t run power to a generator it?s a source. The word ground really means to earth through an electrode as listed in 250-52, these
CANNOT be used to convey current through the earth as an equipment ground, (250-4(A)(5) & (6), which is installed to convey ground fault (shorts) to the source. The ground rod is really only for controlling over-voltages like lightning, line surges?(see 250-4(A)(1).
With all this said, if you don?t have a SDS in most cases the ground electrode is not needed, it would only be redundant and would not provide any additional safety or functionality.