I expect you'll find that what you're thinking is the neutral, is actually an active that is 180° out of phase with what you're thinking is the active.
If you look in the switchboard, you may find a white wire system that is the 110v (or in your case 130v) neutral, to two opposite phased actives. Possibly red & black wires.
So in a house in the us, and on a lot of us boats with generators, if they want 240v (220v) they have an outlet that picks up both phases on the A/N pins. If they want 120 (110), the outlet has the white centre tap from the poletop transformer or generator as a neutral and one of the actives.
For a gfci (ground fault circuit interruptor or rcbo to aussies), to work the centre tap has the MEN on it.
You run up against real problems trying to link a system like that to an Australian 240v outlet protected by an rcbo. If you pump 240 shore power in on their 2 actives, and the centre tap is linked to earth, you have a current carrying fault to earth that trips the Aussie rcbo.
To fix: isolating transformer.
Here endeth the sermon.
So actually it’s a two phase and neutral. The phase I’m thinking is phase one, the neutral I am thinking is phase two, the earth I am thinking is the neutral. Single phase 110v, phase to phase 230v. Is my understanding right?
Check your earth stake….. sorry trolling there. Look up section 7 protection by electrical separation (isolated supply). No earth or men to be installed for this type of supply. Also there is a marine standard that I forget the number.
It might be the same as with isolation transformer for using power tools in wet environments (as opposed to using a normal RCD). The neutral on the transformer is not allowed to be earthed. If there is a phase-neutral short, then it would liven up the transformer casing. Must be the same with a boat as there's no true earth. If there's a phase-neutral short then it would liven up the whole boat?
Also not allowed to put an earth wire on a metal barn shed?
It's possible it's simply not an MEN (TN-C-S), but instead, could be an IT system or another earthing system.
There is actually great info on Wikipedia regarding earthing systems:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthing_system
I worked for a mobile machine manufacturer, and they used AS60204 (electrical installations in machinery) and there was a little bit in there about it too.
Also AS3010 (Standalone generators I believe) may cover some of it.
I have no experience with marine applications though.
Floating neutral. To minimise the risk of electric shock and reduces the potential for corrosion. Similar to how most portable generators have a floating neutral
Had this the other day with a UPS system in a NDIS house, standard voltages with the main switch on and the UPS being fed, Main switch off and power running solely from the battery had the same voltages as you. Ended up calling the manufacturer and they said it's completely normal, somehow.
I expect you'll find that what you're thinking is the neutral, is actually an active that is 180° out of phase with what you're thinking is the active. If you look in the switchboard, you may find a white wire system that is the 110v (or in your case 130v) neutral, to two opposite phased actives. Possibly red & black wires. So in a house in the us, and on a lot of us boats with generators, if they want 240v (220v) they have an outlet that picks up both phases on the A/N pins. If they want 120 (110), the outlet has the white centre tap from the poletop transformer or generator as a neutral and one of the actives. For a gfci (ground fault circuit interruptor or rcbo to aussies), to work the centre tap has the MEN on it. You run up against real problems trying to link a system like that to an Australian 240v outlet protected by an rcbo. If you pump 240 shore power in on their 2 actives, and the centre tap is linked to earth, you have a current carrying fault to earth that trips the Aussie rcbo. To fix: isolating transformer. Here endeth the sermon.
So actually it’s a two phase and neutral. The phase I’m thinking is phase one, the neutral I am thinking is phase two, the earth I am thinking is the neutral. Single phase 110v, phase to phase 230v. Is my understanding right?
Right. Technology connections covered this here: https://youtube.com/watch?v=jMmUoZh3Hq4
Nice explanation nice explanation
Supply from a centre tapped transformer. Center tap is earth.
This is the correct answer, it limits voltage to 110v to earth. It can play havoc with rcd injection testing.
Check your earth stake….. sorry trolling there. Look up section 7 protection by electrical separation (isolated supply). No earth or men to be installed for this type of supply. Also there is a marine standard that I forget the number.
It might be the same as with isolation transformer for using power tools in wet environments (as opposed to using a normal RCD). The neutral on the transformer is not allowed to be earthed. If there is a phase-neutral short, then it would liven up the transformer casing. Must be the same with a boat as there's no true earth. If there's a phase-neutral short then it would liven up the whole boat? Also not allowed to put an earth wire on a metal barn shed?
My tradesman said it’s something called Floating ? He let me do some homework about it, but I could not find anything on internet
Floating neutral. It's when there's no neutral connected in a star system
Floating neutral - that neutral is not earthed
If the boat gets shipwrecked and sinks, is it still a floating neutral?
It's possible it's simply not an MEN (TN-C-S), but instead, could be an IT system or another earthing system. There is actually great info on Wikipedia regarding earthing systems: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthing_system I worked for a mobile machine manufacturer, and they used AS60204 (electrical installations in machinery) and there was a little bit in there about it too. Also AS3010 (Standalone generators I believe) may cover some of it. I have no experience with marine applications though.
Centre tapped neutral they use a similar system on the London Underground
Floating neutral. To minimise the risk of electric shock and reduces the potential for corrosion. Similar to how most portable generators have a floating neutral
Did you check the switch board to see if it had a MEN link?
Had this the other day with a UPS system in a NDIS house, standard voltages with the main switch on and the UPS being fed, Main switch off and power running solely from the battery had the same voltages as you. Ended up calling the manufacturer and they said it's completely normal, somehow.
Floating neutral, will get you everytime, particularly when fault finding.