โDec-15-2018 07:11 PM
โApr-04-2019 01:59 PM
Johnny Hurryup wrote:
I have a few times. I just made a power cord with two male ends. FIRST..extremely important... shut off your main incoming circuit breaker in your home's panel. Then plug your motorhome's cord into the closest outlet in your home. Now half of the homes outlets will be powered. If it isn't the outlets you need, try plugging it into a different outlet. You will be back-feeding electricity to one of the two buss bars in your panel. One other thing, flip off any 220 volt breakers that are in your panel.( water heater, elec stove , well pump, clothes dryer etc)
โApr-04-2019 01:30 PM
โApr-03-2019 12:43 PM
โApr-03-2019 11:34 AM
JaxDad wrote:DrewE wrote:
Having the neutral connected with the hots disconnected does not pose any threat of backfeeding the grid. You can't have a circuit with a single wire, and without a circuit there's no power transfer. Indeed, since the neutral is bonded to earth ground, it can't even rise or fall in potential very much at all.
A generator is back-feeding a house with the mains switched off. Power is out because of a windstorm, the ground is dry and there's poor conductivity to ground from ground rod.
Miles down the road a linesman is working on supposedly 'dead' cables, the 120 volts from the generator is now stepped via the transformer to 12k - 17k volts.....
No potential you say?
People can die from as little as 9 volts.
People HAVE died from this very situation.
โApr-03-2019 08:53 AM
DrewE wrote:
Having the neutral connected with the hots disconnected does not pose any threat of backfeeding the grid. You can't have a circuit with a single wire, and without a circuit there's no power transfer. Indeed, since the neutral is bonded to earth ground, it can't even rise or fall in potential very much at all.
โApr-03-2019 07:45 AM
โApr-03-2019 07:05 AM
JaxDad wrote:crawford wrote:
it people could read and see the interlock system it is safe and legal and yes you can back feed by turning off main and locking it out you can legally do it. I been doing it for years and never a problem.
It is absolutely NOT legal.
The NEC requires you use a transfer kit or interlock to abolutely ensure you can't feed power back onto the grid (which would be amplified up to 17,000 volts or so by going backwards through your transformer, by the way).
Turning off your mains also doesnโt completely disconnect your house either, it only breaks the two hot legs, the neutral bond remains. This could create potential in lines that the people working on them think are dead and therefore safe.
Thereโs a reason the cords used to connect this way are called โsuicide cordsโ or โdeadman cordsโ.
โApr-03-2019 04:41 AM
crawford wrote:
it people could read and see the interlock system it is safe and legal and yes you can back feed by turning off main and locking it out you can legally do it. I been doing it for years and never a problem.
โApr-02-2019 05:34 PM
โApr-02-2019 05:32 PM
Gundog wrote:wvabeer wrote:
I was hoping to back feed my house thru the shore power cord by killing the main power flip a switch in the motor home (separate transfer switch) and run a few items till power is restored. Maybe ad a twist lock at two points within the transfer switch, one at incoming power and other main gen power connecting to the cord depending which mode I'll be in.
Please don't. Use a transfer switch designed for this application do not trust your main breaker as a disconnect to the utility. I am a retired journeyman lineman and this can kill utility workers. I can't tell you how many failed main breakers I have seen.
If you back feed into the utility the 120/240 volt service feeding your house comes from a transformer that converts primary high voltage at the transformer to the 120/240 volts for your house. If you back feed into the transformer you create primary high voltage through the transformer. The transformer is a simple device feed high voltage in the top it makes secondary voltage out the bottom feeding your house feed secondary voltage into the transformer and it makes high primary voltage out.
Not just utility workers are at risk lets say you have a wire down on your street or 2 streets over and you back feed through your service and the neighbor kid moves the wire so he can play and dies or is maimed guess who is at fault or maybe the downed line starts a house fire etc. I know of one lineman personally that got killed by an illegal hooked up generator in Mariposa, CA and their have been more many more.
It doe not matter if your home is fed underground or overhead the threat is the same.
Best case scenario is the utility worker grounds the primary line and smokes your generator. Do NOT TRUST YOUR MAIN BREAKER TO BE A DISCONNECT TO THE UTILITY. A proper transfer switch is a break before make device that gives a physical separation to the utility service.
โApr-02-2019 03:34 PM
โMar-29-2019 09:05 PM
โMar-28-2019 11:07 AM
JaxDad wrote:2manytoyz wrote:
I've not done this yet, but it is planned soon. I'm going to add a 240V outlet on the RV, near the generator.
Your 5500 Onan genny has a 240 output?
Mine only has a 120 volt output.
โJan-02-2019 03:12 AM