Cheesefactory
New User
- Location
- Houston, TX
- Occupation
- IT Infrastructure Engineer
Hi all, first post here. I work in IT and I'm not an electrician, but I know enough to be a danger at least. I've been watching Mike Holt videos forever just for my own interest. Forgive me if there is anything below that I have said that doesn't make sense, I'll try my best to be as accurate as possible
I am getting a new truck, its the Ford F150, and it has the PowerBoost system with the 7.2kW generator mode. The truck has 4 x 20a 120v outlets in the bed, as well as a 30a 240v L14-30R. It will let you run them off the battery, and then the truck will turn the motor on as needed to charge the battery, and you can run it forever.
The catch is that ALL receptacles, including the L14-30R are GFCI, and it has a bonded neutral, not a floating neutral like most generators. So far there is no way to unbond the neutral, or at least no one has figured it out. There isn't a whole lot of these trucks out there due to the chip shortage.
Because of the bonded neutral and GFCI, people are having issues connecting it into their main panel to use as emergency power.
I'm wondering if any smart people here might have an answer. I actually just got myself a generator interlock kit and a 30a inlet installed, and I was hoping to be able to use this if needed. I live down in Houston where we get storms, and as you probably know, if it gets chilly, the entire states electrical grid will shut down. I do have a 27KW NG Generator on the way, but the lead times are long due to demand. I want to have a way to power the house even if there is a natural gas outage, or my generator fails
Some people report that disconnecting the ground in the cord solves the issue. Should this be the case? And how safe is this? It doesn't seem like it would be code compliant, or safe
Some people are reporting that only works if powering a sub panel due to the ground not being bonded in the panel. I question this, as unless they are disconnecting the main panel ground and neutral, they are bonded further down the line at the main panel
There is some transfer switch products out there that will work with a generator with a bonded neutral, but then I have to pick and choose circuits. Ideally I want do that myself, with breakers. My main panel is far away from a sub panel that has the majority of my circuits in
Thanks! Any replies appreciated
TLDR: How can I use a generator with a bonded neutral to backfeed my panel?
I am getting a new truck, its the Ford F150, and it has the PowerBoost system with the 7.2kW generator mode. The truck has 4 x 20a 120v outlets in the bed, as well as a 30a 240v L14-30R. It will let you run them off the battery, and then the truck will turn the motor on as needed to charge the battery, and you can run it forever.
The catch is that ALL receptacles, including the L14-30R are GFCI, and it has a bonded neutral, not a floating neutral like most generators. So far there is no way to unbond the neutral, or at least no one has figured it out. There isn't a whole lot of these trucks out there due to the chip shortage.
Because of the bonded neutral and GFCI, people are having issues connecting it into their main panel to use as emergency power.
I'm wondering if any smart people here might have an answer. I actually just got myself a generator interlock kit and a 30a inlet installed, and I was hoping to be able to use this if needed. I live down in Houston where we get storms, and as you probably know, if it gets chilly, the entire states electrical grid will shut down. I do have a 27KW NG Generator on the way, but the lead times are long due to demand. I want to have a way to power the house even if there is a natural gas outage, or my generator fails
Some people report that disconnecting the ground in the cord solves the issue. Should this be the case? And how safe is this? It doesn't seem like it would be code compliant, or safe
Some people are reporting that only works if powering a sub panel due to the ground not being bonded in the panel. I question this, as unless they are disconnecting the main panel ground and neutral, they are bonded further down the line at the main panel
There is some transfer switch products out there that will work with a generator with a bonded neutral, but then I have to pick and choose circuits. Ideally I want do that myself, with breakers. My main panel is far away from a sub panel that has the majority of my circuits in
Thanks! Any replies appreciated
TLDR: How can I use a generator with a bonded neutral to backfeed my panel?