Isolated ground broken

[ptonsparky]

Sounds like you are testing the VD of the neutral.

The isolated ground wire, if continuous, would be the same as putting one lead at the SE neutral.

You either have the ghost voltage given by high impedance meters or one of the pieces of equipment is faulty.

 

[Jnewell]

Yes the IG is broken, but when it’s off no continuity but when it’s hot there’s continuity with ahigh ohm reading. Could that be from the high impedance tester as well?

 

[hbiss]

Yes the IG is broken, but when it’s off no continuity but when it’s hot there’s continuity with ahigh ohm reading. Could that be from the high impedance tester as well?

Ummm, you NEVER test for resistance or continuity with power on or any voltage on the conductors you are testing! Furthermore, you could have destroyed your meter.

This is basic 101 stuff.

-Hal

 

[LarryFine]

IG conductors are not supposed to be daisy chained from receptacle to receptacle either. Each IG receptacle must have a dedicated IG conductor running back to the panelboard or service entrance ground bus.

That I've never heard nor done. You can even use wirenuts or an insulated-mounting bus to join several IG conductors in a panel to a single conductor back to the MBJ location.

 

[hbiss]

That I've never heard nor done. You can even use wirenuts or an insulated-mounting bus to join several IG conductors in a panel to a single conductor back to the MBJ location.

I know, it's done like that all the time. Most guys don't even know what an IG is so what would you expect? But for maximum effectiveness it's dedicated home runs. There is probably some document from the IEEE back in the day that goes into all that in detail. But nowadays what does it matter?

-Hal

 

[jim dungar]

That I've never heard nor done. You can even use wirenuts or an insulated-mounting bus to join several IG conductors in a panel to a single conductor back to the MBJ location.

Isolated grounds and dedicated grounds are similar. It seems many people end up with isolated systems when their original intent was for dedicated. People talk about dirty ground and clean ground, but isolated and dedicated systems were primarily intended to prevent ground loop issues.

 

[kwired]

That I've never heard nor done. You can even use wirenuts or an insulated-mounting bus to join several IG conductors in a panel to a single conductor back to the MBJ location.

Is done that way a lot. But true isolation that still is low impedance grounded means running everything back to whatever point is grounded, as mentioned to lessen ground loop effects. As you know some the "tech guys" seem to think a ground rod is the answer, and may in some cases solve some problems but creates others at same time, worst one being higher impedance for fault clearing.

 

[kwired]

Yes the IG is broken, but when it’s off no continuity but when it’s hot there’s continuity with ahigh ohm reading. Could that be from the high impedance tester as well?

Guessing you are not checking "hot" to "ground", that would be a no no.

But your meter is probably displaying a result caused by capacitive coupling on whatever you are measuring, like the IG to true ground. If the IG were intact there would be low enough impedance to short out the "capacitor" and you wouldn't get those kind of readings.

 

[hbiss]

Guessing you are not checking "hot" to "ground", that would be a no no.

But your meter is probably displaying a result caused by capacitive coupling on whatever you are measuring, like the IG to true ground. If the IG were intact there would be low enough impedance to short out the "capacitor" and you wouldn't get those kind of readings.

Doesn't matter, that's bad advice. NEVER check wiring that is even suspected of being hot with an ohm meter. ALWAYS check for voltage first.

-Hal

 

[kwired]

Doesn't matter, that's bad advice. NEVER check wiring that is even suspected of being hot with an ohm meter. ALWAYS check for voltage first.

-Hal

If he had checked it with high impedance volt meter he might have wondered why he had some low volts reading?\

If he checked with low impedance meter probably would have been zero, then would still have gotten same ohms reading afterward.

 

[hbiss]

If he checked with power off he would have gotten the correct reading regardless of what meter he used. There is no reason on earth to go near an energized circuit, even the ground conductors, with an ohm meter. This is basic electrical testing 101. If he learned that (or even read the instruction manual for his meter) we wouldn't be having this discussion.

-Hal

 

[Jnewell]

I appreciate all your posts from those who were actually trying to be helpful and FYI I never checked continuity with voltage on the neutral side, when there’s no load and the neutral is pigtailed off of it in parallel there is no voltage.

 

[Jnewell]

I appreciate all your posts from those who were actually trying to be helpful and FYI I never checked continuity with voltage on the neutral side, when there’s no load and the neutral is pigtailed off of it in parallel there is no voltage.

Actually I’m wrong there isn’t in the branch circuits but once it hits the panel and into the gear there is, but it’s frustrating cause it seems as if it’s simply a pissing contest rather than a forum to give advice/help

 

[ActionDave]

Actually I’m wrong there isn’t in the branch circuits but once it hits the panel and into the gear there is, but it’s frustrating cause it seems as if it’s simply a pissing contest rather than a forum to give advice/help

It's basically a room full of guys here so your gonna have that.

I've been following this thread and to be blunt I'm having trouble understanding what it is you are describing so I haven't made any comments. I'll take a stab at it though. Are you saying you get a weird reading from neutral to equipment ground with the power on and then it goes away with power off?