Was wanting to see what ideas others have on hooking up an portable generator mounted on a trailer. I was thinking of Mounting a 200A SE rated disconnect on load side of meter an then adding a 200A manual transfer switch an then feeding an existing 200A panel. Was wandering what method others would use to hook up generator to transfer panel. I was thinking the cheapest method would be to hard wire the Gen when needed, or maybe install a 200A pin an sleeve to bottom of transfer panel .
60KW Portable Generator hookup
- Thread starter wmeek
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iceworm
Curmudgeon still using printed IEEE Color Books
- Location
- North of the 65 parallel
- Occupation
- EE (Field - as little design as possible)
Your thinking and your "or maybe" are both fine. Cost benefit analysis.
ice
JoeStillman
Senior Member
- Location
- West Chester, PA
We did a lot of portable hookups for little telephone switch buildings here in eastern PA. The standard design was a weather-proof pin-and-sleeve inlet connector with a manual transfer switch. For services over 200A, the MTS was inside the building with conduit sleeves through the wall nearby. If you really want to get carried away, you can provide a shore power disconnect switch for the jacket heater and battery charger on the portable. Sometimes there were cam-locks on the generator input to the MTS.
I think you're on the right track.
I think you're on the right track.
zbang
Senior Member
- Location
- Roughly 5346 miles from Earls Court
FWIW, over about 100a definitely I prefer camloks to pin-and-sleeve connectors (and for 2p 50a, I use 'RV' connectors). The downside is that they're harder to correctly connect in the dark (matching the colors and all that).
zbang
Senior Member
- Location
- Roughly 5346 miles from Earls Court
Google is your friend
http://www.cooperindustries.com/content/public/en/wiring_devices/interconnect/brands/cam_lok.htmlThe most common style is the 'J' series type E1016, rated 400a each. They're used by just about all the temporary power & generator companies and in theatrical/film/TV power distribution.
Usually about $15-20/cable connector, and there are commercial sellers on ebay. There are also vendors that will sell j-boxes and cable whips with connectors installed. (I usually buy from Trystar Industries, but that's only because they've done well for us in the past, nothing special otherwise.)
As I mentioned, the downside is that you have to connect individual leads, so you can't leave it to Joe the Gardener to "plug this in, press start, pull the (MTS) handle down". They should only be connected by someone who's been trained to set up the generator and bring it online.
ceb58
Senior Member
- Location
- Raeford, NC
The OP has an almost duplicate post on this subject in this category. What he and the rest are missing is he is wanting to connect a 60 Kw generator to a building with a 200 amp service using 200 amp rated equipment. Any one see a problem?
ceb58
Senior Member
- Location
- Raeford, NC
Sounds like you have a classic case of "hooking an elephant to a little red wagon". Without built in OCP you must then follow 445.13 and size the conductors at 115% of the name plate rating. Then you can step down to 200 amps but the equipment must be rated for the generator name plate ampacity . But what is the load calculation of the building? You could get by with a lot smaller generator.
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ceb58
Senior Member
- Location
- Raeford, NC
That's it in a nut shell. But you need to look at the name plate rating.
So I was thinking instead of installing a fusible switch for the generator OCP on this 60KW Generator , I could install a 250A Breaker enclosure with 350Kcmil from generator terminal box to the 250A breaker. On the load side of the Breaker I could install a 200A feed thru panel to feed the house. Also I could install outlets on the side of the loadcenter on the generator for other uses. Does this look like a good idea
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