Thanks for stopping by! I'm John, I was an industrial electrician for 40 years and spent my last 10 years employed as an electrical engineer for a multi billion dollar corporation.On this channel I'll share some of the skills that I have learned over a long career as well as some DIY tasks that I take on around the home. I'm now enjoying retirement and running this youtube channel as a hobby. If you like the content let me know in the comments and be sure to subscribe and hit that bell so you won't miss my next upload.
Thanks again, John. (Backyard Maine)
Please use the email address below for business inquiries only. I cannot respond to electrical questions through email.
I should get one because they are unavailable on amazon according to your links. Really I am just a cash poor contractor who is getting to old to run up and down stairs and I always forget my radio at home.
I have one of those collars installed on the power meter where I can plug in the female end of the cord. The collar and cord was around 1500 bucks installed. It doesn’t require a transfer switch and won’t back feed the grid so no danger to linemen working. It has lights that let you know when the power is back on. I’ve used it many times and it works great. Want a whole home generator one day.
This is actually a code violation with receptacles but not 15 amp switches... It definitely should be... I've had so many calls with outlets and even multiple rooms failing from backstabbing...I've even seen the whole back melt off of outlets. I too have pulled outlets out and the wires just pull right out. Why the heck do they still put them on the outlets is the big ?? Don't ever backstab it's soo bad!
Connecting via dryer circuit. I still don't get how a line worker could get hurt by that connection. If the Outside Main Breaker from the pole is switched OFF, how could my power leave my house and go the other direction? Thanks
Go to Canada and you can still buy a sorta functional can. Question here is then whether you can stomach the 12%+ sales tax or make the long drive to Alberta. Probably still no vent, but no flame arrestor and spring loaded spout is an optional feature that costs extra.
Found my neighbors dead because of carbon monoxide. They put the generator in the bathroom(no windows, just a 8 cm passive escape system in the roof). RIP
Do you also have some battery operated smoke detectors? I'm sure you do, but when you mentioned fire alarms running on power from a breaker, I started to worry.
They fail because people daisy chain through the receptacles instead of using pig tails. The second set of terminals is for splitting the receptacles. If you have 12 receptacles on one branch circuit, that's 25 points of failure instead of 13 with pig tails. If wired correctly, any receptacle should be able to fail on that circuit without it effecting any other receptacles. So if the stab connection causes lights to flicker, you are a poor electrician.
Pro tip: Prior to mounting a vise, cover your workbench with a sheet of Masonite, smooth side up. Makes it so easy to clean up and you don't risk getting splinters.
had customer who's coco clock chain got across the bldes of a plug hanging partially out of receptacle and it blew and threw sparks, scared the heck out of them.
I have a finished garage with an unfinished loft. They have some plywood up there and some exposed area. The home inspector just assumed the bulbs were burned out, but the previous owners ran a length of romex up there and never connected it. If i understand this right: i only need to support the wire if i travel more than 4.5ft along a joist. I will need to drill a hole through a joist if i need to cross it. I need to leave 6in of working wire inside the box. I need to check the installed junction boxes for that part. I know they are metal, and installed in the ceiling/floor going to outlets. My goal is to replace the current lights with motion sensor, led, camera.
Crazy USA! The worse "electricity circuits" I saw in my life. Go to France to learn how to make electricity PROPERLY (e.g. to begin, abandon your 110/115V and USE THE F* 230V like all others developed countries).
If you had any understanding of what it would take to make that change you would not have made such a foolish comment. If your systems are so safe why is the electrical injury and death rate per capita so much lower here in the USA..
Hey you should mention about the generator is it a floating neutral or frame bonded generator, when you connect to the house like you did you need the generator to have a floating neutral. It uses the house bond and its code per the NEC. Not getting into all that its a vid in itself. All gens will tell you what they are and give instructions on how to remove to green bonding jumper if they are frame bonded and not floating.
Thats a subject for an upcoming video. It doesn't really dictate the installation since the generator can be simply bonded or un-bonded if needed. It's a good point though and one I'm going to cover in the next few weeks.
With this electrical tester, you'll finally stop guessing which wire is the 'shocking' one. It’s like a magic wand for contractors-except it won’t turn you into a crispy critter!
Be aware that High end electronics in your home need a "Inverter" generator that produces clean electricity. Older freezers and refrigerators may run well off of old type of generator but Computers, etc need Clean electricity. Do your homework on this issue as it is very important for your family.
I do service calls all the time. This would be a time saver, especially for the shorts. Funny thing is i have it in my wish list already, have already been spying on these. Great video.
So, it seems like a good all-in-one system but you only get 6000 watts out of the inverter and only a 3.84 kWh battery. For around $3000. Not a great value. I went with a Sungoldpower hybrid inverter good for 10,000 watts and 5x 5.12 kWh rack batteries for a total of 25.6 kWh of capacity. Including extra bits like manual transfer switch, cabling, bus bars, etc, it all cost about $11,000. It runs our house for a whole day without us even trying to be careful about consumption. If we're careful, we can probably get near two days. It takes a bit more knowledge and effort to set up, but you only have to do that once. Other than the oven, electric stove, central AC compressor and level 2 EV charger, every single circuit in the house is going through it. No stove/oven, but we can use the microwave. The AC would be nice, but we can deal with it for a little while if the power goes out. The HVAC blower is on battery backup and our heater is gas, so we *do* still get heating on battery in the winter. If I really wanted to add the AC, I could add another 10 kW inverter in parallel for less than $2000 and it would probably handle it. It's been reliable so far, one year in. For about HALF the cost per kWh capacity. The Anker does still seem like a solid option though if you don't need a large battery capacity, 6000 watts is enough, and you want an easy solution that isn't too expensive. The route I went is definitely something to consider though if someone is seriously looking into doing whole home backup. And no, I'm not a paid Sungoldpower shill or anything like that. It's just the brand I ended up buying, there are several others at similar price points that people also recommend. Growatt, EG4, etc.
Aws a former Merchant Marine Engineer this is the best teaching to a novice in portable power generation. Unless you are a certified electrician don't mess with the main breaker panel. Have a licensed electrician install the generator feed and the breakers. Great video and PLEASE stay safe if unsure always find out who can help via google search your area for an installation electrician.
John I have searched all over your homepage and I cannot find what you're saying for me to respond back to the email just wanted to let you know I am trying to reach back out and I've asked for my daughter to help me out but she can't figure it out either
I just learned that it's not displayed on the mobile app. On a desktop or laptop you will go to my home page, select the "more" button at the top of the page to the right of my logo and a pop up will appear where you will find my email address. I don't want to add it to the comments because bots will pick it up and spam me..
@ 7:25 Time Stamp, You Cheated, and Didn't Show you Stripping the Insulation off each Wire, to Correct Lengths....lol The last i checked, Wire didn't come Pre-stripped, from the Builder's supplier's.. ..lol
I have an old fluke circuit tracer, but it works on and off. I would love to have a tracer like this to make my job less of a headache when troubleshooting
