Has anyone used their Lightning ER 220 plug for home power V2H?

[chl]

OK, so the universal response to the dryer plug option leads me to eliminate that. I have an estimate from a major electrician company here in central FL,to do it via a sub-panel and a plug. But I’m concerned they won’t know how to handle the “bonded neutral/GFCI“ issue. I’m asking if they’ve done one before and if they know how to handle that.

You need a neutral switching transfer switch like the GENERAC 6853 for example, about $400 on Amazon.

The problem with GFCI tripping is because, unless the neutrals are switched, they are bonded in two places (the truck and the house panel) which creates a ground loop detected as a GFCI, and it can be a safety issue as well.

If wired correctly you will not have a GFCI trip when utility power is off.
And it will comply with safety codes.
One of the safety code rules says bonded generators should be grounded nearby (NEC 250.30(A) 4 and 5). Your truck is a bonded generator so it should be grounded nearby where it is parked. Many ways to do that and your electrician should know how to do it properly.

I recently installed a GENERAC 4953 at my house with 10 backed up circuits (using 2 tandem breakers and 6 regular breakers). Works great.

The only thing we (myself and at least 2 other forum posters) have noticed is that if there is utility power being supplied to the GENERAC switch when making the change to the Lightning, the truck will detect a small transient and trip the GFCI. But that only happens when testing. In an outage there will not be utility power supplied to the GENERAC switch so no GFCI trip.

Good luck.

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[flyct]

I did a search on this but didn't come up with any hits, though it may have been wrong keywords.

I'm in Central Florida and we lose power intermittently, usually from a hurricane but sometimes from other issues.

My neighbor does the following when the power goes out for an ongoing time. First, he turns off the main breaker to the grid and all the house breakers. He has a 220 volt generator that he then plugs into his dryer plug. Then he turns on the breakers on for things that he needs, like fans and lights. Just the low power stuff. He says it works well and he suggested I might try the same approach using my Lightning Lariat ER with Pro Power.

I'm wondering if anyone else has done this using the 220 V outlet in their Lightning ER. If so, any recommendations or other experiences to be shared? Did you buy a connecting power cable online or have one made? Thanks in advance.

@pdp0617

Paul,

We have a very remote cabin about 90 miles south of Orlando.

It seems that we loose power at least once a month due to storms that cause trees to fall on powerlines.

Below are some pictures of just 2 days ago where we had to use the Lightning to power the cabin for 6 hours while FPL repaired the main line that cause 104 homes to be without power due to a tree falling on a power line.

I have an Interlock Bypass kit on the main breaker to safely prevent both grid power and generator power to feed the house at the same time. https://interlockkit.com/

A dedicated 30 amp breaker connects the generator inlet to the house.

It was originally installed to use our gas generator to power the house when grid power is out. Using the gas generator I use a standard generator cable.

When using the Lightning to power the cabin, I have a custom modified generator cable without a ground connection. This eliminates the truck GFCI from tripping and keeps the house wiring code compliant.

Total cost of parts on the cabin side is less than $200. Each breaker panel has a different interlock bypass kit.

I had the cable from Previous hurricanes when I lived on the east coast of Florida and used it with a generator.

When power is out I can run all 120 v connections. But I can only run one 240 volt load at a time. I can even run my 3.5 ton Central AC after I installed a MicroAir EZstart on the condenser.

 

[richguy82]

MOST large portable generators that one would use to power a house does NOT have built-in GFCI. Hence most homeowners will never experience the issue. An electrician that isn't familiar with generator hookups because they don't normally do them in their line of work probably also will be oblivious. So yes, you need to own your requirement and make it very clear.

You can have an electrician install a generator inlet box, a new 240v 30 amp breaker, and a UL Listed legal main breaker interlock kit. This is very common, very easy, and very effective. You can use any portable generator to power up your whole panel the right way, without killing people like your neighbor sparky.

BUT, to use it with your truck, you will need to not connect the ground from the truck to the ground in the house in order to get around the GFCI issue. On mine, the ground wire is disconnected at the inlet box. It is not unsafe, and it does not bypass any existing protections in your panel or breaker functionality. The power feed from the telephone pole doesn't have a ground or GFCI either. We're all still alive. However, your licensed electrician will probably not do that ground disconnect for you. You would need to do it, remember it, label it, etc. Lots of people here, myself included, do this and use it frequently very successfully.

If do not want to do all of that stuff, the next most common thing is a Generac 6852 manual transfer switch subpanel. The built in manual transfer switch does indeed transfer the neutral to fully mitigate the GFCI issue on the truck. The downside is it only has 8 circuits. And a 240v circuit takes up two. It is limited. I prefer to control my whole house.

The best way is the put a 200 amp 3-pole (neutral switching) manual transfer switch between your meter and the panel. That will beautifully transfer the full panel between main and generator inlet.

How much of a difference does it make removing the ground at the inlet box vs on the inlet box side of the cable or removing from the cable near the truck end? If I remove the ground at the inlet box, will this in anyway affect the operation of a portable generator?

 

[flyct]

How much of a difference does it make removing the ground at the inlet box vs on the inlet box side of the cable or removing from the cable near the truck end? If I remove the ground at the inlet box, will this in anyway affect the operation of a portable generator?

It's functionally the same. But a portable generator does not have the extra GFCI protection as does the Lightning so having a ground connection offers some additional protection when running a gas generator with an unmodified generator cord and unmodified inlet box.

What is different is that the house wiring is not code compliant if there is no grounding at the generator inlet.

 

[pdp0617]

Just FYI, to all who responded. First, thanks for all the helpful info. We are having a professional Electrician from a reputable local country, install the breaker interrupter and alternate input source. They will be taking the ground out of the power cable at the house end to avoid the GFCI problem. That way if someone else in the future has a generator they can use it safely with the ground at the house input. Thanks again to all.

 

[chl]

Two things you MUST have if powering a dwelling with a bonded generator per the NEC for safety:
a neutral switching transfer switch and
a continuous equipment ground.

This video sums up generators and grounding per the NEC:


If you want to know about sub-panel grounding this video explains it:

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