Mep-016d 240v

[Stob]

I've been reading the previous posts about these, and getting the "2 phase" out of them. I know, house power is generally called single phase, but in reality it's double phase. What I've read about these units is they have a single phase 240 output.

So, can these be wired for a 240 double phase house current? The only reason I want the split service is to power my well pump, which is a 2 wire pump, otherwise I could get by on the single phase.

 

[islandguydon]

There is NO 2 PHASE ,You are confused on how electricity works. There is 1Ph and 3Ph, 1Ph 60Hz is either 120V or 240V, your MEP has a configure switch/clips for output. Place the unit into 1Ph 240v, run this to your transfer switch, don't forget the ground, 3 wires 2-hot 1 common ground and a ground rod for the MEP. Always use the ground rod, connect with a copper rope or 8Ga solid copper. Then wire from the transfer switch to your home fuse box, this will cover your well pump already on the house circuit breaker and any other loads you have.

If I were you I and I did not completely understand how the system works, I would find a spot outside of your home close to the interior mechanical room where the fuse box is and pour a concrete pad and mount the unit as back up. Then call an electrician to complete the install from there. Power can kill so if you don't understand ANYTHING get help before you hurt yourself or burn the house down.

Last Fall our lake was out of power for 3 days. I stopped by Tom's, a neighbors home to check on him, I pulled into the driveway and Carol his wife was screaming and there was smoke coming out the door and windows. Tom a 63 Yo man had both 120v lines hooked up to the house and forgot the system common ground, he hooked up 2 lines not 3 lines from the generator. This caused 2 plasma TV's, a fridge, 2 freezers, 1 bedroom clock, stereo, breathing machine, cable converter and other things plugged in to smoke and killed them all, Big insurance claim.Tom is lucky the house wires did not burn the house down. After that I installed a transfer switch for him so all he has to do when the power goes out is, start the generator, make sure its warm first then, throw the transfer switch.

I hope I made my point, If you do not completely understand power call a licensed electrician. As WM says, Thats my two centavos

 

[Keith_J]

Split phase. 240 volts is obtained from a center-tapped secondary transformer that is referenced to ground. This allows for 240 volts with only 120 volt potential to ground, making for slightly safer systems for household electricity.

In three phase, each line is offset by 120 degrees which is 1/180th of a second. In split phase, the voltages are 180 degrees offset or 1/60th of a second. As such, the maximum (RMS) voltage difference is 240 volts.

 

[Stob]

There is NO 2 PHASE ,You are confused on how electricity works. There is 1Ph and 3Ph, 1Ph 60Hz is either 120V or 240V, your MEP has a configure switch/clips for output. Place the unit into 1Ph 240v, run this to your transfer switch, don't forget the ground, 3 wires 2-hot 1 common ground and a ground rod for the MEP. Always use the ground rod, connect with a copper rope or 8Ga solid copper. Then wire from the transfer switch to your home fuse box, this will cover your well pump already on the house circuit breaker and any other loads you have.

If I were you I and I did not completely understand how the system works, I would find a spot outside of your home close to the interior mechanical room where the fuse box is and pour a concrete pad and mount the unit as back up. Then call an electrician to complete the install from there. Power can kill so if you don't understand ANYTHING get help before you hurt yourself or burn the house down.

Last Fall our lake was out of power for 3 days. I stopped by Tom's, a neighbors home to check on him, I pulled into the driveway and Carol his wife was screaming and there was smoke coming out the door and windows. Tom a 63 Yo man had both 120v lines hooked up to the house and forgot the system common ground, he hooked up 2 lines not 3 lines from the generator. This caused 2 plasma TV's, a fridge, 2 freezers, 1 bedroom clock, stereo, breathing machine, cable converter and other things plugged in to smoke and killed them all, Big insurance claim.Tom is lucky the house wires did not burn the house down. After that I installed a transfer switch for him so all he has to do when the power goes out is, start the generator, make sure its warm first then, throw the transfer switch.

I hope I made my point, If you do not completely understand power call a licensed electrician. As WM says, Thats my two centavos

Look, I am not an electrician, but I have been in the commercial construction business for over 30 years. I know and said, that there really is only single phase for house wiring, but there are still 2 120 volt lines, one to each buss. What I have read on previous posts about these units, there was confusion about how to get the wiring into a house switch, leading me to believe the output on the unit is a SINGLE 240 line, and of course it has a neutral and ground. Perhaps the other posters did not know the wiring connections the unit has, which I haven't looked at yet either.

I'll download a manual for the unit and look at the wiring diagram and the connections.

 

[islandguydon]

Hello STOB, no disrespect intended at all. I read your post and just wanted to make sure your safe thats all. Sorry for buttin in.

Don

 

[Stob]

Thanks, I'm fine. This is my first time dealing with surplus equipment and wading through as much info as I can.

 

[Ken_86gt]

Just to reiterate what some have said- your house is "split phase, single phase". Your house voltage is derived from a 240V center tap transformer giving you 120/240.

Now there is such a thing as two phase- it is nothing more than two hots and a neutral from a three phase system. The voltage here could be 120/208. There are two phase motors and such out there, but not very common.

 

[Grega]

What you probably want on you generator is 120/240 volt. There is not a place on your voltage selector for this but you can still get 120/240 with a modification On my Mep 016A generator, the only way to get 120/240 volt is to open up your control box, put the voltage selector to 240 volt. Then run a piece of #10 wire from LO to TB6, or the 6th spot on the terminal board. One is furtherest away ang the 6th one is the closest to you as you face the gauges. Do not switch the voltage selector after you do this. I would assume your MEP016D would be the same.

 

[Grega]

I messed up on my typing. The furtherest terminal is #1 and the closest one is #6, facing the control panel. Doing this mod. will give you 120/240. L1 to L2=240. And L1 to L0=120, L2 to L0=120volt. But make sure you keep the 120 ballanced, or try to keep the same amount of load on each 120 volt legs, or somewhat close. Hope this helps. Greg

 

[Stob]

Grega, thank you for this helpful info. My intention is to use this as house backup. Like I said before, if it weren't for my wellpump which is 240, I wouldn't care, just use 120V. But my lovely wife would like to use the "facilities". We were out of power for 4 days a couple years ago. Luckily, I had a couple plastic 55 gallon drums full of water that I bailed water out of to flush, but it wasn't easy since this all happened during a huge snow storm and the water was frozen all but the center in the drum.

Thanks again.

 

[Jries]

Stob,

I'm in the same boat as you with the 240 well pump and that being the reason for wanting to run in 240 mode to a transfer switch. I was wondering if you ever got it all hooked up. If you did what'd you use as neutral, L0? Or did you just do a 3 wire hook up? If so where'd you run the ground to?

 

[Stob]

To be honest, other things have gotten priority and I've not done anything yet. Hopefully once the cooler weather sets in and outside chores slow down, I'll get back into it.

 

[Jries]

Thanks for getting back to me. Please post if you come up with anything. My 16d has 120 from both L1 and L2 to ground in 240 1 Ph I'm trying to figure out if I should run 3 wires with the ground bonded to the frame or If there's a true neutral to run a 4 wire setup.