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babyeatingpsychopath
Oct 28, 2000
Forum Veteran


Elviscat posted:

The "call before you dig" services typically only locate utility owned services, not the private stuff on your property.

Check your local jurisdiction. You never know. The worst they can tell you is no.

I threw a six-pack at a guy walking down the center of the road locating the main gas line to locate the stubs all the way to my door. I asked if he could trace underground electrical and he said he'd give it a shot. I at least got some directions for some underground light runs; that was WAY better than potholing in the back of some overgrown woods.

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H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

babyeatingpsychopath posted:

Check your local jurisdiction. You never know. The worst they can tell you is no.

I threw a six-pack at a guy walking down the center of the road locating the main gas line to locate the stubs all the way to my door. I asked if he could trace underground electrical and he said he'd give it a shot. I at least got some directions for some underground light runs; that was WAY better than potholing in the back of some overgrown woods.

And people say keeping cash in your wallet is foolish. Being able to say "please and thank you" in the universal language is important.

Combat Pretzel
Jun 23, 2004

No, seriously... what kurds?!
This is more out of curiosity. My home automation stuff also monitors some wallplugs, and therefore voltages on the line. I was checking up something else and noticed in the data, that there's like 5Vp-p oscillations on the mains, with a period of 3-7 minutes depending on the day, and always only when the sun's out. I suppose someone has a cheap/failing solar power inverter on the grid, right?

angryrobots
Mar 31, 2005

Kinda doubt it, I'm not an EE but it seems unlikely to be that. Hard to even make a guess without more info, but it could be a bad connection heating up (on your side or on the utility) or it could be a piece of upline utility equipment failing.

Do you see this voltage variation on all monitored wall plugs? Is it just dipping from nominal or does it go above nominal voltage? I'm guessing based on your language that you're in the UK?

Combat Pretzel
Jun 23, 2004

No, seriously... what kurds?!
I'm from the EU yea. I'm seeing it on all plugs. I'm mostly just curious about it, because it looks funny on a graph, and I heard that inverters should disconnect if they can't stay within the tolerance range of the grid frequency. A quick Google says +/-0.05hz.

As far as nominal goes, it varies during the day, depending on grid load. The range over the last 24 hours was 224V to 241V.

Combat Pretzel fucked around with this message at 17:49 on Feb 13, 2021

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

Combat Pretzel posted:

I'm from the EU yea. I'm seeing it on all plugs. I'm mostly just curious about it, because it looks funny on a graph, and I heard that inverters should disconnect if they can't stay within the tolerance range of the grid frequency. A quick Google says +/-0.05hz.

As far as nominal goes, it varies during the day, depending on grid load. The range over the last 24 hours was 224V to 241V.

This wouldn't even phase me in the USA, I see 115-120v. I don't plot it but nothing surprises me inside that range.

DaveSauce
Feb 15, 2004

Oh, how awkward.

Combat Pretzel posted:

This is more out of curiosity. My home automation stuff also monitors some wallplugs, and therefore voltages on the line. I was checking up something else and noticed in the data, that there's like 5Vp-p oscillations on the mains, with a period of 3-7 minutes depending on the day, and always only when the sun's out. I suppose someone has a cheap/failing solar power inverter on the grid, right?

Generally the assumed tolerance you'll get for line voltage is +/- 5% of nominal. In the US, that gives you +/- 6V for your typical wall voltage (assuming 120V nominal).

Also a bit confused, this 5V p-p, does that have frequency associated with it? Or is it just the difference between the highest and lowest measurements you make? You're probably getting RMS voltage measurements from your outlets, so p-p doesn't really apply here.

Combat Pretzel posted:

I'm from the EU yea. I'm seeing it on all plugs. I'm mostly just curious about it, because it looks funny on a graph, and I heard that inverters should disconnect if they can't stay within the tolerance range of the grid frequency. A quick Google says +/-0.05hz.

As far as nominal goes, it varies during the day, depending on grid load. The range over the last 24 hours was 224V to 241V.

0.05Hz is frequency, which is far more critical to keep constant than voltage.

Assuming 230V nominal, then you're fine. I mean, that's a pretty big swing IMO, but not enough to cause alarm.

Combat Pretzel
Jun 23, 2004

No, seriously... what kurds?!

DaveSauce posted:

0.05Hz is frequency, which is far more critical to keep constant than voltage.
That's what I was going on about. Some solar panel inverter being a little loose about that tolerance, creating an interference pattern in the local grid.

DaveSauce posted:

Also a bit confused, this 5V p-p, does that have frequency associated with it?
Period of 3-7 minutes, depending on what day I'm looking at. In retrospect I guess that's too long of a period for the tolerance range around 50hz.

DaveSauce
Feb 15, 2004

Oh, how awkward.

Combat Pretzel posted:

That's what I was going on about. Some solar panel inverter being a little loose about that tolerance, creating an interference pattern in the local grid.

Period of 3-7 minutes, depending on what day I'm looking at. In retrospect I guess that's too long of a period for the tolerance range around 50hz.

Not my area of expertise, so I'm probably off base here, but I can't imagine a smart wall outlet is giving you enough data to actually see this. Unless you're being shown the full waveform, or being given frequency data, then RMS voltage doesn't tell you anything about what the frequency is doing.

Combat Pretzel
Jun 23, 2004

No, seriously... what kurds?!
Well, what I'm seeing is this (today's Vp-p isn't as wide):



So I was wondering if there's something on the grid that does this, minus the zero crossing (e.g. a lovely inverter at some neighbor's solar panel feeding into the grid):

angryrobots
Mar 31, 2005

Actually I wonder if you're seeing the effect of solar causing voltage rise midday, with your utility's local distribution voltage regulation kicking in and bucking in response.

I cross posted your question to the electrical generation megathread. At some points utility EEs posted there.

angryrobots fucked around with this message at 19:31 on Feb 14, 2021

DaveSauce
Feb 15, 2004

Oh, how awkward.

Combat Pretzel posted:

Well, what I'm seeing is this (today's Vp-p isn't as wide):



So I was wondering if there's something on the grid that does this, minus the zero crossing (e.g. a lovely inverter at some neighbor's solar panel feeding into the grid):



Right, I get the math behind it, I'm just doubting that it's that simple. It's certainly a possibility, but there's a lot going on so it could be a dozen different things. Also, my basic understanding is that grids are pretty sophisticated, so if this were causing issues then the power company would be able to see it and track it down pretty fast. My last company got nailed pretty quick when they let some giant motors regen on to the line during a test. But that was a light industrial park, so their utilities are probably monitored to a higher level of detail than residential (at least, billing structures for non-residential typically require more detail).

That said, utility stuff is definitely not my forte, so I could be very wrong here.

But frankly, if there IS an issue, the POCO will love to hear about it. They hate nothing more than rogue customers/equipment screwing with the grid like that. Wouldn't hurt to raise the issue with them.

TheHero
Feb 13, 2017

Almost identical to what I pulled out of a school the other day.

Motronic
Nov 6, 2009

TheHero posted:

Almost identical to what I pulled out of a school the other day.

Fun fun. I cut the feed to that, taped it off and......its under 14" of snow. With another 8 coming.

That will be a spring project.

TheHero
Feb 13, 2017

Motronic posted:

Fun fun. I cut the feed to that, taped it off and......its under 14" of snow. With another 8 coming.

That will be a spring project.

Yeah, this poo poo has been pretty brutal. For the past month we've been working outside on a new generator install and relocation of manual transfer switches for this banquet hall at a county park. Although, I'm dressing for it and it becomes bearable, it's still miserable. Pulling 350-500's and watching that plastic snap due to the temperature kind of put it into perspective of how stupid cold it got. Stay warm, man.

Endymion FRS MK1
Oct 29, 2011

I don't know what this thing is, and I don't care. I'm just tired of seeing your stupid newbie av from 2011.
Well I have a weird one. I plugged in my car to charge a couple nights ago. I got a notification while I was asleep that charging was interrupted. I didn't think anything of it but today I went to go in my garage to go to work. My smart garage door opener said there were no devices. I figured it was just not paired or something since I'd been messing around and had to factory reset my phone yesterday. My charger was showing a blinking white light, which according to the manual wasn't any code. I just got home from work about an hour ago and went in to check things out. I couldn't get the smart thing on my garage door opener to turn on which was my first clue something was up. I tried turning the shop lights on, but they wouldn't turn on. Plus, when I flipped that switch my charger switched to solid red, indicating an unrecoverable fault. The charger is on its own newly installed (like October new) 240v circuit, the switch controls outlets on the opposite side of the garage. I decided to test plugging my smart opener to a different outlet and it lit up just fine. And then when I replugged the charger back it it wouldn't even turn on. Flipping the switch for the shop lights turns the charger on back to its fault state.

I'm baffled. What happened? I'm gonna call an electrician in the morning but I have no clue what happened or how to prevent it

shame on an IGA
Apr 8, 2005

The car charger is a dedicated circuit with its own breaker?

Turn that breaker off and see if the shop lights work then

Endymion FRS MK1
Oct 29, 2011

I don't know what this thing is, and I don't care. I'm just tired of seeing your stupid newbie av from 2011.

shame on an IGA posted:

The car charger is a dedicated circuit with its own breaker?

Turn that breaker off and see if the shop lights work then

Well, dedicated fuse. It should be? I'm positive the electrician wired it to be its own circuit. I'll have to look more in the morning

Elviscat
Jan 1, 2008

Well don't you know I'm caught in a trap?

Endymion FRS MK1 posted:

Well I have a weird one. I plugged in my car to charge a couple nights ago. I got a notification while I was asleep that charging was interrupted. I didn't think anything of it but today I went to go in my garage to go to work. My smart garage door opener said there were no devices. I figured it was just not paired or something since I'd been messing around and had to factory reset my phone yesterday. My charger was showing a blinking white light, which according to the manual wasn't any code. I just got home from work about an hour ago and went in to check things out. I couldn't get the smart thing on my garage door opener to turn on which was my first clue something was up. I tried turning the shop lights on, but they wouldn't turn on. Plus, when I flipped that switch my charger switched to solid red, indicating an unrecoverable fault. The charger is on its own newly installed (like October new) 240v circuit, the switch controls outlets on the opposite side of the garage. I decided to test plugging my smart opener to a different outlet and it lit up just fine. And then when I replugged the charger back it it wouldn't even turn on. Flipping the switch for the shop lights turns the charger on back to its fault state.

I'm baffled. What happened? I'm gonna call an electrician in the morning but I have no clue what happened or how to prevent it

You likely dropped a phase on the power to your house, at the transformer, your main breaker, or your panel itself.

Does anything else 240V work? Electric oven? Hot water the right temperature?

Is the charger/ garage off a sub panel?

Endymion FRS MK1
Oct 29, 2011

I don't know what this thing is, and I don't care. I'm just tired of seeing your stupid newbie av from 2011.

Elviscat posted:

You likely dropped a phase on the power to your house, at the transformer, your main breaker, or your panel itself.

Does anything else 240V work? Electric oven? Hot water the right temperature?

Is the charger/ garage off a sub panel?

Oven works fine, and the garage is on a sub panel

Elviscat
Jan 1, 2008

Well don't you know I'm caught in a trap?

Endymion FRS MK1 posted:

Oven works fine, and the garage is on a sub panel

I recommend opening and reclosing the breaker for the subpanel at the main panel, and at the garage. If that doesn't change anything, I reccomend turning the breaker for the subpanel off, and leaving it that way until an electrician can troubleshoot, it could be a high-resistance connection somewhere that could pose a fire hazard.

Endymion FRS MK1
Oct 29, 2011

I don't know what this thing is, and I don't care. I'm just tired of seeing your stupid newbie av from 2011.

Elviscat posted:

I recommend opening and reclosing the breaker for the subpanel at the main panel, and at the garage. If that doesn't change anything, I reccomend turning the breaker for the subpanel off, and leaving it that way until an electrician can troubleshoot, it could be a high-resistance connection somewhere that could pose a fire hazard.

I'll turn the garage breaker off, yeah. What do you mean drop a phase? Is that a thing that just happens? Everything has been working fine for the past few months since the charger was installed, so why now?

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

Endymion FRS MK1 posted:

I'll turn the garage breaker off, yeah. What do you mean drop a phase? Is that a thing that just happens? Everything has been working fine for the past few months since the charger was installed, so why now?

Luck. Something not quite torqued right that's been heated/cooled 100 times and sorta worked its way loose. (For example.)

Call the electrician who installed it and describe exactly what you did here. A few months post install they should be there asap to figure out if they screwed something up. "hey, my charger says it has a fault, half the outlets in my garage subpanel stopped working" is a clear phase drop fault to an electrician. (120+120 = 240v. You combine two to make it. Lose one and you don't get enough juice. It's why the breaker for your charger is twice as big - it spans both in the panel.)

Assuming it's something they installed repair should be free this short of a time later. If it's not, pray it's easy to access.

Elviscat
Jan 1, 2008

Well don't you know I'm caught in a trap?

Endymion FRS MK1 posted:

I'll turn the garage breaker off, yeah. What do you mean drop a phase? Is that a thing that just happens? Everything has been working fine for the past few months since the charger was installed, so why now?

So, the problem is between the main panel and your subpanel, we know this because your oven works fine, and other loads besides the charger in the garage aren't working.

The problem is, for whatever reason, one "leg" of the 240V (probably 60-100A) supply from the main panel is not providing a path for current flow, or is "open"

So there's a break in L1 or L2 in the following diagram.



I believe that the reason your charger lights up when you flip the non-operating light switch, is that it's providing a path for some current flow (at the wrong voltage, and in a series manner) from the good leg of the 240V supply to neutral, your charger is a pure 240V device, i.e. it doesn't use the neutral connection for anything. That's allowing some minor, improper function from the circuit board, giving you that LED indication.

The "why?" Could be multiple reasons, the first has to do with the physical properties of wiring materials, they heat up and cool down, causing them to lose some of the spring tension that goes into any good electrical joint, this is further exacerbated at some point when electricity starts to "arc" across the connection, pitting the copper or aluminum conductive material, and depositing a layer of insulating carbon, eventually the connection fails entirely and will no longer conduct electricity.

The second most likely reason is one of possibly two circuit breakers that protect the wiring to the sub panel has failed internally, and tripped on only one of two phases, again from thermal cycling of the internal components (this kind of circuit breaker, a "double-pole" unit, should always break both legs of the circuit when tripped.

The "why [i]now[i]" probably has to do with time, and the installation of the new charger (EVSE, technically, the charger is internal to the car) EV chargers are a large load, typically 6.6kW, more for certain Teslas, that's almost 30 amps at 240V, which is significant. Assuming the subpanel installation is original to the house, the new added load, combined with time, has just "found" an existing bad connection, or bad circuit breaker.

As always, I'd love to hear what the electrician finds when they come out.

Endymion FRS MK1
Oct 29, 2011

I don't know what this thing is, and I don't care. I'm just tired of seeing your stupid newbie av from 2011.
Interesting, thanks! I'll keep everyone updated

Endymion FRS MK1
Oct 29, 2011

I don't know what this thing is, and I don't care. I'm just tired of seeing your stupid newbie av from 2011.
Update time! Turns out the fuse was bad. He replaced it and everything is perfect now

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

Endymion FRS MK1 posted:

Update time! Turns out the fuse was bad. He replaced it and everything is perfect now

:toot: sometimes you get lucky.

BonerGhost
Mar 9, 2007

I asked in here before about the 20a circuit in my house wired with 14/2. It's been off since then pending a bit of rebalancing, at which point I'll hook it up to a 15a cafi/gfci breaker. Fully rewiring it with 12/2 for a 20a circuit is not a super great option right now, since I'm going for joint surgery in a few weeks and probably won't be capable of working on it until this summer.

This 15a circuit will serve the master suite:
two bath LED light fixtures: total 60w
track light fixtures in bed and closet, 10 x 8.3w lamps: total 83w
three 15a duplex receptacles

Load-wise I think this is fine. Electricity in the bedroom is only for running phone chargers, fans, and lights (and there are three more outlets in this room served by a different 20a circuit). I'm a little unsure about a couple things:

IRC 2018 posted:

E3702.8 Branch-circuit inductive and LED lighting loads
For circuit supplying luminaires having ballasts or LED drivers, the calculated load shall be based on the total ampere ratings of such units and not on the total watts of the lamps. [220.18B]

E4005.1 Track Lighting Installation
Lighting track shall be permanently installed and permanently connected to a branch circuit having a rating not more than that of the track [410.151(A) and (B)]

The bath and track lights are LED but I can't find any documentation about drivers, so do I still calculate load by wattage?

I don't think I understand the track lighting installation part at all. Does that mean you couldn't put a 15a fixture on a 20a circuit? Wouldn't this effectively mean each track fixture would need its own dedicated circuit?

e: I forgot: table 210.24 says 20a circuits can have 15a or 20a receptacles, and 15a circuits can only have 15a receptacles. Is there a reason to/not to use 15a receptacles on 20a circuits? (Also I was relaying this to my husband at home depot earlier and some guy claiming to be an electrician butted in to declare that I was wrong, lol)

BonerGhost fucked around with this message at 02:04 on Feb 21, 2021

Elviscat
Jan 1, 2008

Well don't you know I'm caught in a trap?

BonerGhost posted:

I asked in here before about the 20a circuit in my house wired with 14/2. It's been off since then pending a bit of rebalancing, at which point I'll hook it up to a 15a cafi/gfci breaker. Fully rewiring it with 12/2 for a 20a circuit is not a super great option right now, since I'm going for joint surgery in a few weeks and probably won't be capable of working on it until this summer.

This 15a circuit will serve the master suite:
two bath LED light fixtures: total 60w
track light fixtures in bed and closet, 10 x 8.3w lamps: total 83w
three 15a duplex receptacles

Load-wise I think this is fine. Electricity in the bedroom is only for running phone chargers, fans, and lights (and there are three more outlets in this room served by a different 20a circuit). I'm a little unsure about a couple things:


The bath and track lights are LED but I can't find any documentation about drivers, so do I still calculate load by wattage?

I don't think I understand the track lighting installation part at all. Does that mean you couldn't put a 15a fixture on a 20a circuit? Wouldn't this effectively mean each track fixture would need its own dedicated circuit?

e: I forgot: table 210.24 says 20a circuits can have 15a or 20a receptacles, and 15a circuits can only have 15a receptacles. Is there a reason to/not to use 15a receptacles on 20a circuits? (Also I was relaying this to my husband at home depot earlier and some guy claiming to be an electrician butted in to declare that I was wrong, lol)

You're way overthinking this, put in the 15 and it'll all be fine, you're no where near 1440 watts continuous unless you plug a space heater in to one of those plugs.

Tracks are generally rated 20A besides special commercial stuff, that code article is saying "don't put a bunch of tracks on a 60A circuit, because an individual track could be overloaded and melt.

Here's a screenshot with the current rating.



The only difference between most NEMA 5-15 and 5-20 (15 and 20 amp three prong outlets) is the plastic face plate, I've seen like 3 pieces of equipment that had a 5-20P on them, it doesn't really matter or come up.

BonerGhost
Mar 9, 2007

Elviscat posted:

You're way overthinking this, put in the 15 and it'll all be fine, you're no where near 1440 watts continuous unless you plug a space heater in to one of those plugs.

Tracks are generally rated 20A besides special commercial stuff, that code article is saying "don't put a bunch of tracks on a 60A circuit, because an individual track could be overloaded and melt.

Here's a screenshot with the current rating.



The only difference between most NEMA 5-15 and 5-20 (15 and 20 amp three prong outlets) is the plastic face plate, I've seen like 3 pieces of equipment that had a 5-20P on them, it doesn't really matter or come up.

Thanks for the input. I figured I was overthinking it or trying to interpret a section that didn't apply.

So is it a no-no to have a couple of these tracks on a 15a circuit? I mean realistically I'm probably going to do it anyway because they're wired with 14/2 right now, and they won't be used continuously at all, but I'd like to know the right way to do it.

Elviscat
Jan 1, 2008

Well don't you know I'm caught in a trap?

BonerGhost posted:

Thanks for the input. I figured I was overthinking it or trying to interpret a section that didn't apply.

So is it a no-no to have a couple of these tracks on a 15a circuit? I mean realistically I'm probably going to do it anyway because they're wired with 14/2 right now, and they won't be used continuously at all, but I'd like to know the right way to do it.

Nope! As long as the total fixture wattage is below the 1440 available watts on the circuit you can have as many tracks as you like, I've connected together 50 linear feet of track for a boutique clothing store before.

Just think of the track as a 12 gauge wire with multiple individual fixtures on it, and all the codes specific to track lighting should make sense.

BonerGhost
Mar 9, 2007

Ok, that makes a lot more sense! Thank you.

e: more questions

I want to power switched overhead lighting and switched under cabinet lighting on the same circuit. Should I split the hot with a pigtail to each switch or is there a better way?

BonerGhost fucked around with this message at 04:10 on Feb 21, 2021

the spyder
Feb 18, 2011
I need a second set of eyes on a recent project. Excuse the long story, but it covers some important details. We lost power for 10 days due to major ice damage. Thankfully the power lines fell before the train dragged the primaries out of the substation, causing it to explode. Anyways... I had bought this beast of a 9500/12.5k surge generator after the wild fires this fall (it never ends). I never thought I would be using it 3 months later, yet alone for the longest our property has been without power. After about day 4 and driving around, I realized the 7 day ETA from the power company was actually an optimistic time frame to repair some of the worst storm damage I've seen in the area... I decided I need to improve my setup. The issue was, I decided to do this during the worst storm damage our area has seen. Supplies were hard to come by.

Step 1: Shut off the main and break out the toner. Our 1890 house was originally wired by a priest. Yes you read that right. It was common for priest to literally "bring the light of god" through electrification of the west in the late 1800's and early 1900's. We believe the first wiring was in the early 1900's. Prior to that the property had gas lamps everywhere. Yes, this is why the breaker box is on the covered/wrap porch. I recently bought a Klein circuit tracer and was hoping to use that, turns out it requires power... So time for the Fluke "network" universal toner. A quick mod allowed me to have my wife searching with the toner and me documenting with a notepad/moving circuits.



After identifying the circuits and crimes committed by myself/previous home owners - I identified the handful I wanted to power with the generator. Revision 1.0 was about a half dozen cords wired directly to the panel, as my genset is neutral bonded internally. I did not have internet at the time to find the manual, which would have told me removing a simple jumper would have made it safe for a transfer switch.



So day 4, no power. Tired of the cords in the kitchen and safety nightmare on my porch I made a plan. I hard hard wired our well pump and our hot water, along with 4 circuits for lights/plugs to short whips. Having a curious 4yr old and child-height spaghetti electrocution waiting to happen (not really, but I convinced myself), I starting driving to stores.


Six trips later I had the parts. I really, really wanted to install a matching EATON CH panel - but the only outdoor panels in stock were BR. Why I didn't install an outdoor 200amp BR in the first place, I don't know. There's leaking gutters just three feet away....Hence the BR outdoor panel for this install. Hindsight is 20/20... So I picked up the last 125amp BR panel, but no breakers or conduit. Three stores later, I had found 30amp breakers and conduit. No single pole or higher amperage at any local stores. The next day a local electrician stopped to look at the torn off mast on my neighbors house- He had a 50amp BR on the truck I was able to barter for. Two more trips to a local puppy house got me the 15amp breakers for lights and the 125amp breaker for the main, along with the last of the 2awg THHN they had in stock.

With the main off, power 100% dead - I installed the BR sub. I used some THHN I had on hand to tie back to the circuits in the main panel. I did not make the initial connection to the feed breaker to the sub, meaning the neutral was isolated to the sub. This allowed me to safely close up my panels and run this setup for another 5 days before power was restored. On the 5th day, when we saw utility trucks on our road, I wired in the 125amp breaker and connected the neutral. The sub is an isolated neutral as required by code.

All buttoned up and safe. This was a game changer. I was able to run our well pump and hot water. Shutting off the hot water after pre-heating allowed us to run 3 loads of laundry. We were nearly back to normal, except the noise. I'm planning on running the generator plug on the west side of our house, which means the generator can sit under a covered shed and be much quieter.


Now when the power came back, I flipped off the 50amp generator breaker and turned on the 125amp mains. Everything is working as expected. Here's what I know I need to followup on:
1) New grounds for both boxes - I have 3 rods and need to add a direct to ground connection from the sub.
2) Upsize the main->sub ground, it's only an 8 - I'd like to have a 6 per code.
3) Interlock - I ordered the appropriate EATON lockout for my BR panel per the manual (that was fun to find with 1/2bar of reception/internet service).
4) Generator plug - I ordered a 50amp weather tight twist lock plug and will remove the hardwired L14-50P whip I temporarily installed.
5) Install a new 2" conduit and junction box under the house - pull the wires from the main panel directly into the SUB, removing the "patches" connecting the circuits to the main.
6) Update labeling.
7) Install whole house surge (I impulse bought one and installed the necessary 50amp breaker proactively).

Feedback? What else am I missing? Not my cleanest work, but hell it was a emergency. We were told 7 more days, but power was restored sooner as we're close to the substation.
My next investment will be first to replace as much of the knob and tube as possible/non grounded 2 wire, but also a pad mounted permanent generator install. Former engineers from the local utility are warning by 2025 our grid is at risk of overcommitment and the utilities are not keeping up. I'd love to be able to charge a EV/run the house if needed. But that's all dreams. The quickest change will be having Starlink which means I can now work basically anywhere and won't be tied to the house.

the spyder fucked around with this message at 05:27 on Feb 23, 2021

Motronic
Nov 6, 2009

the spyder posted:

Feedback? What else am I missing?

So you put a square D next to a CH (I mean, why mix breakers?) and still don't have a proper transfer switch would seem to be the major themes here.

I also am made very uncomfortable looking at your generator sitting under a porch with a roof. This is the kind of fire/ambulance calls I've pulled up on before with various outcomes and none of them were good.

If you were gonna do this half assed why didn't you just put a 50 amp breaker connected to a twist lock inlet and label the breakers to switch off?

Motronic fucked around with this message at 04:48 on Feb 23, 2021

the spyder
Feb 18, 2011

Motronic posted:

So you put a square D next to a CH (I mean, why mix breakers?) and still don't have a proper transfer switch would seem to be the major themes here.

I also am made very uncomfortable looking at your generator sitting under a porch with a roof. This is the kind of fire/ambulance calls I've pulled up on before with various outcomes and none of them were good.

If you were gonna do this half assed why didn't you just put a 50 amp breaker connected to a twist lock inlet and label the breakers to switch off?

This is why I posted, I'm 100% for feedback/constructive criticism.
1) BR is still an Eaton panel, compatible with all 1" (GE/SqD/SIM) breakers. With the lockout, it's considered a manual transfer panel.
2) I 100% agree and after I was able to find a piece of 8/4 longer than 10ft, we ran it in the yard when not pouring rain - we shut it off before bed and I had a CO detector on the other side of the door.
3) I thought about pulling the 60AMP range breaker, back feeding through that. This is where stress/stupid comes in and I was insistent I had an isolated neutral to not hurt the linemen. Yes I know they tie the lines to ground for safety - but at least with the sub panel I had no chance of back feeding even the neutral.

Otherwise, I'm now set for the next time and I'd rather have this solution than having to pull apart the panel each time.

the spyder fucked around with this message at 05:03 on Feb 23, 2021

Motronic
Nov 6, 2009

Hey, all good and I get being under stress, but it seriously doesn't answer my last question. Which is the important one about this work.

We can go though the things in you points that don't seem to make sense to me (especially the breaker stuff....I really think you read something you don't understand or you wouldn't have said that) but the real one is....what's the goal here? Do the real thing or don't do the real thing. And get the genset off you porch no matter if its raining or not because goddamn it it will kill you and your family if like....the exhaust studs vibrate off. Or any other number of CO issues with having it there.

the spyder
Feb 18, 2011
I'm posting while exhausted which is not helping , though I may have some confusion around the breaker bit? (Are you referring to the BR vs CH or backfeedind through the range breaker?) The goal is an ideal/safe/long term setup that's code compliant. I wrongly thought you were referring to back feeding the main panel using an appropriate sized breaker, which would have not required the sub panel. This seems to be a common practice where there is a main interlock available for the panel and you can just flip off the breakers you don't need generator power. There's a few reasons I did not do this (no room for the additional breaker and sourcing a CH lockout). The neutral bit is me just being silly - code allows you to maintain a connection to the utility provided neutral. The only panels that isolate it are the newer GFI units, which when I look at installing a pad/permanent mounted generator I will consider. Until then, the sub panel with interlock will work fine.

I would not post if I did not appreciate the feedback. I'm always looking to improve my designs and expand my knowledge. CO is no joke and I fully understand your concerns. I wanted to add an edit here, as this is a serious concern. For the handful of days it was hardwired via short leads, we never ran it more than a few hours and when we were working in the yard. CO meter was always inside the door, and this door is at the opposite end of our house where we normally are. As soon as I sourced and added the 30ft cord, we moved it off the porch and covered it while it rained. CO is a common killer during storms and power outages as people run their generators too close to their homes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkO9PK4JvJI

the spyder fucked around with this message at 06:37 on Feb 23, 2021

angryrobots
Mar 31, 2005

Explain exactly what you did with this isolated neutral. I am concerned that in your attempt to protect utility workers that you may have created an even more immediate hazard. I can assure you that backfeeding the neutral isn't a thing - at least, it isn't a thing for more than the handful of cycles it takes for a breaker to trip or your generator to burn up.

the spyder
Feb 18, 2011
Maybe a drawing will help, excuse the lack of breakers.

Initially I wired it like this (was waiting on the 125amp breakers and cable). Note the neutral bond in the generator.


How it's wired today. Note the non-bonded neutral in the generator. Neutral bond only occurs at the main panel/service entrance.

the spyder fucked around with this message at 18:44 on Feb 23, 2021

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angryrobots
Mar 31, 2005

If that second picture assumes an installed interlock on the new subpanel between the generator breaker and the main, I think that's ok insofar as relates to the electrical connections on the new backup. I was concerned that you had something like the first diagram and you intended to leave it permanently.

When you get back rested up, feel free to ask about the other existing issues like the k+t. At the very least, I'd get those circuits GFCI protected even if you don't have time to run new cable.

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