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Transfer switch questions, Reliance brand

JJJJ

Aspiring apprentice
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Feb 25, 2021
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I recently had the opportunity to view an installation that used the Reliance brand transfer switch system. I have since watched a number of videos and have been impressed with the technology.

What I like is that the wiring, breakers and switches are are already prebuilt. What is especially nice is that it looks like the wiring has already been labeled (e.g. A, B, C,) etc to make it easier to make sure that one is wiring the breakers on the main panel properly.

There are switches for each circuit on the unit, Generator/Off/Line. One has the opportunity to take a number of circuits in the home and mix and match sources. For instance, Circuit A and C might be run by generator (it has a generator input) and the other circuits on the grid. What is really cool is that one can take the output from the inverter, affix it to a generator plug and it can serve at the input to the unit instead of a generator.

I have seen these on Amazon but was wondering if there was a better source.

I also had a number of questions.

Could one wire the inverter directly into the switch box instead of using a plug?

Would it be possible to place a generator interlock on the main box and utilize the generator input there instead? With the interlock the grid would be disabled. This would be helpful when one wanted to supplement the battery input for other circuits (e.g. portable air conditioner).

I have seen some of these listed on Amazon but was wondering if there was a better source.

I am sure there will be additional questions but wanted to start the process.
 
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I have a 60amp reliance transfer switch and a critical panel with the important circuits only on it.

I had to move house circuits to it, but for the most part were I put my critical load panel beside were the wires run up to the main panel. So the only wires I had to extend were the few wires running up out of the main box.

This also transfers easily into a solar inverter critical load panel, and I reused the 60amp transfer switch to switch the feed of the critical panel from grid to inverter, such that I can switch the transfer switch to grid and bypass the inverter as needed.
 
Will the generator interlock on the main box disconnect all of the main box from the grid and only get power from your generator( gas or solar input) ? If you are disconnected from the grid then you only have the capacity of you generator ( gas or solar). The reliance transfer switch allowes you to pick and choose what stays on the grid and what is powered from your system
 
The reliance transfer switch allows you to pick and choose what stays on the grid and what is powered from your system
My thoughts were to use the reliance switch to allow battery input for certain circuits. The grid and or generator would be used to power the other circuits. With the interlock, the generator and not grid would be active in a power outage. Am I missing something here?

Thanks again
 
I am still planning my install, but my intention is to power the transfer switch with our inverter output. I already have a generator input for the inverter/charger and don't need another on the transfer switch.
 
The purpose of the generator would be to supplement ac input for short term household needs.
 
I will do a sketch schematic after work with the idea.
 
Ok. Basic schematic one. Grid input into the main panel, neutral bonded to ground per code. Transfer switch is connected to breakers 1 and 3 on the main. When the transfer switch is on "line" then input comes from the grid. When the transfer switch is on generator, the input comes from the transfer switch and then feeds circuits 1 and 3 on the main. At least this is according to the videos I have seen.
1737759081385.png
 
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Again, according to what I have watched on the videos, grid input is still permitted but output from a generator or inverter goes into the transfer switch and then on to the circuits that have been hard wired.
1737759360234.png
 
If this thinking is sound, there is still one unknown which might mess with the works. Currently my inverter can accept input from the grid via subpanel from the main with neutral ground separate per code to allow battery charging. I can switch off this circuit. Just don't know if this creates a possible ground loop situation. If so then this approach would not work. @timselectric ,@Sky-HHI curious on your experience. Thanks for any ideas, criticisms since nothing has been purchased for this yet.
 
@timselectric I think you may have already answered this question for someone else. If I don't run the white neutral wire from the transfer box to the main I would be OK? Again, perhaps I misread this:

 
This is as old as the hills ( made before the Studebaker Packard buy out 1958 ).
But the LT60s and its derivatives were made for many years.
Not much in them as far as electronics and options so very easy to work on ( and has a battery minder )

Look around for stuff you can get cheap on second hand equipment sites..

 
Is the transfer switch connecting to the main panel or the sub panel? If it is connecting to the main panel , I would wire it the way that Reliance explains in the manual.
 
Looked at the directions. They do not support what I was considering at this time. Thank you for that. Very nice system by the way!

I had posted something earlier but just removed. After my second cup of coffee this might just work. Would need to consider options for the inputs.
 
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I used a reliance 10 circuit TS for a while, just left all circuits on GEN which was fed by a hard wired inverter. It worked great but there is some GFCI weirdness that can occur. Ended up putting in a sub panel fed by inverter or grid with interlock.
 
I used a reliance 10 circuit TS for a while, just left all circuits on GEN which was fed by a hard wired inverter. It worked great but there is some GFCI weirdness that can occur. Ended up putting in a sub panel fed by inverter or grid with interlock.
I am doing the same - replacing current 10 circuit transfer switch ( pic ) with sub-panel/interlock. I want to have flexibility of adding more circuits.

Maybe I can get a few bucks for switch?

IMG_1143.jpeg
 
Yes, you can wire the AC Load from the inverter to the manual transfer switch (MTS) directly. I originally had used a NEMA L14-30 female plug on the manual transfer switch and a NEMA L14-30 Male plug from the inverter. This was fine for up to 30 amps at 240 volts, but I also had AC grid power going into the inverter with a 50 amp breaker and was worried about exceeding the 30 amps in grid bypass. So I went to a direct connection inside the manual transfer switch.

One downside of the manual transfer switch, if you have arc fault breakers in your panel that you want to use with the MTS, is that the breakers will trip when using the MTS and will have to be reset manually if you want to go back to powering them from the grid. I only have a couple of 120 volt circuits that I have wired with the arc fault breakers but I will typically only use them in the event of a power outage. You can purchase arc fault breakers for the MTS but I did not see enough benefit in my case.

I already have an interlock kit on my panel for use with a generator. In the advent of an extended power outage, I'll use the generator to power the panel but will use a NEMA L14-50 female receptacle on the panel to run my Chargeverter to charge the batteries and continue to use the inverter to power my critical loads from the manual transfer switch.

My panel is recessed so installing a separate critical loads panel, while doable, would require a significant amount of additional wiring. I found the manual transfer switch much easier in my case. I'm not trying to power my whole house, but I can power a significant amount of the total consumption with a 10 circuit transfer switch.

manual-transfer-switch-jpg.273040

 

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Ok, very similar to image 2. However, the grid is disabled by an interlock switch and the input is coming from a generator instead. Circuits 1 and 3 and supplied by output from the inverter instead of a generator.

View attachment 272901
@JJJJ
what is the intention for this set up ? is it for the generator to power the main panel and the inverter to power the 1 and 3 in grid down situation? you need a big generator to power all of the main or have to manually switch some loads off if generator is small. I have a 50Amp reliance transfer switch for generator installed a few years ago. it requires some manual switching when the grid is down and the generator is used. if your intension is to power some loads when the grid is down, critical load panel set up using inverter may cost less and easier to do. That's my first grade assessment but I want to hear why you want it done as drawn. txx
 
First I want the ability to run heavy duty items from the grid.

Then it would be nice to switch light duty items such as a refrigerator and simple lighting to inverter off batteries. Flipping a switch would go back to grid.

If I could feed the generator into the main then I could run heavier duty items while running a light grid charge to the batteries. All while having the ability to continue to run off batteries.
 
The possible fly in the ointment is that I am charging the batteries from the grid and I think I saw someplace where I should disconnect to neutral from the transfer switch if I did that, but I haven’t been able to verify that.
 
The possible fly in the ointment is that I am charging the batteries from the grid and I think I saw someplace where I should disconnect to neutral from the transfer switch if I did that, but I haven’t been able to verify that.
Disconnecting N could be catastrophic. If you have a common neutral architecture inverter like a newer EG4 such as 6000xp or the 12/18k PV series, not running a neutral from inverter to TS could be fine as long as inverter is hardwired, never disconnected. Still would need neutral from main panel to TS.
 
Ok. @timselectric does a deep dig on this subject in the following thread. I have some homework to do!

 
There are some good videos on adding a subpanel. We added one earlier but it was for a new circuit. My concern with moving circuits over to a subpanel was probably something silly. I simply wasn't sure how to extend the existing wiring to to the new box. There seems to be some discussion about Wago connections which seems positive and this is a stationary dry location. Adding wire for the positive, neutral and ground wires doesn't seem that bad, naturally running via conduit for housekeeping.
 
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