Thank you. I didn't mention it in the video, but just in case I'll say it here. Be sure that the L1 to L2 connection is made in the cable that connects to the generator. If you make the connection anywhere else, there's the possibility of L1 and L2 being connected while a 240v power source is hooked up. And a 240v short circuit would get spicy!

@@ElQuesoGuapowhat do you mean

Could you please make a video showing how to jumper the plug to be able to supply 120 to both legs of the house? Theoretically energizing all 120 circuit in the house. Thanks.

Time for some tandem breakers!

I agree. I have that 120v unit because I bought it first, for use with my trailer which required 120 v 30 amp service. The generator was perfectly matched for that. Then Uri happened, and I decided to add a generator hookup to the house. I can't justify a new generator yet. But if I was buying one now, I'd go with a 240v 50 amp inverter unit.

@@ElQuesoGuapo Ah, I get that now. I am in Austin and after the big freeze I put in an interlock and got a Champion 6250 inverter generator. All of my neighbors (and even my girlfriend) thought I was over-reacting, but during the recent ice storm, the power was off in my neighborhood for 2.5 days and there were only two houses in the entire neighborhood with power, the woman across the street that spent $16,000 on a stand by generator, and my house. As soon as the power came back, I had five different neighbors come to me and ask me what I was using. Three of them have already bought 5000 watt inverter generators and they are all getting interlocks and inlets put in. They realize they may never need it, but after two long outages in two years, they think it is worth having a generator as insurance. That was exactly what I thought when I set mine up 2 years ago, and I have already had to run mine 4 times.

Actually he is set up to feed 240, but if you have a "small" generator, and don't need to feed anything 240, then using 120 is more efficient. I say that because you don't have to balance the generator by leg....only balance by total load. You can feed a 240 inlet box by splitting the 120 output using a conversion cord.

I agree with you and not sure about the video creator but I got a 3600/4500 peak 120v Westinghouse with handle and wheel kit for sale on Amazon brand new for $273 so I did similar to him.. bought 10awg sheathed wire, an inlet box. 30A breaker and interlock. I had to relocate a few breakers since 120v only runs 1 bar but I have about 90% of my house lights, both my fridges for an outage. NOW where it sucks is that in NW TN there's no natural gas so my water heater and stove are electric which sucks.. i can throw on layers of blankets or run multiple fans if needed but mainly lights and keeping food cold work for me.. Hell if i really needed to cook i have a gas stove and I could also run my pellet electric smoker as an oven if need be.. anyways i get your comment but that is why I have 120V instead and I really saw some of the downsize but hell for around $400 with generator, wire, inlet, breaker and interlock kit to sustain my whole house I aint complaining 😂😂 My old house out in CA I had nothing with the exception of led lights gas lanterns etc for lighting and weather wasn't a huge concern. If i really needed I have a 300w inverter that connects to a car battery but I am a lot more equipped now and I have been in an outage in CA for 3 days but a little planning can go a long way tbh

Ground conductor is not normally supposed to carry current. If the neutral is connected to ground in more than one place then neutral current would be shared between the neutral conductor and the ground conductor.

Tell me more about this "conversion" cord please?

@@RandomStuff-zt6qf Search: NEMA TT-30P to L14-30R Adapter Cord, 30 Amp 3 Prong to 4 Prong Generator Plug Adapter, Generator Transfer Switch Adapter, Generator to House Inlet Box It takes the 120V generator output, and feeds it to both 120V legs of the house. So the house is 120V single phase...and nothing 240V will work...but everything 120v will work.

No kidding. I dont understand why someone would go to the trouble of making this video and not cover a critical part of the process.

I'm trying to say this without being rude, but I'm probably going to fail. If you're not sure how to connect two pins together inside a plug, you should not be attempting this. I'm not a professional electrician, and this isn't a HowTo video. That's why I didn't show myself building this. Instead I showed you the finished product, so that people can be aware that there's a right way and a wrong way to do this. And the wrong way can kill. If in doubt, hire a pro.

@@postal2451 heres another hack no one knows you can do. wire your 120v generator into your panel and run half your breakers on 120volt just make sure all your 240 volt breakers are off. So for example I know a guy to have a 3600kw 120 volt generator with 30 amp output plug. so this guy I know then made the sucide cord bypass by bying expensive complete contained insulated plug hit one end always stay in generator and other end is wired to the bottom right in the 200 amp panel in the house. via a single 30amp 120 volt breaker. He then rearanged all his 120volt breakers in a manner so that half the panel works so imagine looking inside the panel at the 2 columbs of breakers so if the bottom right 30 am 120 volt from generator is on it will skip and not feed power to the next breaker up in line and then power the one after that and this alternates all the way up the panel and down the other side. being that the house has nautural gas furnace the 120v blower can be powered. As long as you maintain a low load on the circuits your good to go no running coffe makers and microwave at same time, Make sure all your 240volt breakers are off when doing this otherwise you will half fase your appliance like dryer and oven and possibly burn your house down or for sure destroy your wirring if those 240 volt devices are not off during generator use. The other draw back is you might have to move breaker positions and wires for what powers what to ensure you get power to the rooms you want it in. In an emergency outage that cAN last for days you really dont need all your loutlets and house lights to function. Choose wisely. I know a guy who has 3 main disconeects on property that can all be turned off for tripple safety. If you have a garage attached or not but it is close to house panel concider running the generator in the garage and bolt on a short run of good iron pipe to the muffler flange and run it out under the garage door keeping door cracked open a bit and installing a bolt latch for security of door for that height this way you keep your generator safe and more stealthy when in use. You could always just drill 1" diameter hole through garage wall footing insulate wwrap your pipe for heat and vent it out that way so you can keep your garage door shut completely. It wont run out of oxogen in a decent sized garage space. Keep a carbon monoxide detector or 2 mounted or placed low to the ground maybe one in the garage and one just inside the house for safety. I see this as an exelent way to power up the house in emergency or appocolipse. keep the windows and blinds shut and outside lighting off so no one driving by can easly tell you got power, or just live in the sticks like me, I mean " like this guy I know of ".

@@postal2451 heres another hack no one knows you can do. wire your 120v generator into your panel and run half your breakers on 120volt just make sure all your 240 volt breakers are off. So for example I know a guy to have a 3600kw 120 volt generator with 30 amp output plug. so this guy I know then made the sucide cord bypass by bying expensive complete contained insulated plug hit one end always stay in generator and other end is wired to the bottom right in the 200 amp panel in the house. via a single 30amp 120 volt breaker. He then rearanged all his 120volt breakers in a manner so that half the panel works so imagine looking inside the panel at the 2 columbs of breakers so if the bottom right 30 am 120 volt from generator is on it will skip and not feed power to the next breaker up in line and then power the one after that and this alternates all the way up the panel and down the other side. being that the house has nautural gas furnace the 120v blower can be powered. As long as you maintain a low load on the circuits your good to go no running coffe makers and microwave at same time, Make sure all your 240volt breakers are off when doing this otherwise you will half fase your appliance like dryer and oven and possibly burn your house down or for sure destroy your wirring if those 240 volt devices are not off during generator use. The other draw back is you might have to move breaker positions and wires for what powers what to ensure you get power to the rooms you want it in. In an emergency outage that cAN last for days you really dont need all your loutlets and house lights to function. Choose wisely. I know a guy who has 3 main disconeects on property that can all be turned off for tripple safety. If you have a garage attached or not but it is close to house panel concider running the generator in the garage and bolt on a short run of good iron pipe to the muffler flange and run it out under the garage door keeping door cracked open a bit and installing a bolt latch for security of door for that height this way you keep your generator safe and more stealthy when in use. You could always just drill 1" diameter hole through garage wall footing insulate wwrap your pipe for heat and vent it out that way so you can keep your garage door shut completely. It wont run out of oxogen in a decent sized garage space. Keep a carbon monoxide detector or 2 mounted or placed low to the ground maybe one in the garage and one just inside the house for safety. I see this as an exelent way to power up the house in emergency or appocolipse. keep the windows and blinds shut and outside lighting off so no one driving by can easly tell you got power, or just live in the sticks like me, I mean " like this guy I know of ".

Both legs are energized to 120 volts, but it doesn't create a 240 volt circuit. Voltage is a measurement of the difference in electric potential between two points. With this setup, both legs are 120 volts in comparison to the neutral. That's what all of your 120 volt equipment needs in order to run. In normal use, the two legs of the house panel would be 180 degrees out of phase with each other. When one leg is "pushing" electricity, the other is "pulling". That's how you get 240 volts from the pair of 120 volt legs. With this setup, both legs are at 120 volts with respect to ground, but they're at zero volts with respect to each other. Both legs are "pushing" at the same time, and both are "pulling" at the same time. The 240 volt equipment can't operate, because it's literally seeing zero volts. There's no change in the generator's output. It's still making 120 volts just like it always does.

crap, so my 240v water well pump probably won't work :/@@ElQuesoGuapo

It won't work at all. There's no voltage different between the two legs, so the 240v devices will see no volts at all.

yeah, I was going to mention that here as well. I have an Emporia energy monitor on my circuits, and I can see the realtime power draw of my furnace. It's a fairly modern, high efficiency gas unit. And you can see as it runs that it is set up to very gradually start up, in steps, maybe 100W at a time, until it gets up to full speed which is not more than 400W. Seems like it will be very gentle on a generator.

@@CurtisKlope The only thing you *may* have to do on the generator is to make sure it a bonded neutral. Some newer furnaces will not work if it's a floating neutral. Very easy adapter you can make. Get a three prong plug from homedepot, Attach a very short piece of 12 ga wire and tie the ground pin (the round one) to the neutral (the wider of the 2 prongs or the silver terminal) and it's done. Plug that in a spare plug on the generator or power strip. Search for neutral grounding plug and get one pre-made.

Good advice. My generator has a floating neutral, so it's in compliance.

Yes, you understand perfectly.

Thanks. It’s come time for me to do this to my house. My power is out for the 3rd time in a month. The consequences of living in a wooded area, lol

Yup! I did it in the cable from the generator to the house, so there's no chance of the jumper being in the circuit unless the generator is in use.

Hi. The parts list is in the video description.

Got it! Had to click “see more”. Thank you!

You are almost correct. The connection from 1 hot to 2 hots happens in Cable A. Since Cable A is only used with this generator, it's safer. If the connection from 1 hot to 2 hots happened in Cable B, it would be present even if a 240v generator was connected to the inlet panel. And that would create a dead short.

You have the inlet plug ready for 240V, so, that can happen in the Cable A, inside the plug. If the inlet plug isn’t ready for 240V, then it has to happen in Cable B inside the inlet box.

I am looking exactly what you did. The only difference in our situations were, you have a 240V ready inlet box, and I have a 120V only inlet box.

From the inlet box to the panel there are four wires. Two hots, a neutral and a ground. You've gotta have all four.

I’d put the inlet box as close to your panel as you can. Easier to run the wiring. Then a 50’ 10 gauge cord from your gen to the box.

@@jstins so your saying 50 feet is the max length of the wire or gen cord ? I need it to be 100 feet away . Would that be OK ? or 100 feet just to much ?

So far I'm happy with it. It doesn't get used that often, but it's been reliable. As with any small engine, the trick is to drain the carb before you store it. I haven't needed to use it to power my house yet, but it's nice to know that it's available if I need it.

Trying to find out myself, so far I've come to the conclusion it's nothing special, just run a jumper wire between both hots in the plug

No, that's too dangerous. The jumper is in the generator cord, so that it's only in place when I'm using that generator. Anyone modifying that cord to use a 240v generator would have to open the connector in order to add the fourth wire. They'd be forced to see the jumper and remove it.

Hi Mike, I'm guessing that you have a heat pump, which is basically an air conditioner running in reverse. Heat pumps need 240 volts and they draw a lot of amps, especially at startup. My furnace is gas, so it only needs 120 volts to run the blower and electronics. Take a look at the breaker for your heat pump. If it's 50 amps or less, then you can probably run it from your generator. The startup load is what generators cannot handle. And you might be able to take care of that with a soft start system for the compressor.

@@ElQuesoGuapo Hello I have central heat and air conditioning heater is in attic ac is out side my my electrician says my generator is about 5 amps shy and it’s a brand new house

No definitely not a heat pump just a electric furnace

I think it's fine. The breaker's job is to protect the house wiring. Since the house wiring is rated to 50 amps, the 50 amp breaker is OK. You could swap to a 30 amp breaker if you really wanted to. There's no harm in it, but probably no advantage either. The generator cannot produce more than 30 amps, so it's not able to produce enough power to harm the wiring. The generator would shut itself off before it ever produced enough power to trip the 30 amp or the 50 amp breaker.

@@ElQuesoGuapo but since they already put in a 50 amp breaker and wiring rated for that, shouldn’t I just get the 50 amp inlet to match? Then I or the next homeowner can get the most potential from it?

@@1980sLegoFan Yeah, I would. I've got a 50 amp inlet box even though my generator's a 30 amp unit. It gives me the option of running a bigger generator later on.

Not enough power to kick it on!!! generator would blow a breaker!

It's pretty much common sense to turn of all breakers before connecting and common sense would tell you when you have a 120V generator that anything with a double pole is likely 240v and will not work.. im not talking about a single pole split breaker but a beefy full size double pole which has the AMP rating right on the switch. It would be VERY unlike to confuse it with a single pole IMO but hey I've seen idiots backfeed their panels from the dryer plug so who am I to say someone wouldn't do this? 😂😂

From my understanding the A/C just won't do anything because it'll basically see 0 volts between the two hots

Let's recap: You made up a male to male cord, even though you know it's called a "suicide cord". You've got a system that works fine unless you forget to flip a couple of switches, and then you might burn your house down. You're running the generator in an attached garage even though every generator's manual says to not do that. I wish you luck with that. I'll leave your comment here as an example of what not to do.

Oh no sir i know a guy with setup with a detached shop. And iv seen that this setup i described works for years because hes not a typical youtube idiot wise butt comment or and has a mastery of skills and trades. Hes also a big Trump and Alex Jones supporter. Lol average Americans are truly idiots comments posted about how hard it is to do a twist lock cord in the dark example.. don't these tards have a flashlight? Secondly as i discribed it is not a sucide cord because one end is attached to the breaker and the other end connecting to the generator is completely sealed contact pin design to go to the sealed contact receiver end at generator. Its stuff only sold at real commercial electric supply companies that you must have an account to purchase from. But you wouldn't know anything about that would ya troll?