Generator Power Cord

mbalbritton

mbalbritton

#@$%!
Joined
Mar 22, 2005
Location
Lakeland, FL
I was given a basically new generator. Troy-Bilt 3550. Nothing big, but enough to power a few things in the house if needed.

What I'm looking at is the Cord. I have a 12' length of 8ga 4 wire and a 10' length of 12ga 4 wire. I need to get 4 ends to use them. Either cord is long enough to get the generator out of the garage and about 4-5' away from the house. I'm wondering if I don't put the plug ends on that I would be able to daisy them to get a bit more length. Generator is rated at 20amp. So I'm thinking this is possible with the 12ga being rated for 20.

I guess the question is would I be good plugging the 8ga into the generator then the 12ga between the wall and the 8ga. Just looking to arrange my plug ends properly.
 
awheelterd said:
I mean, you could. But 10/3 so cord from Lowe's is readily available and not that expensive. Then you could get it as far a away as you want and not have some raggity wire nuts half way to come off an cause trouble
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This
To be proper you'll have to make a plug, male and female, to mate those cords. Or get a junction box with strain relief on both sides and wire nut them inside. I mean I'm assuming you weren't gonna just have 4 wire nuts hanging out in the open :laughing: . By the itme you do that, might as well just use the right thing.

Plus - seems odd that a 3550 gen is only rated at 20A. Is that a single circuit?
 
RatLabGuy said:
This
To be proper you'll have to make a plug, male and female, to mate those cords. Or get a junction box with strain relief on both sides and wire nut them inside. I mean I'm assuming you weren't gonna just have 4 wire nuts hanging out in the open :laughing: . By the itme you do that, might as well just use the right thing.

Plus - seems odd that a 3550 gen is only rated at 20A. Is that a single circuit?
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Those are startup watts
 
awheelterd said:
Those are startup watts
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So are Startup Watts now the equivalent of 2019 dollars1? :laughing:

Even at startup thats way more A's than the rating we're talking about.
 
So… ran up to Lowe’s and… now I’m confuzzled.

First off, the 4 prong plugs are $25 a pop. At 4 ends that’s $100 vs. a $75 proper generator cord. No brainer there.

BUT!!! The plug on my generator identifies as female as well as the outlet in my wall to feed into. The extension cord is a hermaphrodite with his and hers on opposite ends.

I’m not seeing a he/him extension cord. Is that normal?
 
mbalbritton said:
So… ran up to Lowe’s and… now I’m confuzzled.

First off, the 4 prong plugs are $25 a pop. At 4 ends that’s $100 vs. a $75 proper generator cord. No brainer there.

BUT!!! The plug on my generator identifies as female as well as the outlet in my wall to feed into. The extension cord is a hermaphrodite with his and hers on opposite ends.

I’m not seeing a he/him extension cord. Is that normal?
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You're not going to find the cord that you want because what you are setting up to do is potentially very dangerous. People often refer to this as the cord of death.

It sounds like what you were planning to do is to back feed from the genny into a wall outlet, which then "pushes" the juice back into the main panel and around the house.
This is fine... As long as (1) you are absolutely certain the main breaker is off so you can't feed power out and up the pole and (2) all the matching wiring inside of the house is rated for the amperage that you were pulling from the generator.
This is been discussed a lot here and let's just say there are several opinions on whether it's a good idea or not...

The reason that such a cord does not exist in any kind of retail situation is because it's way too easy for an idiot to use it the wrong way and kill somebody.
There may or may not be people here who make their own, and their may or may not be a handmade one stored in my own garage right now for specific situations....

Basically the cord you're talking about would be used to connect one supply of power to another supply of power which potentially causes a collision of lots of power and bangs and smoke follow
 
mbalbritton said:
I’m not seeing a he/him extension cord. Is that normal?
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he/him always commits suicide.
To dangerous with all that power just hanging out there to zap someone.
(2) male connections are not allowed by the man, due to the potential of Darwinism.
 
Clearly I’ve never had a generator before. There is a female L14 30R plug on the wall that has a 30amp breaker in the panel labeled for “generator”. The breaker has always been off. Using my tester, I confirmed the plug and the breaker are associated.

HOWEVER, sounds like I need to have an electrician come check it all out and make sure I’m set up properly.

For my knowledge, I assume there should be a male receptacle on the wall?

The safety aspect makes sense.
 
mbalbritton said:
So… ran up to Lowe’s and… now I’m confuzzled.

First off, the 4 prong plugs are $25 a pop. At 4 ends that’s $100 vs. a $75 proper generator cord. No brainer there.

BUT!!! The plug on my generator identifies as female as well as the outlet in my wall to feed into. The extension cord is a hermaphrodite with his and hers on opposite ends.

I’m not seeing a he/him extension cord. Is that normal?
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Look up RS or reverse service plugs..
 
 
 
Imma just throw this out here: don’t do the double male end plug, just run some extension cords to the things you want to run (I assume fridge, some lights, etc.). If you want to run more things look into doing it the right way through your panel. Or do whatever, this is the internet and all we do is pontificate and try and sword fight :laughing:


Edit: when the Heyal did you go to FL. Now with this F’in hurricane coming down on you, do whatever gets you what you need because time is running out
 
mbalbritton said:
There is a female L14 30R plug on the wall that has a 30amp breaker in the panel labeled for “generator”
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Sounds like the PO used a cord of death to connect their generator. If you install a male plug like in your Amazon link, the prongs will be hot if you turn the breaker on. That's why you need either a generator transfer switch or breaker interlock or something.
 
A guy I know has a cord of death l. Said guy turns off his main breaker first, plugs death cord into non running generator, then into the dedicated outlet in his storage room. He starts the generator, then opens the breaker that is fed by the outlet in storage room. Cord of death never has juice on it when any prongs are exposed, so Ive been told.
 
awheelterd said:
A guy I know has a cord of death l. Said guy turns off his main breaker first, plugs death cord into non running generator, then into the dedicated outlet in his storage room. He starts the generator, then opens the breaker that is fed by the outlet in storage room. Cord of death never has juice on it when any prongs are exposed, so Ive been told.
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Sounds like a guy I know.;)

I also know another guy who has the cord of death permanently plugged into the generator which then goes into a disconnect then to a permanent outlet that is wired into the sub panel in his garage. Said guy goes to the main panel and turns off the main breaker then engages the disconnect, starts the genny and then turns on the breaker in the sub panel. Why a disconnect in the middle you may ask? Well, I have been told that a garage heater was added after the fact and the sub panel didn't have enough breakers so the heater is on the same circuit and the genny didn't like being back fed. Disconnect solved that problem in a more safe manor. The heater will never be on during a power outage.
 
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awheelterd said:
A guy I know has a cord of death l. Said guy turns off his main breaker first, plugs death cord into non running generator, then into the dedicated outlet in his storage room. He starts the generator, then opens the breaker that is fed by the outlet in storage room. Cord of death never has juice on it when any prongs are exposed, so Ive been told.
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I know a guy who does the same, except his plug is in his garage not in a storage room.
 
if more then one person might be involved in the operation you might want to get an interlock to keep someone from turning on the main breaker after they realize the neighbors have power again.

you can find them cheaper or even make on but, this site might help you identify what your looking for:

www.generatorfactoryoutlet.com

GenInterlock

A generator interlock kit is a device to allow safe backfeeding of a home through a portable generator during power outages. This eliminates unsafe generator backfeeding situations that could potentially electrocute electric power company workers or destroy the generator. The interlock kit is...
www.generatorfactoryoutlet.com www.generatorfactoryoutlet.com
 
Ron said:
I know a guy who does the same, except his plug is in his garage not in a storage room.
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The guy I know's storage room is one of those mini golf cart garages. It conveniently contains both of his panels. I've heard a rumor that he phased his two panels and has double breakers in both that will connect them when running the generator to give the whole home power and not just half. That's all just hearsay though.
 
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