This was a timely article. Like many in FL, my son is trying to power his home from a portable generator having lost power with hurricane Milton. What is more frustrating is he has 10Kw solar array on his house that is absolutely useless because it is grid tied and without power from the grid the inverters shut down. He lives in a suburb of Tampa, which is why he chose to go grid tied rather than off-grid.
Currently he is struggling not to run out of fuel (his generator is dual fuel) to run the generator to power his fridge and a few fans.
I understand a grid tied system but there must be a better way to be invested in all that solar power generation capability and then in an emergency not be able to use it.
Remember if you use a 120V generator (which is outside PG&E's guidelines) all of your 240V breakers must be OFF and you will have a maximum of 3600 Watts. The maximum the meter can accepts is 30A at 240VAC, which would be 7200 Watts. There is a 30A breaker in the PG&E-supplied extension cord.
Mike, I live in Northern California and received a Backup Power Transfer Meter from PG&E like the one you described but included a new meter. The program requires you to live in a Tier 1 or 2 fire danger area and has a list of approved generators. The technician from PG&E installed it in ten minutes and also gave me a 25' 10 Gauge extension cord with a breaker in-line. Since I have not yet upgraded my Predator 3500 generator, I use an L5-30P Male to L14-30R Female transfer switch adaptor cord to supply 120 VAC to my panel. When the power went out for two days recently I turned off the main and all other breakers, connected the cord, started the generator and then turned the main back on along with only the circuits I wanted to power. With a larger 120/240 generator I could have powered everything but I only used the 120V circuits, so no heat pump, water heater, clothes dryer. But I was running my kerosene-fired Monitor heater which only needs enough watts to run the fan and control board.
Did you have to do anything special to get that to work? I had the PG&E backup power transfer meter installed and recently had the chance to test it. I have a similar setup with a 120V generator and an adapter for the plug. The meter saw the generator power coming in, but wouldn't switch over. From what I could tell from the blinking lights, it was in an error state. I tried the reset button...
Page 11 of the manual has specs and says the AC grounding system is "Floating Neutral." Not sure if that is what you are talking about? I do have a grounding rod available I could connect the generator to.
I have a feeling that the PG&E ATS is looking for double-pole, 120/240-volt, split-phase power or it will refuse to connect to your generator. I’ll see if someone there will talk to me…
This was a timely article. Like many in FL, my son is trying to power his home from a portable generator having lost power with hurricane Milton. What is more frustrating is he has 10Kw solar array on his house that is absolutely useless because it is grid tied and without power from the grid the inverters shut down. He lives in a suburb of Tampa, which is why he chose to go grid tied rather than off-grid.
Currently he is struggling not to run out of fuel (his generator is dual fuel) to run the generator to power his fridge and a few fans.
I understand a grid tied system but there must be a better way to be invested in all that solar power generation capability and then in an emergency not be able to use it.
Remember if you use a 120V generator (which is outside PG&E's guidelines) all of your 240V breakers must be OFF and you will have a maximum of 3600 Watts. The maximum the meter can accepts is 30A at 240VAC, which would be 7200 Watts. There is a 30A breaker in the PG&E-supplied extension cord.
And this is the adaptor cord I used successfully. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08H1X3G4T/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Here is the manual. https://www.pge.com/pge_global/common/pdfs/save-energy-money/savings-programs/backup-power-transfer-meter-manual.pdf
I don't recall if I removed the bonding plug or not. Here is the data sheet from PG&E. https://www.pge.com/pge_global/common/pdfs/save-energy-money/savings-programs/BPTM-FactSheet.pdf
Mike, I live in Northern California and received a Backup Power Transfer Meter from PG&E like the one you described but included a new meter. The program requires you to live in a Tier 1 or 2 fire danger area and has a list of approved generators. The technician from PG&E installed it in ten minutes and also gave me a 25' 10 Gauge extension cord with a breaker in-line. Since I have not yet upgraded my Predator 3500 generator, I use an L5-30P Male to L14-30R Female transfer switch adaptor cord to supply 120 VAC to my panel. When the power went out for two days recently I turned off the main and all other breakers, connected the cord, started the generator and then turned the main back on along with only the circuits I wanted to power. With a larger 120/240 generator I could have powered everything but I only used the 120V circuits, so no heat pump, water heater, clothes dryer. But I was running my kerosene-fired Monitor heater which only needs enough watts to run the fan and control board.
The best part was it was FREE!
https://www.pge.com/pge_global/common/pdfs/save-energy-money/savings-programs/BPTM-FactSheet.pdf
Did you have to do anything special to get that to work? I had the PG&E backup power transfer meter installed and recently had the chance to test it. I have a similar setup with a 120V generator and an adapter for the plug. The meter saw the generator power coming in, but wouldn't switch over. From what I could tell from the blinking lights, it was in an error state. I tried the reset button...
I’m not sure if it needs the generator to be bonded or not. Do you have a link to the operator’s manual?
The generator is a Firman WHO2942- the sitefor that has the manual at:
https://firmanpowerequipment.com/products/wh02942
Page 11 of the manual has specs and says the AC grounding system is "Floating Neutral." Not sure if that is what you are talking about? I do have a grounding rod available I could connect the generator to.
The transfer switch manual is here: https://www.pge.com/pge_global/common/pdfs/save-energy-money/savings-programs/backup-power-transfer-meter-manual.pdf
The program info including specs are here: https://www.pge.com/en_US/residential/save-energy-money/savings-programs/backup-power-transfer-meter.page?WT.mc_id=Vanity_transfermeter
PG&E does have a list of compatible generators, but they are all 240V, so the 120V generator Bill Morgan is using wouldn't be listed.
I have a feeling that the PG&E ATS is looking for double-pole, 120/240-volt, split-phase power or it will refuse to connect to your generator. I’ll see if someone there will talk to me…