Generac 6852 Transfer Switch installed (to power my house from the Pro Power 240V plug)

[Henry Ford]

Here is a tip for anyone wondering. The “switch” and “indicator light” only work when the HomeLink sees generator power. This causes issues when you don’t realize this and are trying to test for ground faults but also want to isolate to generator power

There's a small lever that came with the switch that allows you to manually throw the switch without power. Sorry, I should have mentioned that. It's not spelled out well in the installation manual.

I'm glad you figured it out!

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[wautard1]

There's a small lever that came with the switch that allows you to manually throw the switch without power. Sorry, I should have mentioned that. It's not spelled out well in the installation manual.

I'm glad you figured it out!

Good point. I knew about that lever. However, I did notice that the mechanism that switches the source didn’t work without a generator source to first initialize the mechanism. I noticed this because I used the lever to put the unit in generator mode for testing for the ground fault but even without any neutrals connected I was getting continuity between the neutral bar and ground bar. Figured out it was coming from the main neutral connection from my panel, even when in generator position. Really threw me for a loop.

Anyway, I hope this discussion helps others.

 

[Lightning Rod]

Mine will often fault when the solenoid fires to throw the switch. If I reset it then it runs fine. It will even fault when I throw the switch to go back to grid power. I think the solenoid is inducing enough voltage on the ground to cause the fault. Have you tried resetting the ProPower after the switch is complete? If that doesn’t fix it then double check that you picked the correct neutrals to match the breakers you moved. I have two circuits that enter my panel through the same strain relief and when I trace them I picked the wrong neutral the first time. It can be confusing trying to trace out the white wires in a crowded panel.

So, they rewired the neutrals and it took them a while to figure which went where and some were tied into other circuits but the finally were successful! It now works to power my circuits. I did get a ground fault at the beginning and had to reset, just like you said. We tested it several times and had to reset at the truck, but each time it worked like a charm after the reset.

They have my central AC wired into the TS but I was hesitant to do it and sure enough, we tried powering up the AC and the compressor turned on for about 5 seconds before the truck kicked it out. So, I will buy a portable AC unit for next summer and have it for maybe our bedroom for really hot summer day blackout situations.

Thanks for all of your advice!

 

[wiffleballpractice]

They have my central AC wired into the TS but I was hesitant to do it and sure enough, we tried powering up the AC and the compressor turned on for about 5 seconds before the truck kicked it out.

Can you provide any details on the specs of your central AC? I'm considering whether to wire up our small basement AC in a similar setup to yours, but I'm worried it will have the same issue.

 

[kdlohry]

I'm thinking of using a lightning in a similar situation, but have the following questions:
1. I have a pump that draws 7Kw (30A - 240V (peak) that I would like to power from the bed (as Sean did) but would also like to draw 2.4Kw (120v) from the inverter in the frunk for some minimal appliances. Has anyone done this?
2. It looks like the maximum power out of the Pro model is 2.4kw. Is that the case? I may have to get the XLT model with Pro Power onboard to get the full 9.6Kw.

 

[bmwhitetx]

I may have to get the XLT model with Pro Power onboard to get the full 9.6Kw.

Pro Power Onboard 9.6 kW is available as a $1200 option on the Pro as well. See Order Guide/Price List.

 

[Fastnf]

I'm thinking of using a lightning in a similar situation, but have the following questions:
1. I have a pump that draws 7Kw (30A - 240V (peak) that I would like to power from the bed (as Sean did) but would also like to draw 2.4Kw (120v) from the inverter in the frunk for some minimal appliances. Has anyone done this?
2. It looks like the maximum power out of the Pro model is 2.4kw. Is that the case? I may have to get the XLT model with Pro Power onboard to get the full 9.6Kw.

I can confirm that the Pro trim can be optioned with the 9.6 kw pro power onboard as that is what I have on my Pro.

Yes it is possible to run a 240 volt pump off of the 7.2 kw rear inverter. I have run my 240 volt well pump off mine while using the front 2.4 kw inverter to run other 120volt circuits. Your main concern will be whether the starting surge on the pump is to much for the inverter. If not you shouldn't have any problem.

 

[Maquis]

I'm thinking of using a lightning in a similar situation, but have the following questions:
1. I have a pump that draws 7Kw (30A - 240V (peak) that I would like to power from the bed (as Sean did) but would also like to draw 2.4Kw (120v) from the inverter in the frunk for some minimal appliances. Has anyone done this?
2. It looks like the maximum power out of the Pro model is 2.4kw. Is that the case? I may have to get the XLT model with Pro Power onboard to get the full 9.6Kw.

Depending on the design of the pump and its controls, it may not start up on ProPower.

 

[kdlohry]

Thanks, I assume the frunk and bed use separate inverters, so there is most likely no way I could put the two together to get 9.6KW? Has anyone checked the phase of the frunk versus the bed outlets? Because if they used just one inverter (for both frunk and bed), then I might be able to combine them to get 9.6KW or 40A @ 240V...

 

[Maquis]

Thanks, I assume the frunk and bed use separate inverters, so there is most likely no way I could put the two together to get 9.6KW? Has anyone checked the phase of the frunk versus the bed outlets? Because if they used just one inverter (for both frunk and bed), then I might be able to combine them to get 9.6KW or 40A @ 240V...

They are separate inverters. No way to combine the outputs.

 

[Newton]

Note that according to the instructions, if you do have a multiwire branch circuit, both circuits must be moved to the transfer panel and must be adjacent to each other (to put them on separate legs). This will eat up two of the eight full-sized breaker slots.

 

[BhamDCam]

The problem is there's a neutral touching ground somewhere when the switch is in the Generator Power position. It's that simple. You need to figure out where that is happening.

Adding to this in case it helps someone else. I had an electrician install this setup and everything worked great. I went to test it out a few weeks later and kept getting the ground fault error on the truck. This simple statement quoted above was what I kept coming back to. Two circuits on the transfer switch were the issue. All said, I replaced one circuit with another (that gave us more utility anyway) and the other circuit I discovered was causing the fault when certain outlets were used.

I also learned that I had to modify how I “start up” the truck’s power. Here’s what I have to do with my setup when the power goes out:
- Plug truck in
- Switch OFF all 8 circuits on the transfer switch (having everything on at once was tripping the truck)
- Turn PPO on
- Switch the 8 transfer switch circuits ON one at a time

Worked like a charm! I’ve got all our critical circuits and our heater/furnace (natural gas) on the transfer switch. With everything on I did some rough math and figured that if we used 75% of the truck’s battery we could last about 4 days. More if we rationed. The longest power outage we’ve had over the years was about 15 hours.

This truck is amazing.

Very thankful for this forum. I have learned a ton here!

 

[Lightning Rod]

Adding to this in case it helps someone else. I had an electrician install this setup and everything worked great. I went to test it out a few weeks later and kept getting the ground fault error on the truck. This simple statement quoted above was what I kept coming back to. Two circuits on the transfer switch were the issue. All said, I replaced one circuit with another (that gave us more utility anyway) and the other circuit I discovered was causing the fault when certain outlets were used.

I also learned that I had to modify how I “start up” the truck’s power. Here’s what I have to do with my setup when the power goes out:
- Plug truck in
- Switch OFF all 8 circuits on the transfer switch (having everything on at once was tripping the truck)
- Turn PPO on
- Switch the 8 transfer switch circuits ON one at a time

Worked like a charm! I’ve got all our critical circuits and our heater/furnace (natural gas) on the transfer switch. With everything on I did some rough math and figured that if we used 75% of the truck’s battery we could last about 4 days. More if we rationed. The longest power outage we’ve had over the years was about 15 hours.

This truck is amazing.

Very thankful for this forum. I have learned a ton here!

I had the same issue. The truck would ground fault trip when I switched to generator power. All I had to do was go out to truck and tap the reset button on the screen. After that, the backup seemed to work great. I had to do this on several tests. I'm still waiting for an actual outage to see it in real-time action.

 

[carys98]

Adding to this in case it helps someone else. I had an electrician install this setup and everything worked great. I went to test it out a few weeks later and kept getting the ground fault error on the truck. This simple statement quoted above was what I kept coming back to. Two circuits on the transfer switch were the issue. All said, I replaced one circuit with another (that gave us more utility anyway) and the other circuit I discovered was causing the fault when certain outlets were used.

I also learned that I had to modify how I “start up” the truck’s power. Here’s what I have to do with my setup when the power goes out:
- Plug truck in
- Switch OFF all 8 circuits on the transfer switch (having everything on at once was tripping the truck)
- Turn PPO on
- Switch the 8 transfer switch circuits ON one at a time

Worked like a charm! I’ve got all our critical circuits and our heater/furnace (natural gas) on the transfer switch. With everything on I did some rough math and figured that if we used 75% of the truck’s battery we could last about 4 days. More if we rationed. The longest power outage we’ve had over the years was about 15 hours.

This truck is amazing.

Very thankful for this forum. I have learned a ton here!

The solenoid seems to induce enough current in the ground to trip the ground fault. I’ve also seen it trip when I switch back to grid power. Like @Lightning Rod says above you just need to reset it.

 

[BhamDCam]

Yeah, it does trip when I turn Main power back on. Not entirely sure why though.

Edit: I’ve never looked forward to a power outage until now. Joking…slightly.

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