Generator accessories

[jimbo913]

Recently bought some accessories to enhance the generator experience.

1- Purchased a killowatt meter with Hz reading. Figured this will come in handy to monitor voltage and Hz from inside the house to save me from running out to verify. Less than $20

2- Purchased a power out alarm so I dont have to wake up to smoke when the power goes out and the pellet stove stops. I paid less than $30 and got one with a 15 sec delay for power surges. If you dont need the delay you can get for less than $13 but the power flickers a lot at my house and I dont want to be woken up unless its really off. I actually wish it had a 1 min delay but 15 sec should be ok.

Jim

 

[Triple Jim]

Interesting alarm idea, Jimbo. I have the opposite, a power-on alarm, to let me know when commercial power comes back on. My carbon monoxide monitor beeps loudly when the power goes off, so that takes care of waking me up to start the generator.

 

[jimbo913]

That is something I need but unsure how to do it. Can you expand on the power on alarm? I assume you have an interlock or manual transfer switch, so how do you monitor power on?

My current power on alarm is through power company as I set it up to have them text or call me when reporting the outage. So far so good but may not always be fool proof so if I can verify on my own it would be great.

 

[lxawolf]

Now I do not have this product so not sure how well it works. It works similar to a nonconducting electric line tester. When it detects power from the utility side of the transfer switch it gives you an alarm. http://www.homedepot.com/p/Reliance-Controls-PowerBack-Utility-Power-Return-Alert-THP108/202216506?cm_mmc=Shopping|VF&gclid=CPDQotbf9McCFYmRHwodjMIBqA&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[jimbo913]

Thanks, that is interesting. Been nice if you could just wrap it around the incoming main wires. I dont mess with or get near any exposed wires prior to the main breaker and mine are bare aluminium.

 

[jamawieb]

Thanks, that is interesting. Been nice if you could just wrap it around the incoming main wires. I dont mess with or get near any exposed wires prior to the main breaker and mine are bare aluminium.

Jimbo, the reliance alarm does wrap around one of the incoming main wires and you have a ground. I have one, takes about 10 minutes to install. Hardest part for me was making a platform for it sit on.

 

[Triple Jim]

That's the one I have too. As stated, there's no direct connection other than a ground.

 

[dependable]

Here is a picture of the one I installed, if it is any help. Red pencil pointing to pick up wire wrapped on the main.

 

[jimbo913]

Thanks everyone. If I recall correctly my main wires are not insulated very far into the box and I dont like playing with them. I will pull the panel and check if my memory serves me correctly. If there is enough insulation I will highly consider adding this device.
My mains are just inside a jacketed bundle, not in a conduit like shown. It would be nice if you could just wrap around the entire main set of wires outside of the panel box

 

[jimbo913]

Ok, getting old I guess and memory failed me. I have about 6" of insulated wire to work with and I think its just the ground that is aluminum. Guess I am safe if I only touch the one leg but those big wires scare me

i am going to go ahead and install an alarm even though I could probably get away with notification from the power company.

 

[CT-Mike]

I will definitely be ordering one of these, thanks for the link.

 

[Chainbreaker]

Thanks for the link as well! I was going to contact our CO-OP power company to see if they had one of those industrial type of neon, or LED, panel indicator lights they could install to use as a utility power indicator on my two service entrances. However, this lil gadget should work nicely. The only thing better would be if there was a way to have it send a text message to my phone.

By the way, my CyberPower 1500 PFCLCD UPS unit does send me a text message via the free Cyber Power Business Edition software when the power goes out. I configured it to wait 5 minutes before sending a text to eliminate notices of shorter outages. So when I am away I know if we lost power.

Here's a link for it: http://www.cyberpowersystems.com/products/management-software/ppbe.html

 

[jimbo913]

Does your energy company provide notification service? My provider will text or call.

 

[Chainbreaker]

Does your energy company provide notification service? My provider will text or call.

The only notifications we receive from our utility provider are letters in the mail when there is a planned maintenance outage. Often they rely on the subscriber to call in a local outage (tree limb falls on power line, etc.). However they are automated enough to read our meter remotely and bill us on time!

 

[jimbo913]

I have to call in or notify online as well (or someone does) but during that process I can select how I want to be notified. On the flip side they dont read my meter remotely so I get estimated bills every other month unless I call in the reading.