7500w hybrid generator issues

[Spiffy]

I'm just getting back to this.
Here is what I have done.

Fired up the truck. Plugged in the cord. Measured 120 on both sides. So truck is good.
If I remember correctly my electrician built a cord that Plugged into my garage sub panel. Three prong. My truck has a 4 prong outlet.
I vaguely remember him saying that I don't want the ground from the truck to connect to the panel. Just the two 120v feeds.
So I have a 4 prong extention cord going to a made up 4 to 3 prong output to a 240v welder outlet on the sub panel.
When I need power I first turn off main to utility.
Plug in truck. 4 prong. Plug other end into welder outlet. 3 prong. Start truck. Flip 240v garage breaker on.

Fry 3 clocks, washing machine control board, 120v to 24v step transformer on new furnace. Get super bright leds in garage,

Diagnosed that I had 240v on one side of main panel and 30v on other side.

What I don't understand is why this happened all of a sudden. I have powered my house this was over a dozen times before. I haven't change a thing.

I know this is a jury rigged system but I simply don't care. I'm just trying to understand.
Do I want the ground from the truck to connect to the earth ground on my house?

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[HammaMan]

If it was wired properly then it sounds like the neutral is loose. A 3 prong 240v welder / dryer plug can be safely used for this without the ground. More than one person has PM'd me on this where the electrician gave them a 3 wire plug and had zero issues. Without the neutral the imbalance of L1 and L2 loads is where the voltage comes from. This is textbook loose neutral no matter where the power is derived from with split phase 240v.

 

[Hullguy]

Call a different electrician that knows what they are doing. A true professional would not make a bypass like this.
And they should be able to fix your neutral issue

 

[Spiffy]

Like i said, I don't care. I'm not getting into the debate. It worked and now it doesn't. I'm only interested in what could have changed.
HammaMan has been quite helpful.

 

[dafish]

If it was wired properly then it sounds like the neutral is loose. A 3 prong 240v welder / dryer plug can be safely used for this without the ground. More than one person has PM'd me on this where the electrician gave them a 3 wire plug and had zero issues. Without the neutral the imbalance of L1 and L2 loads is where the voltage comes from. This is textbook loose neutral no matter where the power is derived from with split phase 240v.

 

[Hullguy]

You may not want to join the debate, but if you had connected your Pb to the proper transfer which. Is installed Properly, then you wouldn’t of smoked anything in your house..

 

[v8440]

It is what it is and they do what they do.

 

[HammaMan]

You may not want to join the debate, but if you had connected your Pb to the proper transfer which. Is installed Properly, then you wouldn’t of smoked anything in your house..

A loose neutral is a loose neutral. It's not relegated to the ground being present, this statement is false.

 

[Hullguy]

A loose neutral is a loose neutral. It's not relegated to the ground being present, this statement is false.

A loose neutral is a loose neutral.

A loose neutral is a loose neutral. It's not relegated to the ground being present, this statement is false.

It’s not a false statement! I would argue that this proves my stance on why not having a ground from the PB is stupid

 

[JJSnell]

How long is your cord? Sometimes people try to carry a certain load that extends too far to maintain that load.
It sounds like you haven't changed anything but if you are using the Generator for a longer duration than before then the extended use of low volts\amps could fry things.

I am NOT an electrical guru but just see things. Friend had a trailer with a 30amp connector. He used a 20amp power source (so he was already short on amps) and a 100ft 10/3 extension cord and fried his AC unit. When I went out there to look his 100ft plug where it plugged into the adapter was in the dirt melting (slowly).

I may not be explaining this well, I just woke up and it's 5am but long story short if your power cord is too long and you use it for long durations and Max out those long durations you can lose amps and fry things...

Hope you find the culprit and looking forward to hearing the resolve.

 

[HammaMan]

A loose neutral is a loose neutral.

It’s not a false statement! I would argue that this proves my stance on why not having a ground from the PB is stupid

I think you're having a brain fart. A loose neutral doesn't change with ground being present. You say you've got a lot of experience but you're clearly lost here on a very obvious diagnosis.

 

[scott011422]

Definitely a lost neutral.

Your house has 240V power with "neutral" in the middle. That gives you two sides. The neutral from the transformer forces each side to be 120V. What if it didn't? Then each side would be "whatever" in voltage! (but they would add up to 240V.) That is happening.

The connectors/terminations are far more likely to be the culprit than open runs of wire.

That "whatever" will change with load. Turn on a toaster on one side, its voltage will drop and the other side's goes up. You're bound to over-voltage both sides and blow almost everything in your house... and that can start fires.

What's more, your neutral may not be at a safe (near ground) voltage anymore. Even scarier, some electric ranges and washing machines attach the chassis of the machine to neutral because they are too cheap for proper grounds. With a lost neutral, those chassis are now hazardous. People have died from this. Recently. Google "electrocuted" and that's usually the story. You can't cure this by turning off the breaker; breakers don't switch neutrals.

 

[Snakebitten]

I do believe the moral of this particular story is

Use good quality receptacles and chord ends.
And do a good job of wire stripping and attaching conductors to termination points.

I'm not preaching at anyone, just discussing why it's worth the extra money for products like Hubbel, and then taking your time torquing and wrapping things really good.

I recently self-installed a home charging station for an EV. Arguably these chargers are the highest sustained amperage draw that a residence will have. Imagine drawing 48Amps/240V sustained for many hours, while you sleep at night.

Purchasing quality electrical components and connecting them properly is just good sense. And by the way, the big box stores and Ace hardware won't likely have the good cable ends and receptacles.

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