# Generator To House?



## The Teke's

I have been searching all night and am at my wits end. 
When our house was built, I had the contractor install a Emergen switch (emergency back up power panel). 
I recently bought a generator for the camper and went with the Champion 4000/3500 one with the RV plug. Well, with a huge winter storm brewing I figured it was time to go get an extension cord to connect the two. On the house is a 4 prong locking plug. On the generator, it has three different plugs. One is an RV plug(3 prong) one is a regular 120v plug like whats on the wall of the house, and the last one is 120v three prong, kinda looks like whats on the cloths drier but smaller. They are all *female* ends. I went to the hardware store and got 10-4 wire and 2 different plugs. A 4 prong male to go into the house, and a 3 prong male travel trailer plug to go into the generator. Since you can tell I am expert when it comes to electrical







I figured I'd better do some research on how to hook up a 4 wire cord to a 3 plug switch and find out that there really isn't a whole lot of info out there to do this. I've read that a double male extension cord is a major no no. Why? 
If anyone out there could explain what I do with this extra wire it sure would make my life a whole lot simpler. And save me from telling the wife that we need to go out and buy a new honda generator just to run the house on.









Thanks
signed: Almost in the dark


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## Calvin&Hobbes

Hang in there- I'm sure someone will jump in with more knowledge than I......


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## CamperAndy

The double male cord is called a suicide cord due to having exposed metal ends that could be hot when disconnecting the cord. You have little choice but to use one but you can if you use some care. Ideally you would have a reccessed male plug on the house with an adjacent disconnect switch, not a female plug. Similar to the following link

Safe disconnect switch

The 4 hole connector plug on the house will be 240 vac and the 3 hole connector on the generator is 120 vac. You will only be able to power half the circuits in your house with that generator and no 240 vac appliances like dryer or stove.


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## hautevue

1. 240 at the house and 120 from the generator can lead to fun problems, like blowing out stuff. You have to wire it right, and the above writer was correct--your system will be screwy--you'll be putting 120 on one side of the 240 volt circuits, and I don't know what your air conditioner compressors will think about that. Air conditioners have crankcase heaters. If they are designed for 240 volts and you apply 120 to them, you might have created an expensive repair problem. New compressors, installed, run over $1000.
And the oven will not like it, either.

2. You have to have a cutoff at the main electrical panel when you want to put power into your home from a generator. The reason is that, electricity, being stupid, will flow through your inside lines to your main panel, and go backwards out through the meter and into the utility company's power lines.

There the voltage will be stepped up at the nearest transformer, and you now will have about 1300 volts on the high line.

The utility repair men know that downstream of the break, is dead. Right? NO! You've made it hot and can kill someone.

So you absolutely, positively have to have a disconnect at the house to prevent backcircuits. Killing your main circuit breaker will work, but you have to be certain that you do that. The electrical code requires a switching device that can have either the utility company line power, or your generator power, feed the house, but not both. And it electrically separates the incoming line from the house panel when you flip the transfer switch. The code makes a lot of sense.

3. The reason for never having a male plug on an extension cord was stated above--those metal prongs become electrically hot. It's dangerous to fool around with that. One slip and zap. That's why the shore power cord from the TT has prongs: because the hot socket into which it's plugged is a socket. The TT shore power cable has no power in it when you're moving it around. The prongs are dead. They pick up power from inside the socket into which they are plugged. Thus the prongs are always hidden when "hot" or alive.

If you need a shore power extension cord, you plug your TT end into a female socket, and the male end of the extension cord now goes into the female socket, just as your regular TT shore power cable does.

You probably should rethink hooking your generator into that 240 volt outlet and hire an electrician. Better to be safe than regretting what happens.


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## jozway

Double check to make sure that last plug on the generator isnt 20 amp 240 volt. If it is that is the one you want to use. Im quessing it is.


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## johnp

I would double check the plug on the house it should be a recessed male four prong twistlock. That is what you would install with that type of transfer switch if not your electrician made a huge mistake. As jozway said you should also have at least one 20amp 120/240 4 wire twistlock. If you can't do it the right way please don't try to make it work. Yes I can tell you many ways to make it work none of which are legal or safe unless you do this everyday like a few of us.







I won't get into how the 4000w Onan on my rv runs my house. lol


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## Dub

Last year my neighbor hooked up his generator to his house through the dryer plug and forgot to shutoff his main. When they got the power back on a couple days later he came home to find a dead generator as well as every appliance in his house burned up. Insurance wouldn't pay since he didn't follow code and use a cutoff style changeover switch. Expensive mistake and it could have killed a lineman.


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## The Teke's

Ding, Ding, Ding!
johnp hit it on the head. The "electrician made a huge mistake". From the manual transfer switch to the box were I would plug into, there is an extension cord that is double female. Which in turn would make me have to use a "suicide cord". Wouldn't ya think the inspector would have caught this? It would have saved me a lot of grief. 
I've come to the conclusion that the Champion generator was not the greatest deal when I bought it. It doesn't have a 120/240 twist lock. Only set up for 120v. 
I guess if the power goes out during this storm I'll just run an extension cord off the generator. So glad I paid the extra $ to have a back up system installed.
Thanks everyone.


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## dirtengineer

There is a similar conversation over at the Yahoo Honda EU2000i generator group that might be of use.

Clicky.


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## egregg57

I just saw this thread. I have conduit that runs from my Generator switch box out to a receptacle on the side of the house near generator house. There is a male connector in this receptacle. The supplied 120V 30 Amp, twist lock Plug (Supplied :Came with generator) connects to the generator and to the receptacle on the side of the house. I am not sure if that helps any more than what you already know now.

Depending on the size of your generator (Wattage) and what you have in your home, you may want to consider keeping on only what you need. Shutting off circuits you are not actively using. Be aware that a lot of electric water heaters have 2 elements that can draw 2400 watts just keeping the water warm. Water pumps, furnace, sumps etc can also draw significant loads. This results in a low power condition and can damage electronic, electrical items in your home.

I have done a few things to manage this. The water heater is a thermos of sorts. It will hold hot water for a long time. after showers etc, shut off that circuit, or at the water heater disconnect one element. This will save half the normal wattage used. Freezers and refrigerators will also hold temps for good lengths of time. Cycle them off several times during the day.

At night disconnect the water pump and other loads leaving the heat, sump(s) water heater, and some lights available. Or however you like. Reducing the load on the generator will help to preserve it, provides ample power for the things that need it and will save a bit of fuel. If my generator is running wide open (7800 watts) with a full load it will last about 10 hours.

The last 2 years, managing the things in the house that were on got me 2-3 hours extra time.

Also! If you are running gasoline, find out where the nearest gas station is that uses a back up generator in case of a power failure!!

two years ago we had an Ice Storm that shut the area down for a week. after 2 days I needed gas for my truck and my generator. After my heart being in my throat for 30 minutes (as I rode on something way below E) I found one...Whew!

Eric


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