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carys98

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This past weekend I installed a Generac 6852 transfer switch to power my house from the pro power 240V plug. The 6852 is designed for a bonded neutral generator so it works perfectly with the Lightning.

My main electrical panel is at the meter base. In the main panel there are the maximum 6 breakers feeding 3 AC units, the oven, and 2 sub-panels. There is a 125A sub-panel in my garage that supplies most of the house and a second 90A sub-panel for a finished room on the third floor. I connected the Generac switch to the garage sub-panel.

The 6852 has slots for up to 8 breakers so you can supply 8 branch circuits. You can theoretically have more if you want to use tandem breakers. Because of the bonded neutral you have to route both the hot and the neutral from the chosen circuits to the switch panel so you end up with 16 wires plus the 4 feeding the grid power to the switch. The panel is supplied with 1" conduit and it ends up pretty full.

I have gas heat, hot water, and stove so there aren't any high current essential circuits. I chose to power the refrigerator, my two gas furnaces, plus 6 branch circuits. I made sure to power the circuits for my internet equipment, the TV, all of the bathroom lights, plus the bedrooms.

My garage panel is mounted between the studs in a finished wall. The switch panel will also fit between studs but because of a door the two studs next to my panel are only 11 inches apart. I had to mount the switch on the wall and then get the wires into the wall to feed into the sub-panel. I cut out the drywall and drilled through the stud to access the sub-panel. I then put a deep 4" box with 1" flex into the sub-panel. After patching the drywall I mounted the switch above the box and ran the wiring through a right angle into the box and pulled them into the sub-panel.

To feed the grid input to the switch I installed a 50A dual pole breaker into my sub-panel and connected the two hots and neutral to the switch input and then connected the two grounds together. I also ran a separate ground wire to ground the 4" box. Then I removed each of the 8 hot leads from their breakers and labeled them. I located the associated neutrals for the 8 circuits and disconnected them from the sub-panel neutral bar. Then I connected each hot to one of the breakers in the switch panel and connected each of the neutrals to one of the neutral wires from the switch panel.

The last step was to connect the power inlet for the truck power. I ended up buying a Reliance inlet box with the L14-30 inlet connector. I mounted it below the switch and routed PVC conduit to the box. I then pulled the 4 10 gauge conductors through the conduit and terminated them on the inlet and on the generator side of the switch.

I bought a 25' extension cord to reach from the back of my truck to the back wall of my garage and turned on the pro power. I switched over to generator power and it ran with no issue. The only significant load was the refrigerator but I verified that all of the circuits were powered. Now I'm looking forward to our next power outage.

Ford F-150 Lightning Generac 6852 Transfer Switch installed (to power my house from the Pro Power 240V plug) IMG_0151


Ford F-150 Lightning Generac 6852 Transfer Switch installed (to power my house from the Pro Power 240V plug) IMG_0154


Ford F-150 Lightning Generac 6852 Transfer Switch installed (to power my house from the Pro Power 240V plug) IMG_0155


Ford F-150 Lightning Generac 6852 Transfer Switch installed (to power my house from the Pro Power 240V plug) IMG_0156


Ford F-150 Lightning Generac 6852 Transfer Switch installed (to power my house from the Pro Power 240V plug) IMG_0157
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Fastnf

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Thanks for posting this information. This is an excellent detailed example of a proper installation.
 

davehu

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This past weekend I installed a Generac 6852 transfer switch to power my house from the pro power 240V plug. The 6852 is designed for a bonded neutral generator so it works perfectly with the Lightning.

My main electrical panel is at the meter base. In the main panel there are the maximum 6 breakers feeding 3 AC units, the oven, and 2 sub-panels. There is a 125A sub-panel in my garage that supplies most of the house and a second 90A sub-panel for a finished room on the third floor. I connected the Generac switch to the garage sub-panel.

The 6852 has slots for up to 8 breakers so you can supply 8 branch circuits. You can theoretically have more if you want to use tandem breakers. Because of the bonded neutral you have to route both the hot and the neutral from the chosen circuits to the switch panel so you end up with 16 wires plus the 4 feeding the grid power to the switch. The panel is supplied with 1" conduit and it ends up pretty full.

I have gas heat, hot water, and stove so there aren't any high current essential circuits. I chose to power the refrigerator, my two gas furnaces, plus 6 branch circuits. I made sure to power the circuits for my internet equipment, the TV, all of the bathroom lights, plus the bedrooms.

My garage panel is mounted between the studs in a finished wall. The switch panel will also fit between studs but because of a door the two studs next to my panel are only 11 inches apart. I had to mount the switch on the wall and then get the wires into the wall to feed into the sub-panel. I cut out the drywall and drilled through the stud to access the sub-panel. I then put a deep 4" box with 1" flex into the sub-panel. After patching the drywall I mounted the switch above the box and ran the wiring through a right angle into the box and pulled them into the sub-panel.

To feed the grid input to the switch I installed a 50A dual pole breaker into my sub-panel and connected the two hots and neutral to the switch input and then connected the two grounds together. I also ran a separate ground wire to ground the 4" box. Then I removed each of the 8 hot leads from their breakers and labeled them. I located the associated neutrals for the 8 circuits and disconnected them from the sub-panel neutral bar. Then I connected each hot to one of the breakers in the switch panel and connected each of the neutrals to one of the neutral wires from the switch panel.

The last step was to connect the power inlet for the truck power. I ended up buying a Reliance inlet box with the L14-30 inlet connector. I mounted it below the switch and routed PVC conduit to the box. I then pulled the 4 10 gauge conductors through the conduit and terminated them on the inlet and on the generator side of the switch.

I bought a 25' extension cord to reach from the back of my truck to the back wall of my garage and turned on the pro power. I switched over to generator power and it ran with no issue. The only significant load was the refrigerator but I verified that all of the circuits were powered. Now I'm looking forward to our next power outage.

IMG_0151.jpeg


IMG_0154.jpeg


IMG_0155.jpeg


IMG_0156.jpeg


IMG_0157.jpeg
yes, thanks for posting!
 

Capertrj

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Glad to see this transfer switch working. I was able to snag one but waiting on an electrician to hook it up to replace my old GenTran (No neutral switching).

Only issue with the OP is that VT sticker on the panel. That sticker is acting as a big resistor most likely. 😂
 

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carys98

carys98

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This is the way. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. So here is my setup.
CB55CAF8-1E26-4532-88B6-4754874249B1.jpeg
Nice! I wish I could have mounted mine in the wall. It would have saved a lot of work.
 

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Nice!!
 

DiveMan911

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This is my plan for backup power in my house. I don’t have any large current draws, so I’d like to backup as many circuits as possible. If I understand all the paperwork from Generac correctly 2 of the CB’s can be tandem for a total of 10 circuits. Is that accurate?
 
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carys98

carys98

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This is my plan for backup power in my house. I don’t have any large current draws, so I’d like to backup as many circuits as possible. If I understand all the paperwork from Generac correctly 2 of the CB’s can be tandem for a total of 10 circuits. Is that accurate?
Yes, you can add tandem breakers to increase the number of circuits. It does mean you need to add two wires to the conduit for each additional circuit.
 

DiveMan911

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Yes, you can add tandem breakers to increase the number of circuits. It does mean you need to add two wires to the conduit for each additional circuit.
Copy that. Appreciate the prompt reply. Generac limits the number of tandem circuits (total of 10 circuits in 8 slots)…from my view it seems the limiting factor may be the conduit as there are a significant number of wires traveling in that conduit (conduit fill). What say you?
 

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Maquis

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Copy that. Appreciate the prompt reply. Generac limits the number of tandem circuits (total of 10 circuits in 8 slots)…from my view it seems the limiting factor may be the conduit as there are a significant number of wires traveling in that conduit (conduit fill). What say you?
Run larger conduit, if necessary. You should also be aware that once you have more than 6 current-carrying conductors in a conduit, their ampacity must be de-rated due to heat buildup. It can get complicated. If the conduit is less than 24” in length, de-rating isn’t necessary.
 
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carys98

carys98

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Copy that. Appreciate the prompt reply. Generac limits the number of tandem circuits (total of 10 circuits in 8 slots)…from my view it seems the limiting factor may be the conduit as there are a significant number of wires traveling in that conduit (conduit fill). What say you?
Yes, the conduit gets pretty crowded. Mine was a little tougher since I had to make a couple of turns to get into the wall. If you can make a straight connection it shouldn’t be a problem.
 

Calvin H-C

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Excellent write-up.

We built our home back in 2002-2004 and wired in a transfer panel for "critical" circuits with an inlet at the back of the house next to a natural gas connection. Didn't buy a generator until an ice storm hit us in 2014.

The transfer switch is located in our "mudroom", just inside from the garage. With my wife's Lightning coming in a few months, the plan is to add a new inlet in the garage (literally on the other side of the wall from the transfer switch) and either wire it to the transfer switch and abandon the inlet at the back of the house, or wire the two through an interlock switch so only one is attached to the transfer switch at a time. Then we just need to plug into the Pro Power 240 V plug for power when needed. We already have a 7' cable with the twist-lock connectors on it for the generator.
 

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This past weekend I installed a Generac 6852 transfer switch to power my house from the pro power 240V plug. The 6852 is designed for a bonded neutral generator so it works perfectly with the Lightning.

My main electrical panel is at the meter base. In the main panel there are the maximum 6 breakers feeding 3 AC units, the oven, and 2 sub-panels. There is a 125A sub-panel in my garage that supplies most of the house and a second 90A sub-panel for a finished room on the third floor. I connected the Generac switch to the garage sub-panel.

The 6852 has slots for up to 8 breakers so you can supply 8 branch circuits. You can theoretically have more if you want to use tandem breakers. Because of the bonded neutral you have to route both the hot and the neutral from the chosen circuits to the switch panel so you end up with 16 wires plus the 4 feeding the grid power to the switch. The panel is supplied with 1" conduit and it ends up pretty full.

I have gas heat, hot water, and stove so there aren't any high current essential circuits. I chose to power the refrigerator, my two gas furnaces, plus 6 branch circuits. I made sure to power the circuits for my internet equipment, the TV, all of the bathroom lights, plus the bedrooms.

My garage panel is mounted between the studs in a finished wall. The switch panel will also fit between studs but because of a door the two studs next to my panel are only 11 inches apart. I had to mount the switch on the wall and then get the wires into the wall to feed into the sub-panel. I cut out the drywall and drilled through the stud to access the sub-panel. I then put a deep 4" box with 1" flex into the sub-panel. After patching the drywall I mounted the switch above the box and ran the wiring through a right angle into the box and pulled them into the sub-panel.

To feed the grid input to the switch I installed a 50A dual pole breaker into my sub-panel and connected the two hots and neutral to the switch input and then connected the two grounds together. I also ran a separate ground wire to ground the 4" box. Then I removed each of the 8 hot leads from their breakers and labeled them. I located the associated neutrals for the 8 circuits and disconnected them from the sub-panel neutral bar. Then I connected each hot to one of the breakers in the switch panel and connected each of the neutrals to one of the neutral wires from the switch panel.

The last step was to connect the power inlet for the truck power. I ended up buying a Reliance inlet box with the L14-30 inlet connector. I mounted it below the switch and routed PVC conduit to the box. I then pulled the 4 10 gauge conductors through the conduit and terminated them on the inlet and on the generator side of the switch.

I bought a 25' extension cord to reach from the back of my truck to the back wall of my garage and turned on the pro power. I switched over to generator power and it ran with no issue. The only significant load was the refrigerator but I verified that all of the circuits were powered. Now I'm looking forward to our next power outage.

IMG_0151.jpeg


IMG_0154.jpeg


IMG_0155.jpeg


IMG_0156.jpeg


IMG_0157.jpeg
Thanks for the great write up and Photos!!!!
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