Posted: 10/9/2013 8:54:37 PM EDT
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I'm looking at installing a transfer switch on a breaker panel in a trailer. One of the inputs will be an inverter powered by a battery bank that is charged by solar. The other input will be from a generator.
My question is the inverter is 3 wire (which is what I'm familiar with) but the generator is 4 wire. I don't know what the 4th wire is for. It has the standard white, black, and green wires but then also has a red wire. What is the red wire for and how would I wire it to a transfer switch? The switch looks to have terminals for the standard 3 wire setup I'm accustomed to. |
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Voltages?
The 4-wire is a 220V feed - white is neutral, green is ground, and black/red are the two "hot" legs. Assuming that the inverter is 220V, it's probably hot/hot/neutral. But, you would want to verify, not trust some stranger on the net. Look in the manual, or even on the inverter for a wiring diagram. Is the transfer switch for 120V or 220V setups? Post some pics and/or model numbers of all of the pieces involved here, let's get some info so we can help you do it right. :-) |
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I'll have to get the models when I get back over to the trailer, I won't have time today, but the inverter is just 110v. I hadn't considered the generator feed to be 220v since nothing in the trailer is 220v.
Now that I think about it though, perhaps the A/C is 220..... I won't be running the A/C on the inverter but if it is 220 that could cause some complications wiring everything up. I was under the assumption that everything was 110v simply because I didn't think anything in the trailer was 220v. I'm well versed with 12v DC systems but have only modest experience with AC systems. |
| If your panel and your generator are 220, probably the easiest thing to do is install a 220 transfer switch with 4 wire 220 v input (probably an L14-30). Then build an adapter cable that plugs from your inverter to the L14-30. There are other threads here that discuss that in detail. |
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Quoted:
I'm looking at installing a transfer switch on a breaker panel in a trailer. One of the inputs will be an inverter powered by a battery bank that is charged by solar. The other input will be from a generator. My question is the inverter is 3 wire (which is what I'm familiar with) but the generator is 4 wire. I don't know what the 4th wire is for. It has the standard white, black, and green wires but then also has a red wire. What is the red wire for and how would I wire it to a transfer switch? The switch looks to have terminals for the standard 3 wire setup I'm accustomed to. I am unclear as to what you are doing here. What inputs are you talking about? The transfer switch will be wired to switch power from the utility and the other input on it can be either the generator or the inverter, but I don't know of any transfer switches that allow you to switch between three sources. I wonder if generator is set up so you can either wire it in series and get 115/230 from it, or wire it in parallel and get 115V only. Must be kind of old. UL no longer allows this on small generators. |
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Quoted:
I am unclear as to what you are doing here. What inputs are you talking about? The transfer switch will be wired to switch power from the utility and the other input on it can be either the generator or the inverter, but I don't know of any transfer switches that allow you to switch between three sources. I wonder if generator is set up so you can either wire it in series and get 115/230 from it, or wire it in parallel and get 115V only. Must be kind of old. UL no longer allows this on small generators. Quoted:
Quoted:
I'm looking at installing a transfer switch on a breaker panel in a trailer. One of the inputs will be an inverter powered by a battery bank that is charged by solar. The other input will be from a generator. My question is the inverter is 3 wire (which is what I'm familiar with) but the generator is 4 wire. I don't know what the 4th wire is for. It has the standard white, black, and green wires but then also has a red wire. What is the red wire for and how would I wire it to a transfer switch? The switch looks to have terminals for the standard 3 wire setup I'm accustomed to. I am unclear as to what you are doing here. What inputs are you talking about? The transfer switch will be wired to switch power from the utility and the other input on it can be either the generator or the inverter, but I don't know of any transfer switches that allow you to switch between three sources. I wonder if generator is set up so you can either wire it in series and get 115/230 from it, or wire it in parallel and get 115V only. Must be kind of old. UL no longer allows this on small generators. There aren't three sources, just two. One is the solar charged battery bank fed to the panel by an inverter while the other is the generator. This is trailer, so there is no grid utility. |