Possible Unsafe Operation of the Anker F3800 Plus.

[gwliddle]

The discovery: Reported that the Anker F3800 Plus seems to always be bonded N-G no matter what. The expectation is that it should operate just like the OG F3800, in normal mode, it should be floating neutral, for both the 120Vac and the 240Vac outlets. And if you need to put it into bonded mode (where the neutral and ground are bonded together), then you double click the AC ON button to get into the EV car charging mode, as shown on the display with a little car icon. The manuals for both the OG and the Plus talk about putting the device in EV car charging mode, aka neutral ground bonded mode, by double clicking it. This also implies that in normal mode, the power station is supposed to be floating neutral (neutral and ground are not bonded).

What does Anker say? With multiple Anker Support tickets, they say the Plus is always bonded (confirmed finding). Asked them how one is supposed to work around the issue, and Anker Support says to not use the ground wire from the Plus if you want a floating neutral. They didn't acknowledge that it's a bug, nor did they offer to fix the issue. At this point, I asked the Anker Facebook Support Group for corroboration that this is the same issue for other F3800 Plus units and it's not just my unit. Other owners tested their Plus and corroborated my findings by measuring H-G with the unit not connected to anything ( standalone). All who did this test confirmed that they measured 120Vac H-G indicating a bonded unit.

What is the implication of this, why is it unsafe? NEC codes stipulate that there should only be one neutral ground bond point, and for a typical home power network, that bonding is normally done in the main service panel. If you add a sub panel to it, the sub panel cannot have a neutral ground bond. If you disable the main service panel power and use an external power station (like a generator or the F3800 Plus), then the power station cannot have a neutral bond itself, because only one bond is allowed, and the bond already exists in the main service panel. A switched neutral transfer switch can be used to get around this issue. Anker sells the floating neutral transfer switch.

The pickle that Anker has created for F3800 Plus owners: Normally for a generator that's sold being bonded from the factory, the owner can usually find a way to physically remove the bond (by opening and going inside) to use with the home power network and be safe and in compliance with NEC code. But the F3800 Plus is ALWAYS bonded, and there is NO WAY for the users to go inside of it and remove the bond. So, if you choose to use the Plus with your bonded home power network, you will be noncompliant.

If you're a Plus owner, you should open up a ticket with Anker and ask them. However, if you use the Plus as a standalone power station to power standalone appliances that are not tied to your home power network, then the bonded neutral that the F3800 Plus defaults to is the proper mode.
This brings up an interesting dilemma: What about the OG F3800 in standalone mode powering standalone appliances, and it's in floating neutral mode because it's not connected to the home power network? This situation can be remedied easily by double pressing the A/C On Button (Bonded-EV Mode) or use a bonding plug.
The pickle is for Plus owners who are stuck in bonded neutral with NO WAY to change it into floating neutral.

BTW, Anker Support confirms that the Double Power Hub (DPH) is bonded.

 

[Mattb4]

While not ideal by code it should not be unsafe. For instance every power pole has a ground wire bonded to the neutral wire leading to your home if you are on grid. The Transformer has the secondary side center tap neutral also bonded to ground. From this it connects to your main panel where you have your house NG bond.

What would be more likely to be unsafe is if you had no NG bond.