I remember several people doing this but maybe someone can post the link or info,
As we are in shaky town I intend to have an electrican install a sub panel in out garage and a bypass switch so we can power our home from the coach in event of an extended power loss.
Our small detached condo home has a driveway just long enough that if we nose in the coach at an angle the mid entry will face our garage door and the front end where the gen is will be 10' or so from the main electric service entry.
We have a 10k powertech gen we would like to be able to use if needed.
Any info on how and what we would need for the coach end would be helpful.
I have the removed cut off 50 amp cord that came on the coach that I replaced the end on that I could install a male end on if necessary
Thanks in advance for any info.
People like Brett could advise better where to tap power from the coach.
Your transfer switch should have a male plug built into it. The cord coming from the coach needs to be female, never male, and plugs into the male transfer switch.
Energized male plugs are called "suicide cords".
They have earned that name.
You have to open the cover and make a couple of wiring changes so you can get 220V to the house from the generator. Someone here has a schematic for how to do it. We need to do the same thing as PG&E has blackouts when the wind gets high and we need 220V to run our well pump.
Pierce
You will want to have the "makings" for wiring from the junction box where generator power goes to coach house wiring since the front of your coach is close to your house breaker box. The female end of a 50 amp shore power cord with, say 5' of cord/wire would work fine. I would not wire it ahead of time-- it would only take 10 minutes or so to make the modification and you may never need it. Have wires stripped, everything ready to do, but I would not proactively wire it.
Then, at house end, a male 50 amp going to a manual transfer switch (THIS A MUST). You only want one source of alternating current to reach your house and you do NOT want any possibility of "back-feeding" the grid-- that could kill a lineman working on restoring power. Yes, you could use an automatic switch, but for the very few times you would use it, go KISS.
Then, just use your regular 50 amp shore power cord to connect the two.
I have wanted to do this also, and will be very interested in suggested methods.
The front of the Foretravel is about 20' from my breaker panel in the house.
I would also like to have an emergency solar option where I could tap the solar panels and the solar battery bank in the Foretravel and direct it to my home for emergency use.
So rather than involve the coaches systems can I run a 220 volt female 50 amp rv cord plug in the gens area.
Does it take permanent wiring changes to the gen to be able to power the house?
External switchable circuitry?
My limited looking in the gen panel I thought there were 2 separate positive posts that had various circuits hooked to them. Is that correct?
Are the two into a female plug house 220?
I may not know how to repair AC units, but Brett, I will step in here.
If you are referring to the cord going to the transfer switch at the house, there is NO WAY you want that plug to be male.
It needs to be female.
Think of it this way.....
If the genset is running and the cord is charged there is the distinct possibility that you may accidentally contact two of the legs and get a shock. This is the same logic used when connecting two extension cords together. The end with the power that you plug into is the female, with the Male. Then, the new cord has power coming "out" of the female end.
Does the gen in its control box have the 4 needed connections?
This might be a good time to seek the aid of a qualified electrician. There are some very specific parts and procedures involved not the least being the transfer switch along with the proper cord caps, wiring and receptacles. Remember, the 40,000 volts on the line that the transformer steps down to 240 for your house works exactly the same in reverse when it's fed 240 volts. A question in my mind is exactly how the neutral and ground are handled from a generator insulated from earth. Making it work is sure doable, making it code compliant is a good idea as well.
Or you could just get a generator and wire it up, takes up less room that your rig, safer for you, your rig and the house.
In layman's terms an absolute disconnect device so no coach power can backfeed the grid in any way, shape or form. Incomplete neutral or ground may fry everything in your house. Not diy for most and many limited experience electrician.
OP said he was gonna have an electrician do the job
Would suggest a switch that disconnects the coach completely and has a female plug connection for the house feed, you only have 50 amps which is half of a small house which normally has 100 amps or a larger house which would normally have 200 amp service,
There are small generator sub panels that are not expensive at Lowes and Home Depot that will support 10 or so circuits, you will have to decide what you want to power and move the wires from the main house panel to the generator panel,
It's is best to have an electrician do this unless you are sure what you are doing,
None of what you want is hard or particularly expensive to do, just do it safely.
This is two separate questions:
The first is "How do I get 220V from Foretravel generator?"
It's been documented here that as delivered our coaches run a dual 110 configuration ( Both hot legs in phase) which can be changed to 220 fairly easily. There is talk of instructions on how that done but I have never seen them posted...
(Link on edit)
Two Generator Questions (https://www.foreforums.com/index.php?topic=25466.msg201624#msg201624)
Adding a 50A RV female plug in a protected location would be handy for this purpose as well as sharing power with another coach.
In its most simple form it would be dual 110 the majority of the time and 220 when the pole changes are made at the generator. I imagine a good electrician could wire in a 4 pole rotary switch at the generator that could automatically go from dual 110's to 220 wiring configuration. This would provide a level of protection to the coach systems as there are component that could possible get 220 that shouldn't. (This would be unusual but not impossible)
Expensive but cool
Blue Sea Systems 9093 AC Selector Switch, AC 120+120/240VAC 63A OFF+2 (https://shop.pkys.com/Blue-Sea-9093-AC-Selector-Switch-120120240V-63A-OFF2_p_1867.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIveHCy6q34wIVFarsCh3nsADaEAQYAiABEgKQM_D_BwE)
The 2nd question is "How do I get power to the house?"
There are two and ONLY two ways here...
Wire in a transfer switch, manual or automatic are available but if you are moving an RV and running power cables you might as well go manual.
Good reference reading here:
Manual Transfer Switch Buyer's Guide - How to Pick the Perfect Manual... (https://www.electricgeneratorsdirect.com/stories/3-How-to-Pick-the-Perfect-Manual-Transfer-Switch.html)
The other way to do this is less common but very clean. Genre link makes a transfer switch that plugs into your meter base...
GenerLink, Backup Generator | Global Power Products (http://www.generlink.com/generlink.html)
They are not cheap but eliminate any and all electrical changes inside the house. ( You will need your power company to install it...)
If you are working on a solution that has an energized male plug STOP and let somebody else do it.