new wiring question

vidaliaman

right now i have my cabin powered by a standard plug, this three prong plug can plug into my generator or i can run an extension cord from my 300 watt inverter solar system plugging my cabin into the female end of extension cord, i decided to bury a 12/2 wire from my inverter, installed a standard 3 prong male on inverter end and installed an exterior outlet on the cabin end to plug my cabin into, the extension cord works great, however i can't make the new underground wire work, does it have something to do with the ground?
dave
upper peninsula  

BB.

No, there should be nothing wrong with the concept/wire you are using.

It is not uncommon for the cable to be damaged during installation (if conduit, nicking the wire and causing a short). Check the ends in the plug and receptical to ensure that the wires are to the correct colors (white wire to white screw, black wire to brass screw, green wire/bare wire to green screw).

Is the cable buried in the ground (direct burial cable or in conduit)? Is the inverter being over loaded (short circuit)? Is there a GFI outlet on the inverter that is being tripped?

-Bill

vidaliaman

i originally had a gfi on the cabin end of the wire because it was underneath the cabin, it is not in conduit it's just outdoor 12/2 buried, thinking it was the ground i clipped the ground wire at the inverter end and touched the black wire to the correct prong and the white wire the it's correct prong on the cabin plug, that works great, as soon as i hook the gfi or a regular interior plug to the cabin end of the 12/2 and plug in the cabin it throws a fault, that doesn't make sense to me

BB.

Many main circuit breaker panels default to connecting white/neutral bus to the ground bus.

If you connect GIF outlet to the input of the breaker panel, this will trip the GFI on the inverter side.

If you keep the neutral+ground in the breaker panel, GOD breakers+outlets can only be used on the branch circuits (breaker panel outputs). Normal and safe to do this.

- Bill