5kw military generator powers house with transformer with explination

Amen to all the comments about your connection to the house main panel. What you describe is illegal and dangerous to the operator and any power company service workers that could be working on a line they knew was not energized. Regardless of your warnings, this kind of hookup should never be used.

Use a transfer switch. Much safer way to run the house on generator power.

Very helpful information. I had to laugh when you described a 1969 design as "very old." Cheers to your youth! I am working on a 20kw diesel powered mil genset.

Thanks for the great video you did a good job explaining it I just need to find me a Transformer and see if I can get somebody to help me to hook mine up I haven't had my running for years but no reason shouldn't run it ran when I put it away and I drained all the gas out of it so she should fall right up but I'm going to get her out one day and check the points in and get her get her running again I use a hand start mine with the Rope it's not bad because when she's running good she'll far right up she was that old Magneto snaps over so thanks again it was a great video and I enjoy just watching you work on the thing so take care and stay well!

Never idle the generator unless you want to replace the voltage regulator.

you really should have some sort of interlock or safety between the mains coming from the street and the generator, because if they were to be turned on at the same time then you'd be in shit real fast.

great info, thank you for the time ya spent putting this together. i just built a shed for mine and ready to hook it up, so, perfect timing lol

You are very intelligent in your approach in several areas, but especially when talking about flipping on each breaker one at a time. Here I'm an old Navy electrician and overlooked that. Now you now incorporated that idea into me. That stood out more than everything else. It would be nice if you had a pocketbook version of common sense things to do.

I recommend AGAINST putting the MALE PLUG on the output of the transformer as the exposed blades pf the plug are electrically LIVE whenever the transformer is powered up. It would be better to use a FEMALE cord cap on the cable from the transformer output and a MALE INLET at the house. Much safer. Also recommend the installation of (at a minimum) a MANUAL TRANSFER SWITCH.  In a real outage, one might forget to turn off the main breaker and when the generator back-feeds the electric grid, a lineman working on the lines may die because transformers don't know or care which way the current is flowing through them.

cool i would love to see what you come up with and see it running.

BTW, you should turn the main off if you don't have a transfer switch!

the manual field flash is just in case when you fire it up , and it is not producing power , you flip that switch for around 5 seconds while running , and it will re magnetize the the generator head to make it pump out power , if you let it set unrun to long , you will have to use it one day to get it making power , but that is why it is there lol

Nice video. You did a great job explaining all the information about you're gen-set. Where on earth did you get it from in the first place? It is a 1960's gen-set and should really be gone over and cleaned and checked for any problems before relying on it to power your house. It's a big gen-set for sure. Thanks for you're in depth video.

Smart young man here, Thank you for your time and wonderful effort explaining everything to us in a very understandable break down with your diagrams I personally hope others pick up on everything you are explaining here because it go way beyond what most novice would ever know to safety attempt.This is fantastic  information that applys in all basic applications. Whether it is genset power / transformer or typical shore power from your local power company to transforms on your typical telephone pole. Transformers step up / Transformer step down. Thanks again

You do a very good job with your explanations! Well done.

Awesome video man!

Conatuslife: as others have said you must install a transfer switch. We have a cabin in the mountains with city power and generator. What I have is a manual non fused three way selector switch so it is impossible to ever back power in the main line. Lever up city, lever in the center power disconnected either source, lever down generator. Super simple and nobody can screw up.

thanks i figured that is what it was for and how it works but i wasn't sure.

The 1/4 turn panel fasteners are called "DZUS" fasteners... Usually they have that company's name on the head of them... The "Flash" switch recharges the field of the generator from the battery if the residual magnetism is lost and generator fails to produce output.

All you have to do is add a jumper wire from the 120v neutral to the 240 side( where the neutral should be when selected) on the rotary selector. You'll just have to remove the jumper if you use any other Voltage selection.