How to Hook Up a Honda 2000 to an Outside Electric House Panel

Installing a Transfer Switch

• 1

  Remove the parts and equipment for the transfer switch's packaging. Review the instructions, and identify the various parts. The entire process will be much simpler when you understand the parts and equipment.

• 2

  Mount the outdoor-rated transfer switch receptacle on the exterior of your home, near the power supply and electrical meter. Mount this box firmly, making sure the screws are driven into wall studs, and not just grabbing siding and wall sheathing.

• 3

  Mount the transfer switch load center, which is the other half of the transfer switch, to the wall inside the home's basement utility room. Mount the load center near the existing homes electrical load center.

• 4

  Drill a hole through the wall of the home from the basement to the outside through the home's foundation. Connect the exterior receptacle to the interior load center according to manufacturer's instructions.

• 5

  Caulk the hole to the exterior of the home after the electrical connections are made.

Connecting the Transfer Switch Load Center

• 6

  Turn off the power to the home's main load center. Never work on a breaker panel without first disconnecting the power supply. Remove the front covers on the main load center and the backup transfer switch breaker panel. Each load center contains many breakers, and solid copper wires connected to the breakers. These wires lead from the breakers into the home.

• 7

  Identify critical circuits in the home's main load center to be backed up by the Honda generator. The wires leading from the transfer switch load center must be connected into the main load center, and the Honda generator provides only a limited amount of power, up to 30 amps. Pick only the critical circuits, which must remain active in the event of a power outage.

• 8

  Transfer each of these circuits from the main load center to the back up load center. Transfer 15 amp circuits to a backup 15 amp circuit, 20 amp circuit to 20 amp circuits. Avoid transferring any 220V circuits that run industrial equipment, air conditioners or electric ranges. These circuits will overload the Honda 2000 portable generators.

• 9

  Transfer a circuit by disconnecting the positive wire from the circuit breaker in the main load panel and connecting it to a wire that leads into a circuit breaker in the alternate load panel. Complete the connection by twisting the bare wires together with a vinyl-covered yellow wire nut. Follow the same procedure for the black negative wire for each circuit. When complete, the breaker in the main load center will be bypassed for the critical circuits. Follow all manufacturer instructions completely.

• 10

  Connect the grounding wire in the backup load center to the grounding lug bar in the main load center via 12-gauge unshielded copper ground wire. These two electrical panels must share a ground in order to complete the electrical circuits, and safely ground all the equipment.

Connecting the Honda Portable Generators

• 11

  Purchase a 30501 parallel power kit for the Honda 2000 generators. Mount the switch to the end of one of the generators according to the manufacturer's instructions.

• 12

  Complete the connections between the generators, according to the manufacturer's instructions. When powering a home, the manufacturer recommends that two Honda 2000 generators be wired together in parallel. The total power output of two Honda 2000 generators are 4000 watts, providing 30 amps service.

• 13

  Connect the female outlet, in the event of a power failure, on the generator's parallel switch to the electrical receptacle on the outside of the home with the special cord included with the transfer switch. Flip the main switch on the transfer panel, and then the Honda Generator's supply can supply power into the home without risking feedback or dangerous voltage spikes.