carys98
Well-known member
- First Name
- Cary
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2022
- Threads
- 24
- Messages
- 625
- Reaction score
- 921
- Location
- Raleigh, NC
- Vehicles
- 2023 Lightning Lariat SR
- Thread starter
- #1
This past weekend I installed a Generac 6852 transfer switch to power my house from the pro power 240V plug. The 6852 is designed for a bonded neutral generator so it works perfectly with the Lightning.
My main electrical panel is at the meter base. In the main panel there are the maximum 6 breakers feeding 3 AC units, the oven, and 2 sub-panels. There is a 125A sub-panel in my garage that supplies most of the house and a second 90A sub-panel for a finished room on the third floor. I connected the Generac switch to the garage sub-panel.
The 6852 has slots for up to 8 breakers so you can supply 8 branch circuits. You can theoretically have more if you want to use tandem breakers. Because of the bonded neutral you have to route both the hot and the neutral from the chosen circuits to the switch panel so you end up with 16 wires plus the 4 feeding the grid power to the switch. The panel is supplied with 1" conduit and it ends up pretty full.
I have gas heat, hot water, and stove so there aren't any high current essential circuits. I chose to power the refrigerator, my two gas furnaces, plus 6 branch circuits. I made sure to power the circuits for my internet equipment, the TV, all of the bathroom lights, plus the bedrooms.
My garage panel is mounted between the studs in a finished wall. The switch panel will also fit between studs but because of a door the two studs next to my panel are only 11 inches apart. I had to mount the switch on the wall and then get the wires into the wall to feed into the sub-panel. I cut out the drywall and drilled through the stud to access the sub-panel. I then put a deep 4" box with 1" flex into the sub-panel. After patching the drywall I mounted the switch above the box and ran the wiring through a right angle into the box and pulled them into the sub-panel.
To feed the grid input to the switch I installed a 50A dual pole breaker into my sub-panel and connected the two hots and neutral to the switch input and then connected the two grounds together. I also ran a separate ground wire to ground the 4" box. Then I removed each of the 8 hot leads from their breakers and labeled them. I located the associated neutrals for the 8 circuits and disconnected them from the sub-panel neutral bar. Then I connected each hot to one of the breakers in the switch panel and connected each of the neutrals to one of the neutral wires from the switch panel.
The last step was to connect the power inlet for the truck power. I ended up buying a Reliance inlet box with the L14-30 inlet connector. I mounted it below the switch and routed PVC conduit to the box. I then pulled the 4 10 gauge conductors through the conduit and terminated them on the inlet and on the generator side of the switch.
I bought a 25' extension cord to reach from the back of my truck to the back wall of my garage and turned on the pro power. I switched over to generator power and it ran with no issue. The only significant load was the refrigerator but I verified that all of the circuits were powered. Now I'm looking forward to our next power outage.
My main electrical panel is at the meter base. In the main panel there are the maximum 6 breakers feeding 3 AC units, the oven, and 2 sub-panels. There is a 125A sub-panel in my garage that supplies most of the house and a second 90A sub-panel for a finished room on the third floor. I connected the Generac switch to the garage sub-panel.
The 6852 has slots for up to 8 breakers so you can supply 8 branch circuits. You can theoretically have more if you want to use tandem breakers. Because of the bonded neutral you have to route both the hot and the neutral from the chosen circuits to the switch panel so you end up with 16 wires plus the 4 feeding the grid power to the switch. The panel is supplied with 1" conduit and it ends up pretty full.
I have gas heat, hot water, and stove so there aren't any high current essential circuits. I chose to power the refrigerator, my two gas furnaces, plus 6 branch circuits. I made sure to power the circuits for my internet equipment, the TV, all of the bathroom lights, plus the bedrooms.
My garage panel is mounted between the studs in a finished wall. The switch panel will also fit between studs but because of a door the two studs next to my panel are only 11 inches apart. I had to mount the switch on the wall and then get the wires into the wall to feed into the sub-panel. I cut out the drywall and drilled through the stud to access the sub-panel. I then put a deep 4" box with 1" flex into the sub-panel. After patching the drywall I mounted the switch above the box and ran the wiring through a right angle into the box and pulled them into the sub-panel.
To feed the grid input to the switch I installed a 50A dual pole breaker into my sub-panel and connected the two hots and neutral to the switch input and then connected the two grounds together. I also ran a separate ground wire to ground the 4" box. Then I removed each of the 8 hot leads from their breakers and labeled them. I located the associated neutrals for the 8 circuits and disconnected them from the sub-panel neutral bar. Then I connected each hot to one of the breakers in the switch panel and connected each of the neutrals to one of the neutral wires from the switch panel.
The last step was to connect the power inlet for the truck power. I ended up buying a Reliance inlet box with the L14-30 inlet connector. I mounted it below the switch and routed PVC conduit to the box. I then pulled the 4 10 gauge conductors through the conduit and terminated them on the inlet and on the generator side of the switch.
I bought a 25' extension cord to reach from the back of my truck to the back wall of my garage and turned on the pro power. I switched over to generator power and it ran with no issue. The only significant load was the refrigerator but I verified that all of the circuits were powered. Now I'm looking forward to our next power outage.
