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« on: September 17, 2014, 05:51:19 PM »
Greetings folks, newbe here. I've had a stand by generator for years and used it for long periods during winter power outages, although now that the roadside trees are being more aggressively trimmed, not as much anymore, but I still need to feel I can be independent of the grid if need be as we live on an island. I have a Lister SL1 that was completely rebuilt just before I got it, so it’s a strong little engine, hand crank, a real sweetie, my wife can start it, no problem. I have it running one of those 2.9KW "Northern" heads, infect I have a spare, I know, I should have went with the ST head but, didn't know any better at the time. I'm happy with the power output as we heat with wood and cook with propane, no need for more power in the house (all 120v) and I can run my 240v deep well pump or a tool in my shop if I have to. This system has worked for several years but an opportunity to upgrade has come my way, the big brother to my SL1 so without going into details about the SL2, except she starts right up, no smoke, I'm trying to figure how to set up my new system as I have just ordered a ST5 gen head from Tom Osborne. I'm no electrician although I did do all my wiring, but if its not in the "Sunset Home wiring" book I may be in trouble. I keep an eye on the wattage gauge on the transfer switch and see that the load stays somewhat balanced, this is still with the 2.9KW gen head so a question I have is, should I wire the new ST5 head for
120v only? I think it would be most handy to go 240/120 then I could run the house and 240v pump with either Lister. If I dedicated the new SL2 Lister and ST head to 120v it wouldn't be able to run the pump or shop I'm trying to have a system that will be good for a short power outage or a long power outage. Both Listers will have the same size (7&3/4) pulley so they can run either head which is another reason to have both heads 120/240. I don’t need 240v much when the grid goes down but I do need it, mostly to run the pump once a day or a power tool in an emergency. I hope all this makes sense
Thanks, Steve