What's the simplest way to hook up a small generator to a home's power grid?

Question

I've search the internet extensively and haven't found an answer to this question.

I just wanted to play with solar panels and human powered generators and couldn't figure out the simplest and cheapest way to hook it into my house to get some benefit out of it.

I.E. can i just have my panel hooked into a charge controller and a single battery to act as a float and then an inverter and hook the output from the inverter into a standard power plug in the house? can i push power into a power outlet or is there some system so that power can only come out of the plug?

anyone have any ideas on the easiest simplest way to hook up a panel or a car alternator? I was going to turn my indoor bicycle into a generator by hooking up a car alternator to it... how could i most simply hook this into the house?

Answer 1

you can put power into a plug, just be sure to shut your main breaker off first. and shut off breakers for high draw appliances like AC oven microwave waterheater etc.. When my power goes out I unplug my dryer and plug in a whip that I made that plugs into my generator. If you want to power the whole house you will need to use a 240v recept like for an electric dryer, if you use a standard 120v recept you will only power up one bus bar / half your house.

yes 12v with an inverter will work, yes you can put an inverter on your car battery and power your house with your running car I suggest getting a deep cycle gel type battery in your vehicle if you want to do that, you should also upgrade to a 200a alternator if you're going with an inverter larger than 2500watts, a car won't be near as fuel efficient as a standard generator though, and it won't put out near the wattage. but like I said before, if it's only a 120v inverter you're only going to power up half the house

Answer 2

if you can induce enough power into the circuit it will flow back into the grid. It is not likely that a generator can return enough power to begin sending power into the grid. Also, gas is likely more expensive than the electricity which means you will incur a loss even if you do manage to send power into the grid. The only successful method I have heard of is to use solar panels, commonly mounted on a roof which are wired into the home. This is called NET METERING. During periods of low power usage electricity flows back into the grid reversing the spin of the dials or readout on you electricity meter. This is of course dependent on the presence of sunlight so an area of the country that receives less sun during the year may show little yield. This process is also governed by the electricity companies and state regulations.

Answer 3

Solar panels and car alternators produce DC, and you need AC for your house, which means you have to buy an inverter that will convert from DC to AC; no big deal.

However, the unit has to have an "intertie" capability. This means it has to be able to SYCHRONIZE the AC output from the inverter with the frequency and phase of the AC being produced by your local power supplier (PG&E, or whoever). Also, it must be capable of dropping off line if your power provider drops off-line, since clearly your provider doen't want to be repairing a line that they think is dead while you're pumping 20KW into it.

That said, it's pretty easy to buy inverters that do all that. I bought a unit capable of handling around 4000 watts for about 2 grand. You can buy smaller ones for much less. I got permits and everything to hook it up, which wasn't too costly, just time consuming and a lot of paperwork. I hooked up a 2400 watt solar panel installation with it. But, there's a number of "guerilla" solar installations out there that hook up their systems to the grid via an intertie inverter without bothering with the permitting process.

Hope that helps. A good source for intertie inverters is below. The output from one of them can be connected to any unused circuit breaker in your house panel (be sure to kill the power on the main circuit breaker if you mess around with the wiring...it's easy to kill yourself with this stuff).

Answer 4

Do not attempt to do this by yourself, and you should probably hire an electrician. You'd be better off using a small 12 volt sytem with your solar panels and charge controller to charge the battery, then run 12 volt equipment off the battery.
If you do have an electrician, to do what you asked you'd go from the solar panel then go to your charge controller to the battery to charge the battery, then from your battery to your inverter to an ac means of disconnect, and you power the receptacle (power plug or outlet) off of the circuit breaker. Pretty much the same thing with the indoor bike. Do not hook the battery directly to ac power or the battery could explode.Tieing it to the home's power grid can expensive since you need specialized stuff and you'd need to hire an electrician to do it safely.

Answer 5

My knee-jerk response was, "Hire an electrician." That's before I read your details.

The generators you are contemplating are incompatible with a 120/240 V, 60 Hz system, which is what powers the majority of homes in the US. The automobile generator you mention outputs 12 VDC. Not only do you have to match the voltage with your line voltage, you have to synchronize your generator with the line so it achieves peak voltage at EXACTLY the same time as the incoming line. It also requires permission from your local power company and permits from your local government. You need the power company's permission because they need to be sure that you will not damage their wiring or equipment. You need city or county permits because faulty installations can result in fire, personal injury, and even death.

I don't think it can be stressed enough that this is a very, very bad idea!

Answer 6

Trying to parallel your home electrical system with another power source has potential for injury. Most generators are ungrounded systems and if you don't do things right, you can electrocute someone.

As alternative, what you could do is identify dedicated loads that you can power from your alternate power source. Perhaps a hot water heater, or a single appliance such as a refrigerator.

This you could do by running separate circuits to these loads back to your power source. If necessary you could install switches to allow you to select the desired power source.

Answer 7

do not mess with what you don't understand. Firstly you have to figure out through a series of equations or a powerful enough multimeter, voltage and current levels of your generator. If the current is above that of what you are being supplied with and the voltage very similiar then you can do it. Just try running something with it first, like a cheap stereo. then ask on.

Answer 8

not a good idea unless your alternative power source can supply enough power to run the minimum appliances. if your just running a couple of things like a tv and radio, power them directly from your other source. bad things could happen if the two sources accidentally got connected.