A cautionary tale

[SWMBoost]

The cord from the receptacle to the truck is what you need to pay attention to. This is what your electrician doesn’t know about. This is what causes it’s a trip. It’s just the way the truck is designed and it’s just the way it needs to be.

Are you talking about taking the ground out of the cord? What exactly are you referring to?

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[Hullguy]

Just a warning for those looking to hook up their PB to their home as a generator…

I bought the generac panel every one recommends and had a licensed electrician install it. It still trips at the truck and won’t allow me to power the house. Electrician said I could not connect the ground in the panel (illegal, dangerous, against code, won’t pass inspection) or im out of luck.

Another work around is people removing the neutral from the 220v cord. Also highly advised against by the electrician. So I get to go out and by a 30amp generator even though I bought the PB for this purpose. Just thought I’d let others know it’s not as simple or easy as others make it to be with breaking code or being unsafe.

You have hired a professional who understands the code and your safety.
to double check, you bought the Generac 6853, or one in the 685* series?
You have to have the transfer switch turned to the truck as a source before plugging the truck in

 

[Hullguy]

Keep in mind, not all electricians know what they’re talking about. Clearly, this one didn’t.

Disagree. He said exactly what I would say a s a licensed Master Electrician with 40 year of experience

 

[Lefty665]

Chris, you are correct. I've used my power boost on my Rv without any problems,
because the neutral isn't bonded to the ground(sub panel). Since our power boosts have a gfci built in, that senses imbalance in power flow and would trip. That's why gfci's are allowed for ungrounded circuits. I would disconnect the ground, never the neutral.

Exactly, the neutral gives you 120v circuits as well as 240v.

 

[gb7FRz26]

Exactly, the neutral gives you 120v circuits as well as 240v.

Right! I read that bit "The workaround many have done is to only connect the two hot legs and ground, leaving the neutral unconnected." and thought "Where the hell is the current going to flow then?!?" (for any 120v plugs).

A 10KW dry type single phase isolation transformer is overkill. But it'd work, lol.
Maybe we'll see more people getting large LiFePo4 (aka LFP) battery setups and then using one or two EG4 ChargeVerters on their PB. They'll do 5KW but you can set the amps to derate, they happily take almost any kind of input power, and two is better than one unless they both go up in smoke at the same time.

It sucks it isn't as simple as plugging in any transfer switch into the truck though. I bet a lot of people just string extension cords around.

 

[tbeneteau]

Chris, you are correct. I've used my power boost on my Rv without any problems,
because the neutral isn't bonded to the ground(sub panel). Since our power boosts have a gfci built in, that senses imbalance in power flow and would trip. That's why gfci's are allowed for ungrounded circuits. I would disconnect the ground, never the neutral.

Agreed. My house panel shares ground and neutral and my PPOB would always ground fault, so when I wired my cord connector I did not connect the ground wire to the ground . Just the two power leads and the neutral. Powers my house no issues.

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