Solar And Generator Interface?

Been thinking I need a generator. Most likely a propane stand-by with electronic transfer switch. These things cost a bundle is it worth it?
      

OK, I took everyone's advice and ran a separate 6/3 w/50A male inlet receptacle back to the panel area so my RV generator can feed the transfer switch.



I'm ordering a Reliance 51406C (50A, 6 circuits).  The generator (Onan 5500) puts out 45A, but my house only needs a small number of circuits because it has mostly natural gas appliances and gas furnace with radiators.



I was wondering if anyone has hardwired one with 6/3 Romex?  The small compartment the unit has for hardwiring looks pretty tight for 6/3 plus the wire nuts.
      

Why won't my Briggs and straton 5500 generator generate any electricity?
      

Lookin to go camping electric free. I want to buy a couple car batteries just so we can hook up a couple of low watt bulbs. I already have a case for the battery so it will be portable. What kind of cables/wiring would I need to hook a light socket to the batteries? I'm guessing I would need an inverter too, am I correct? Would I also need some kind of controller so the battery wouldnt drain too low?
      

I'm buying a 12 lead Stamford generator, engine driven, and have a question or two about over current protection and ground fault protection.  I will normally have it wired for single phase 120 and 240 in the double delta configuration.  I may occasionally rewire it for 3 phase 240 in the series delta configuration.



For the single phase setup, what I've read so far leads me to believe I should have a main circuit breaker of about 125% continuous ampacity; it's a 10 kw generator.  Is that correct?  What kind of breaker do I need?  Should this main be a GFCI?  Do I bond neutral and ground?  This is a portable unit so I need to package a load center on the generator frame.  Can I wire one 240 receptacle directly to the main and two or three 120 volt GFCI's on it as well?  Or do I need another 240 breaker downstream of the main?  What should I be thinking about for swithching back and forth between single phase and three phase?  Alot of questions, trying to get smart and be safe.  Thanks.
      

Hi, I want to power a table fan (50 watts) using a battery. In India the input power to appliances (fan in this case) is 220 volts / 50 Hz. so can i power the fan with TWO 6 volts 4.5 AH sealed lead acid battery??

Can u please tell me how to do the power calculations? i want my fan to run for abt 4 hours. how many batteries do i need?



(im planing to charge the battery using solar panel but thats another question)
      

I'm having quite the time finding an electrician who will quote this.  Just about all of them say that what I need is to upgrade my main panel but I want to install a new main panel that is a part of the meter base outside and make my current 100A panel a sub.   Maybe you people can tell me why nobody seems to want to do this.  Here are a few shots of the existing meter (note what is apparently a 60A base here)






and a shot of the conduit headed underground.  Like most homes built during this era, the conduit makes a right turn underground to enter through the cinderblock, ending up coming into the back of the main panel.  This conduit encloses a 4 wire feed. edit: no, actually it is only a 3 wire feed which is a problem if I want to convert the original main panel a sub.






Here's the existing panel.  It's a 60's era Square-D split panel with a 30 amp sub panel for the finished basement.  Those are low voltage wires to circuit taps for my home energy monitoring system btw.






The reason I don't want to upgrade this panel are as follows:

We won't be expanding the electrical west of this panel any more.  All planned expansion (240v car charger in Garage, planned 3 season room with grid tie Solar on the roof) will be to the east.


Upgrading the panel will require major surgery to the walls.  Due to the way the original basement is engineered there, the walls have an intricate stud pattern behind the existing panel.  I'd pretty much have to rip out a 4' section and redo it to make the access large enough to handle a 200A panel.


Adding additional circuits to an upgraded panel will require an act of God due to the finished basement construction.  There are no raceways for additional circuits.






Based on this, my thoughts were to create a new 200A main panel outside based on something like the GE model TSM420CSCUP loadcenter.  Here's a shot of this panel:






This particular panel has room for three 2-pole breakers in addition to the 200A mains.  I'd add a 100A 2-pole breaker for the existing panel, with the other two reserved for the garage/solar expansions.



The issue with the contractors who have quoted the job appears to be the conduit going to the existing panel.  I'm not sure what's wrong with it but it is apparently not compliant with current code.  Obviously the bonding needs to change, new grounding electrodes need to be driven, and a water pipe ground needs to be established to the new main panel, but what else is required?



I'd like to throughly research all the code considerations here so I can approach a contractor from a more knowledgable perspective then determine the best way to perform this upgrade.  Due to POCO coordination and the need to cut household power for the duration of the job, I have no desire to DIY this one...



So what exactly is wrong with the conduit running from the existing meter base to the existing load center?  Why is everybody telling me that I can't do essentially what I've described above?  What are the relevant code sections that will apply to this job?  Should I be chatting with my AHJ about local considerations now or should I wait until I have the code requirements down pat (assuming the latter here)?
      

My brother-in-law has a Coleman 8750 Watt portable generator with a 13hp Honda engine.  Worked fine for a couple of years and then all of a sudden it wouldn't provide any voltage at the outlets.  So he called up Coleman and they said the problem was probably a $50 control board.  So he ordered one and installed it.  This temporarily fixed the genset but after an hour or so the electric quit again.  So it appears something is causing the control boards to go bad.  Any idea what could be causing this?
      

I have a 1/3 horse sump pump. I've read it uses 1300-2900 starting watts (or I guess that means surge watts)



The generator I can get is for $140 and has 1400 peak watts and 1200 continuous. Now this will only be used to power the sump pump when power goes out.



Is it powerful enough? I have no way of testing it out prior to buying.



Its this brand, but a lower end model.



http://toronto.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-s...AdIdZ357888894



the above model is sold out.



thoughts?
      

I have a grounding question.  I am installing 400a service to my new home.  We ran 350MCM wire underground thru 3" conduit from the 2ndary terminal (moped) to the house into a 320A Cooper B-Line meter.  From the meter we ran 2 sets of 4/0-4/0-2/0 thru the wall to 2-200a breaker panels ("standard practice", according to my electrical supplier).  The ground wire (#4Cu bare) from the grounding rods comes up from the ground and we're curious if there has to be a special splice connecting the ground wire to each breaker panel or can we run thru one breaker panel to then next, say by connecting the ground wire to a ground bus on one panel and running that thru to the next with #4Cu bare or #6Cu in conductor.  Different electricians are suggesting different methods and the electrical inspector is unsure, but seems to be leaning towards the "special splice". Any feedback would be appreciated.