Trying to bond neutral/ground on generator

[Ray D]

I discovered my neutral and ground were not bonded at the generator, so I bonded them.  I have an 8KW Wrico.  When I started it and hit the breaker it gave a little grunt like it picked up a load, but there was no voltage when I put a meter on it.  So I completely disconnected the generator and the bond wire, started it up and I have 118 volts between Neutral and hot, but nothing from either one to ground, so I could not even confirm the hot and neutral are labeled right.  Anyone have any ideas on this?  On a generator, shouldn't you get voltage from the hot to the generator casing.  I do have continuity between the ground point and other points on the generator.
Ray D

[Brassman]

On a generator, shouldn't you get voltage from the hot to the generator casing. Ray D

Not if the neutral is not bonded to the casing. You need a return path to get the voltage differental.

[Ray D]

How can I tell the neutral from the hot leg, it is wired 120 volt or without a ground is there even a difference?

Ray D

[TedsBUSted]

How can I tell the neutral from the hot leg, it is wired 120 volt or without a ground is there even a difference?

Ray D

When you say the generator  is "wired 120 volt" do you mean there is no 240v at all?
If so, the generator could be connected Delta, and thus has no neutral at all.
It  all depends on how a reconnectable generator is internally connected, with many configurations possible.

But about IDing Neutral. With most common wye configurations, Line to Line would be 240v, and Line to Neutral 120v. Thus Neutral could be identified as reading 120v to each "L" or Line, compared to L-to-L readings of 240v.  But, to confuse things a bit more... there are also some Delta configurations that utilize a neutral tap.

If all (three) L to L readings are the same, the generator is probably connected Delta and thus has no Neutral.

Any chance you can ID how the generator's  reconectable "T" leads are connected?
Hopefully there's a connection diagram near the generator's terminal box.

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