Don’t want to step on Todd’s electrician thread, but was curious how those that have a generator have it set up. I bought a back-up generator last week and was looking to have an electrician set something up so I could just plug into a new outlet on the side of the house.

I have one friend that set up a “suicide cord” that he can run in through his laundry room and then it back feeds electricity to his breaker box. That seems dangerous to me and also to anyone down stream that might be working on the power outage. Plus he has to run it through the window and I was looking for something a little bit cleaner looking.

To save money, I didn’t get one of the big generac’s that could power my entire home. Instead I went with semi-portable unit that runs on gas or propane. I’m really just concerned with keeping my a/c, fridge, tv, and a few of the more important things going in an outage.

I’d love to hear how y’all have them set up. Do you have a separate breaker box with just the circuits you want to put power to in it? And then a plug-in outlet installed on the opposite side of that new box on the outside of your house? To me that sounds like the best way and it would keep the power from the generator in my house and from going back up the line.

Any ideas, thoughts or suggestions?

I bought an Ecoflow DELTA Pro with two expansion battery's along with 1600watts of solar panels to charge it, once fully charged we have 10.8kWh of power to run almost everything in our house except for the AC and Oven & clothes dryer. I have gas heat in the winter it will run my furnace. I did buy two portable 5000BTU AC's and it runs both along with freezers and refrigerator with no problem.

Lots of videos on how to put in the bypass switch on your fuse box it's simple to do.
https://us.ecoflow.com/products/delta-pro-portable-power-station

I am looking at another unit from Signature Solar they are very helpful and are a Texass Company in Sulphur Springs.
https://signaturesolar.com/


What I like most about the Solar Powered Generators is that it is silent running Nobody will know you have power if you black out your windows.

The "correct" way is to put in a new breaker that will not turn on without flipping the main breaker off so not to back feed into the main lines coming in. I couldn't get anyone to install one so I made a "suicide" plug that goes to my PTO gen that will run the whole house and it back feeds into my 220 welder/compressor plug in the garage. I tested it and it works great. (The reason they call it a "suicide" plug is because it has a male plug on both ends, you want to be sure the end going into the wall is plugged in before firing up the gen so you don't have a hot plug that can be touched.

Check with your power company to see if they will install (or allow an electrician) one of these. It just plugs into the meter base.

http://www.generlink.com/generlink.html

The new house has a transfer switch that I ordered with the generator. It's all 200 amp level, 3/0 copper cable and does power the entire breaker panel.

The house I sold, had a panel on the outside of the house, the owner before me installed. "Emergency Generator Switch" was printed on it. It was designed to run the big round twist lock cable from generator to it. Then it had 6 toggle switches for 6 circuits. Those fed wires into the breaker panel inside the house. So when you pulled the cover off the breaker panel you saw a black hot wire leaving the breaker, and a second black hot wire that was labeled coming into that breaker from the switch outside.

You want a manual transfer switch, not hard to install if your comfortable working with household electricity. This is the one I installed for my generator to plug into. You determine which circuits you would like to run on generator if ever needed.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Connect...sfer-Switch-Kit-EGS107501G2KIT/100669964

It's called a lockout panel and is probably one of the most expensive ($60 or so) small pieces of sheet metal you will ever buy. Add a breaker to connect to a 50-amp power inlet box (much like what you'll find at RV parks) and you're good to go and satisfy code. Cheapest setup by far but does require you to turn off the main breaker and flip on the generator breaker to transfer power to your generator. And yes, you can still turn off those breakers in your existing breaker box where you don't need power.

This setup also makes it MUCH EASIER to take your generator with you should you move.

Awesome, thanks guys!

Thanks for the info, exactly what I was looking for too

I need to do this also

I set up a cord from my main panel with a female receptacle end on it and then made a 'suicide cord' that fits my 240v receptacle on my welder/generator.
The cord in the panel comes off a 50a 2P breaker and just hangs out of the bottom of my outside panel so basically when I plug it into the gen set I'm backfeeding into my main panel.

I have a main breaker on that panel so when I've lost power from the power company I turn that main off and then connect the gen set to the cord and start it up and turn that 2p 50a on.

I've also install a very small LED light to the line side of my incoming power from the power company so I know when the power comes back on from them and when I see that light come on I go and disconnect the gen set and turn that 2p 50 back off and then turn my 200a main breaker to the panel back on.

Correct me if I am wrong but there isn't any type of "Plug In" receptacle that is going to be rated over 50 amps. At least that is what I found in my research.

I actually made a "suicide plug/cable" for my Miller Bobcat welder/generator and never used it because moving the thing around was a PIA. Even had a plug put on the side of the house. Ended up just using my little Honda EU2000i. It was quiet, fuel efficient, ran a few lights, the blower fan on the fireplace, tv/cable, internet, fridge, freezer, coffee pot, hot plate. It would not run HVAC's, stove, hot water heaters.

I had a 200amp 3 position switch to select between Shore Power/Off/Generator. That box was stupid big. Had an electrician put it all in.

I have to say it is real easy to get complacent when plugging/unplugging that suicide cord. You don't think it will happen but 2-3 years down the road you will forget which end to unplug first. If it doesn't get you it will scare the crap out of you.

I have since upgraded to a 24kw Generac with an automatic switch.

Northern Tool. Reliance Portable Generator Through-The-Wall Kit, Model# WKPBN30. Works great.

Did you buy the "kit" and do you have the solar panels permanently mounted?

Ordered the panels from Amazon I mounted 8 200watt RICH Panels on two racks of 4 so I can slide them out to the yard from my garage wired them in Series Parallel to stay under the 150volt max.

Decided today to get another Delta Pro from COSTCO on sale for $2999.00 that's $500.00 off and same deal I got on the last one. Bought the Expiation Battery's from Off Grid Trek for $2599.each with No Tax No Shipping from California.

Have a plug wired into my fuse box from the 30amp on the Pro to run the circuits I want.

Great info, thanks. How many watts are you shooting for?

This is what I'm going to do 240 volt 21.6kWh

That is awesome!

My biggest worry is Sound IF SHTF I don't want people coming to my door because I have power IF they know you have power, They Know You Have Food! I have moving blankets to cover my windows so at night my place will look like all the rest of the houses, Dark.

That is why I will put my solar panels on the ground and not mounted on the roof so they can't be seen from the street I get 6+ hours of good sunlight per day.

That is pretty awesome, NORML! Won’t pizz the neighbors off either… or tip then off if it’s a real bad situation. I guess I was just thinking of power outages for for small amounts of time. This would be a much better solution for if the fit really hit the shan and you couldn't get fuel. Very cool indeed

Hey Greg, Sorry I hijacked your thread. Anyways, this is what I'm using for my current generator hookup: Northern Tool. Reliance Portable Generator Through-The-Wall Kit, Model# WKPBN30.

I have a 60kw diesel Kohler with an auto switch to the house at the meter, won't backfeed. If I want to run the shop I have to manually do it.

I'm looking to get a 24KW Generac from Lowe's. I will need a propane tank too.

That's what I really want but not sure the city will allow a big propane tank.

That Eco Delta Pro set up is sweet. But I suspect by the time I got it paid for, the technology would be outdated or what about a software issue. Very helpful info.
I'm one of those that suspect Apple has implanted future date bugs in their phones to start acting up, battery no longer charge etc so you have to buy another one....