Question regarding Interlock and Ground

[flyct]

They had a version that switched both ground and neutrals automatically that worked with the lightning (or other ice variants). This denotation is new, and wasn't there the last time I visited the page. That's interesting enough where it seems like something may have changed...Still worth researching.

I know that at least one Lightning owner reported that they used a version of this and had success. But being that neutral and grounds are connected together in the breaker panel I don’t see how it would work unless the device breaks the connection from the generator input to the device.

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[RickLightning]

When we had our whole house generator put in, they had to separate the grounds and neutrals in the panel. Therefore, this MIGHT work for me.

The only reason I considered it was fuel savings, i.e. the power goes out, generator kicks on, but my needs are low - say it is 60 degrees, no AC running, no furnaces running. The generator is eating up natural gas barely being used, call it $20+ per day. I turn it off, then turn on the truck, and save a bunch of money.

The $22.99 per month = $275.88 per year is a deal killer. It would make more sense to put in the Generac 6852. But it's $400, plus installation. I'm sure with a generator in place, plus the fuse box being full, I'd need another panel, and put in their only the breakers I want to run with the 6852, so that's another bunch of money. My guess was $1,500 to make it work, all to save natural gas when I am already home and could just run extension cords from the truck...

 

[Formerly]

I know that at least one Lightning owner reported that they used a version of this and had success. But being that neutral and grounds are connected together in the breaker panel I don’t see how it would work unless the device breaks the connection from the generator input to the device.

The beauty of the product is that it lives before the panel, intercepting the ground/neutral connection before the bonded panel (literally right at the meter) - so in some cases with minimum effort this may be the silver bullet, but in other cases, there may be residual grounding issues that would trip the GFCI.

I think this should be a prime change for the NEC where all new dwellings have the ground connection pushed back before the main panel into the meter house connection for simplicity's sake.

 

[Runaway Tractor]

As many others have eluded, you would need to leave the ground from the truck disconnected from the house panel to mitigate the truck's GFCI tripping. I recommend a dedicated "generator cable" with the ground disconnected on the house end of the cable and marked clearly as such. That way the truck's ground protects the cable (for example if someone runs it over with a lawn mower or water gets in it). And the house panel and protections will all continue to work safely as designed. There will be NO loss of any existing protections (overload, GFCI, AFCI, etc) on the house panel.

 

[flyct]

As many others have eluded, you would need to leave the ground from the truck disconnected from the house panel to mitigate the truck's GFCI tripping. I recommend a dedicated "generator cable" with the ground disconnected on the house end of the cable and marked clearly as such. That way the truck's ground protects the cable (for example if someone runs it over with a lawn mower or water gets in it). And the house panel and protections will all continue to work safely as designed. There will be NO loss of any existing protections (overload, GFCI, AFCI, etc) on the house panel.

That is the solution that works with my installed interlock bypass kit. https://interlockkit.com/

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