Easy Generator Plug Setup for Power Outages DIY
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- Опубликовано: 8 фев 2025
- This is a easy way to set up your generator for emergency power outages for powering the basic essentials without doing a expensive whole home backup generator. Just install a 30 amp plug box on the outside of your house, wire into your panel box and install a generator interlock kit in your panel box. Easy to do it yourself. No more tripping over cords going in through your door in the dead of winter! A lot safer too ;-)
here is a list of items to check out if you want to do this project. Be sure to get items that fits your specific panel, like for correct amp size, indoor or outdoor, and brand.
bit.ly/Generat... generator interlock kits
bit.ly/30ampDo... 30 amp double pole breakers
bit.ly/Generat... 30 amp Generator inlet box
bit.ly/Generat... 30 amp power extension cords
bit.ly/WireStri... wire strippers
bit.ly/10-3wire 10-3 wire
bit.ly/romexCo... romex connectors
bit.ly/Generat... generators with 240v plug
Make sure it does 30 amps and is sized big enough for the appliances you want to run.
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I hope you enjoyed this video. Thanks for watching!
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Watched over 15 videos related to generator hook up and almost was about to quit until i watched this here. You are the best... thorough, logical, sequential and consequential, with simple and detailed explanations. Excellent video! THANK YOU!
Wow thanks so much! I appreciate you letting me know. I’m glad it was helpful.
I watch lots of your videos, you are a smart guy! Im going to attempt a garage this year and a house next year. The building seems like the easy part. The water and the lines, having the right run. The power, and everything hooked up right and working right seems like the hard part. Idk. No one is gonna build it for me. So, im the guy. LOL. Wish me luck.
Thank you I appreciate you letting me know! Good luck with everything. I hope it goes well. I’ll keep sharing my garage build as I get time to go thru the footage. Thanks again.
Smart Easy DIY
Great video. Thanks!!! Also, big big KUDOS to your wife for all the hard work, canning all that food. Wow!!! Good work ethic must run in the family. Plus, really nice pantry. Gonna watch that video next. Thanks again!! :)
Thank you so much!! Yes my wife is a really hard worker and a great cook which includes canning. 😊 thanks again.
Thanks for this video. I have my generator, but had to run extension cords…. This seems like a much better way to keep the power. Thanks again.
Yes I think it’s a nice option to not have to run a bunch of cords. Thanks!
Nice work!! That is a much cheaper solution than mine that achieves the same result. I moved the loads I wanted to power with my generator from the main panel to a dedicated sub-panel with an interlock/transfer switch. Cost was a heck of a lot more than your interlock, but I freed up room in the main panel (it was full anyhow) and the other advantage is the main power switch can stay on, so you will know when the power comes back on. You can power quite a bit of stuff with a portable if you budget your power correctly, know your loads and (very importantly) balance the loads as evenly as possible across and "A" and "B" hot legs on the generator. I did not know these simpler interlocks existed, thanks for showing them to us!
You’re welcome. Thanks for sharing your experience.
I had no idea, now I can move forward, buy the componants & hook it up. I appreciate yer time & effort..to help us.
You’re welcome I’m glad if it was helpful!
A great narrative kind Sir. I just got mine mostly done. The generator has 50 AMP and 30 AMP, and that made it great. Because I have an in-shop that has another electric panel. So the 50 A goes to the house panel and the shop gets the 30 A panel. Thus two big cable. 10 Gauge for the 30 A and 6 gauge for the 50 A.
But the generator can ONLY provide a maximum of 50 AMPS in any case. But that's OK, because we do not use any where 50 Amps in our place. So I bought two "generator interlock kits". And as you said, there are many different kits for this. Since my generator has remote start and stop features; there is no need to go out and start the Generator. We do it inside the house. That is great.
Also, I have natural Gas, so I added a NG adapter to let us use it. So the ONLY thing I have to do; when the power goes off; is to turn OFF the "Main Circuit" and turn ON the 240 V circuits; from the Generator, at each panel. Then turn the generator ON; in an shed outside; with the remote "key" inside the house. And so it makes it almost a 100% "switch-over". Like "Generac" Generator systems, etc.
For what it's worth. Thanks for sharing your talents kind Sir, about Generators, with us.
Wow, that’s an amazing set up you have! Thanks for sharing your experience.
We have that same box but with screw on knockouts, we just paid $35** for it and $32** for the metal interlock piece, that’s WITH Tax.😎👍✅
Nice!
Nice work, neutral and ground both, perfect.
Thanks for the feedback Mike 👍
YOU NEED TO MAKE SURE YOUR GENERATOR HAS A FLOATING NEUTRAL SOME DO SOME DONT IF IT IS NOT A FLOATING NEUTRAL IT IS EASY TO MAKE IT ONE BUT IF U MAKE IT A FLOATING NEUTRAL U CAN'T RUN EXTENSION CORDS FLOATING NEUTRAL IS FOR CONNECTIIN TO UR HOME BINDED NEUTRAL IS NEEDED FOR EXTENSION CORDS AND PROBABLY RV SETUPS U CAN MAKE A BONDED NEUTRAL PLUG CHEAP EASY OR BUY ONE U PLUG IT IN 110 SOCKET THEN U CAN USE EXTENSION CORDS RESEARCH THIS VERY VERY IMPORTANT RIGHT HERE ON U TUBE IM NOT AN ELECTRICIAN BUT I HAVE BEEN THROUGH ALL THIS YOU ARE CORRECT ON WHAT U DID I DID IT ALSO DID IT FOR MY SONS TOO MY GENERATOR WAS FLOATING NEUTRAL FACTORY his was bonded and had to be converted it just involves removing a wire.
Very well explained! 👍🏻
Thanks!
Great video! Very informative. Could you hypothetically plug an RV cord into that outlet and run it to an RV and run the RV through the same outlet?
Thank you. I’m not actually sure about that.
It's a great setup you have there I'd kind of did the same thing but I decided to put all of my essential circuits that I would use during a power outage on its own subpanel
Great thinking! Did you do that during when you built or added it later?
@@SmartEasyDIYer did it later on because the house I'm living in belonged to my parents the gave it to me back in 2014
Oh ok. Very cool. You probably can still only put on so many circuits at a time? Depends on your generator input probably.
Very nice video and practical
Thank you!
Circuit breaker can be top left. It depends on the interlock switch you use
Ok yeah I could see that it could depend on what you use.
Very good bro. Thanks for sharing.
You’re welcome
There’s a guy here in the Houston area whose been offering to install these since we had our statewide blackout in February.
Wow that’s really great!
Great video
Thank you!
Does a 10/3 Romex with bare ground OK ? 2 Hot , 1 nuetral- 10 AwG and 4th conductor bare ground.
Yes I think that should work.
I'm confused on why when you moved the circuit breaker down you didn't need to connect the neutral or ground. Can someone explain?
The neutral and ground are already hooked up. With moving the breaker the only thing you’re moving down is your power wire that’s attached to the breaker. Unless you have a arc fault, or a ground fault breaker you might have white or green pigtail wires coming off the breaker, but usually they are coiled up so they have extra length to move around some. If they aren’t, you might have to reroute those or lengthen them to reach.
Thank you for clarifying! I over thought that one for sure.
You’re welcome. Good luck with yours.
Nice video,thank you!
Thanks Devin!
Is this code compliant in all 50 states? And is this set up considered to be a transfer switch in theory or is that a different kind of set up?
I’m guessing some states will vary a little bit. It’s best to check in your local area. I don’t think it’s considered a transfer switch, technically.
My generator is 12,000 starting watts, 9,500 running watts. Is it safe to use this 30 amp inlet plug with my generator?
I believe so. Does it have a 30 amp plug on the generator?
@@SmartEasyDIYer …..yes it does.
Ok it should be good for it then. 👍
i would probably use a 50 Amp, instead of 30, your generator is very powerful, that's what I did on mine.
Great informational video, we have just one question. Would it be the same process if we were using our 50 amp outlet on our generator instead of our 30 amp?
Thank you. Yes I believe it would be the same process. As long as you have the 50 amp breaker, plug, and box and your wire is rated for 50 amps.
@@SmartEasyDIYer thank you, we kinda thought so.
You’re welcome. Good luck with it!
@@intheoutdoorswith4seasonsf yes, use 6/3 wire
I have the same set up But my plug is a female 4 pin connector on the wall on the other side of the main panel on the inside , is it possible to run male to male 4 pin connectors wire to it from the Generator The generator is also a female plug.
Everything I’ve read about it is that it’s not a good idea as it can shock you in the case that it were live. With 240 that’d be really bad. Hooking up a generator you’d most likely plug it in before power and unplug it after it’s turned off. Still you’d probably have to make your own if you really want one. I’d recommend changing the plug in the house to a male instead.
Could u use a 40 amp breaker to power more of the panel?
You could but it wouldn’t help anything if all your generator can do is 30 amps.
Holy cow, what is all that stuff in the jars??
Canned and dehydrated food. 😊
Does it matter if the Is the generator is bonded neutral or floating neutral with this setup?
I don’t believe so but that would be a good question for a generator electrician to be sure.
Do you live in an area that has mountain lions? In your video at the 35-36 second mark check out the window reflection.
Hah we do actually but I see what you mean I looked closely and I believe it is a house cat that we had!
So this kit only contains the plate and screws...for $32?
Yes I believe so. It’s just the lockout kit. No breaker etc.
AND a certification label saying it's NEC compliant to some degree......the metal is worth $5.....the cert....more....espeically if you want to fab some sheet metal yourself that does exactly the same but for some reason your house end up burns down..... go for the $32 store-bought unit.
Question can I use SO cable as it's typically stranded wire ( I think)
I’m actually not sure how that compares. That would be a good question for a store like Platt electric or maybe if you have a electrician friend.
@@SmartEasyDIYer Thanks, nice video ....
Thank you! 👍
Don't think you have an option on the 10/3. If you're doing this to code, you have to have a 4th ground wire.
Yeah, you would still have a ground wire either way, but not a neutral with only 10/3.
I didn’t see if you made any effort to balance the heavier loads, like the freezer, between the red & black legs.
I’m not quite sure what you mean by balancing the load?
Good
Thank you
Is it a good idea to put a ground rod into the ground and tie the generator to it
It certainly can’t hurt. Mine does have a spot where you can ground it if you want they probably all do.
Gone need a generator in a few hours if the solar flare hits the U.S
Good timing 👍😁
Bro. Where can you find a wife like yours that loves to can? Your pantry is life goals!! Great job!! But seriously....any advice on where to find a woman like that?
Thank you I appreciate it! I don’t have good advice in that regard but I’d say get to know some good country women that know what it’s like to live out in rural areas they’re the best 😊
His wifes' sister, 😉
Actually she’s total opposite 😬
@@SmartEasyDIYer🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@SmartEasyDIYer😂😂😂😂
Would you like to test generator inlet box ?
I have the 30 amp one I used in this video.
@@SmartEasyDIYer if possible to test another one ?
@@SmartEasyDIYer if possible to make a short video?
Easy uh??? Maybe in concept but not in execution
With a little planning it’s not too bad. All depends on your setup, mine was right outside the wall of the inside panel so that helped a lot.
I just save money and not install this. Just leave a sticky note not to turn breaker on, or Red Tag it like the truck shops do!
It works this is just the safest way to make it fool proof.
Also it wouldn’t pass inspection without the interlock if you sell the house.
You may also have problems with insurance if a claim is involved.
lol 🌟💗
🙌👊