Never heard of an RVD until I read this post. Checked online and came across this local product www.rvdsafe.com.au/product-category/power-leads/.

Would this be a suitable product to connect my portable generator to my motor home when charging my batteries and using onboard appliances?

Apart from a very inferior Chinese copy this is the only company who makes RVDs in the world at this time as far as I am aware.
Yes, it is fully approved. It is not compulsory, but I would expect that to happen in the future.
Yes it will offer the best protection for a generator or inverter.
There are several hard wired models if you go that way (I have). You need the correct one depending on the application. Get your sparky to contact them.
Cheers,
Peter

Thanks Peter.

KFT wrote:

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G'day all

I am a licenced electrician with considerable experience in protection systems.

Erad you are entirely on the wrong track. Let me explain

An RCD does sense an imbalance in the Active/Neutral wiring but this imbalance can only occur if the fault current has somewhere to flow. This is what an earth connection does. The earth allows fault current to bypass the Core balance device and cause a trip when the imbalance reaches typically 30mA in domestic installations.

The issue here is that with an isolated supply such as a generator or an Inverter there is no earth reference. There is no Active/Neutral, only line 1/Line 2. With no earth connection there is no path for fault current to flow so no imbalance can be detected so an RCD will not trip.

An australian company designed and manufacture a new device called an RVD and this works on isolated supplies by sensing a voltage increase on the earthing conductor this then makes the RCD trip.

I hope I have written this in a way you can understand. If you still have trouble I am happy to explain further.

regards
Frank(KFT)

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 Spot on Frank 

Stewart wrote:

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Hi
So how to do people get on in the annex, when on a powered site

where i can have a power board and 2 appliances plugged in, a portable waeco fridge and maybe washing machine, or a cooker

Is this no good either, now im getting concerned

Thanks stew

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Epods[ Electrical power outlet boards] complying to AS3105 are specifically NOT   approved for use in an annexes or in any transportable structure

You need something like the weatherproof { IPX4} Arlec Multi-outlet box

Whenarewethere wrote:

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Just a reminder plug a RCD in the 240 output of the inverter then plug your equipment into that. Don't want anybody being electrocuted for one reason or another!

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 A plug-in RCD is absolutely useless used that way

It simply cannot work  & gives zero protection against electric shocks to earth.

Three safe ways to use generators or inverters :

[1]Only connect Class two devices or no more than 1 Class1 @ anytime

[2]Get an RVD not an RCD!

[3]Have it permanently wired into the existing wiring with change over switching, by a licensed electrician, who has & is aware of the requirements of As /NZS3001.

Multi-outlet powerboards[Epods] are specifically stated not to be used in "Transportable Structures" [As/NZS 3001]

Stewart wrote:

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Hi thanks for the reply. I wanted to know if this is safe to use when on powered site in the annexe. Or do I need a different one. Also how do campers get away with running leads into tents which I have seen many times then running multiple appliances fridge tv lights etc ?

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 Unfortunately, like many safety rules & regulations, the general public is not aware of them,& the rules are not actively policed.

Your local hardware /electronics store etc  is very unlikely to know the rules

Generally, it is only when an incident occurs that there may be some limited reporting

.Of course, there will always be an armchair expert  who disagrees

 Sadly, the fact that Standards are not available free & are strongly copyright  protected makes it hard for the average person to find out

Those of us, who do know the answers,  can just try our best to educate