That's exactly what it is, I'm about to make a video showing how it works

That's what it is, it's a circuit tracer and a continuity tester, I'm going to make a video showing how it works, it even detects wire locations through the wall.

Yup, that's exactly what it is !

They work great, I'm a master electrician and don't work much with cat 5 but I do remember using this once to trace a cat 5 line, just can't remember why I was tracing that line, lol

That's great, glad it helped you understand. I did end up putting in a transfer switch and transfer panel for my solar, it worked great when we lost power during Helene and Milton, the transfer switch swapped over to solar so fast when the power went out that the lights didn't even flicker.I have videos on both of those if you didn't see them yet and I am about to do a few videos on generators/solar transfer switches, floating neutrals or bonded neutrals, should be out soon. Thanks for subscribing and helping to support the channel!!!

Sorry it's taking so long to get back to you, but we just went through hurricane Milton and I'm just now getting a chance to respond to everyone. Our very first video is on our house, it shows the size and a lot of the other details on our house, and the property. I'm glad you enjoy our videos, I'm about to put one together on hurricane Milton, we lost power for over 20 hours and the solar did great!!! In fact at one point I was watching a movie on the internet and forgot the power was out!!

Sorry it's taking so long to get back to you but we just got hit by hurricane Milton, we lost power for over 20 hours and the solar did great, at one point I forgot the power was out. Everything you said is dead on point, I couldn't agree more!! I'm glad you enjoy our videos, I'm putting one together on hurricane Milton today.

Yes, these are deep cycle lead acid batteries, they work great, you could most defiantly use lead acid batteries, wired in parallel or series, and 12, 24, 36, or 48 volts. There are pros and cons when compared to lithium batteries. I think I did a video on batteries and load calculations about a year ago, not sure, but if you scroll through my videos, you will see it. I will do another video on batteries soon, right now it looks like we may get hit by another hurricane mid-week, if we do I'm going to record the storm and release a video on that, after that I will make a video on batteries, if you have any other questions, or want anything else on batteries covered let me know and I'll answer your questions in that video.

Was defiantly great to have the power snap on so fast when it went out that the lights didn't even flicker!!!!!

Yes, you could have multiple sub panels that total more than 200 amps because you still could not draw more current than the 200-amp main can provide, the panel you see in this video is a 200-amp sub panel being fed by the 200-amp main panel I have.

Sorry took so long to get back to you, I got tied up and haven't been here for a few days. The transfer switch is a 30 amp, so everything else needs to match that. The transfer panel is all 120's, the only 240 I run on solar is the A/C, and that connects through the inlet and interlock kit, if the power goes off when I'm sleeping or not home I'm only concerned with the refer security system and cameras staying on automatically, though all 120's in the house stay on automatically if the power goes out, so all the lights tv and everything else stay on. When I built this house I designed it to be super efficient and run on minimum solar, the A/C is an inverter unit that has no start mode, and only pulls 1.9 amps when running at max, everything else in the house including the refrigerator only pulls about 1.4 amps when its all on, we have a lot more videos on the house, A/C and more, check them out!!

This was a lot of fun to build, it did take a long time to complete, but now that we finished everything and are living here, we never had so much peace in our lives,it's great!

Thank you for subscibing, I'm glad our videos are helping you learn, that's exactly why we do these. If both panels have their own meter can and are fed seperatly from the utility company neither is a sub panel, a sub panel is fed from another panel.I.m not sure if you're trying to make stuff that you already have work, or you still need to get what you need, but there is several options to do what you're trying to accomplish. First you probably don't need 300 amps of service for you're house, when I have seen this in the past it was usually because at some point someone wanted to seperate the electric charges, usually a renter, or for a barn or shop that's a business, things like that. I would simply install a transfer panel and move all the circuts I want to run on solar into that panel, that way you have all of those circuts in 1 panel and you don't have to worry about powering both panels. from there I would preffer to use an off grid inverter, mine is a 6000 Watt Split Phase, if I want to bring it with me somewhere it takes less than 5 minutes to disconect and put in my car, it can also be connected to my car battery and alternater and run that way, otherwise it stays permantly connected to my house and is ready to go at any time. I made this video that you just watched probably close to year ago, since then I have installed my entire solar system, installed a transfer panel and transfer switch, I have a ups which means uninteruptable power source/supply, if my power goes off the solar swaps on so fast that the lights don't even dim, I made videos on all of this as I did it, I think there is probably at least 10 of them, starting with wiring and installing the panels, take a look,they are in my most recent videos , it may give you some ideas on what you're doing, any other questions don't hesitate to ask and thanks again for subscibing.

Thanks for your quick response/advice. Clarification-- I have ONE utility meter and both panel boxes have separate main breakers, so this means that the main line from the meter was "split" before entry into each panel box??? Ughhhh.... @@smallhomeoffgridprepping1511

The main breaker dosn't matter,the question is where are the feeders coming from, if they are both coming from the meter can that means they are both main panels and each the first means of disconnect, that also means the meter can is double tapped and if the meter can lugs are not rated to be double tapped, that could be very dangerous, standard meter cans do not have lugs rated to be double tapped, those are special meter cans, very expensive because they are not 200 amp metercans they have to be rated at 3-400 amps depending on what size panels are added, I would have an electrician verify where the feeders are coming from and if both panels are being fed by the same metercan, that the metercan is rated for both panels, if you have an older electric system someone may have just added another set of feeders to a 200 amp metercan, and if so the older it gets the more unsafe it gets, Over 30 years as a Master electrician I only have only seen a few electrical fires, all were because someone had done somthing out of code and unsafe at some point, the senario you are describing with your panel was one of them, someone at some point had illegally double tapped a 200 amp metercan with 4/0 and 2/0 wires one set to a 150 panel and the 4/0 to a 200 amp panel, it would have always been overheating, but as it got older it became worse, evetually heating up to the point were the feeders began to melt and caught fire. There is set ups like yours that were done correctly and are safe, but I would have that verified if I were you. If the feeders don't both come from the metercan, one has to be a sub panel. Makes no differance for your solar, you could still remove all the desired circuits from both panels and move them into a transfer panel, you could then add the inlet directly to that panel, then your electrician will install a feeder breaker in the main panel to feed the transfer panel with utility power, another breaker will be installed in the transfer panel, and the feeders from the main panel will connect to that breaker to feed the transfer panel with utility power. The inlet breaker will install right above the feeder breaker, and the interlock connects to both of those breakers, preventing,both from being on at the same time, this is the easiest option for what your trying to do, these are panel interlocks, not main interlocks, Cutler Hammer has the best one because it's completly automatic, if you turn on the inlet breaker it automaticly turns off the feeder breaker and vise versa.

WOW, thanks so much and will be following up tomorrow for specs on the meter can! Beginning to identify what circuits we want to relocate to new transfer panel and hopefully we can locate a very qualified electrician down here. As a retired firefighter safety is number one! Thanks again... @@smallhomeoffgridprepping1511

Sorry I missed your comment, not sure how I did that. You are 100% correct with everything you said, you do have to have a disconnect on an outbuilding, and grounding. Not sure if you were just pointing that out, or refering to my panel, however this panel on the side of my house is a 200 amp sub panel, there is a 200 amp MB installed in the panel. The neutrals and grounds are seperated as they have to be per NEC after the first means of disconect, That part confuses a lot of people, even entry level electricians when dealing with an outside disconect, or an automatic transfer switch, those become your first means of disconnect meaning the main panel they feed is now a sub panel and neutrals and grounds need to be seperated. You are also correct about he grounding, and an electrode grounding system like you described is the most common, and it's also what I installed at my main panel. The grounding connected to the sub panel at my house is a ufer, this house was new construction when I installed all the electric and it's code with new construction you have to connect to a ufer. I'll show all this in my next video.

Sorry it took so long to reply, been very tied up with our ecommerce sites and haven't been here for a few days. This generator is bonded, most portable generators are, when connected to the panel with an interlock the ground in the panel will usually still be the least path of resistance and any overcurrent will usually divert through the main ground, even if the generator is bonded. When not connected to the panel the generator being bonded will prevent anyone from being shocked. there is cases where unbonded generators are used, however with a portable generator like this one I would recommend using a bonded generator, and never try to unbond a factory bonded generator.

I'm not sure of the link, I would have to go through a lot of emails to find it. I actually found this on Walmart for close to half of what the manufacture is selling them for on their website. Just go to Walmart and type in solar automatic transfer switch and you should find it.

Glad you're enjoying our videos and learning from them. Yes that is correct, when installing a transfer panel you do not have to move the neutrals into the transfer panel, they can be left on the neutral bar in the main panel, same with the grounds, they can be left in the main panel, but the transfer panel still needs to be bonded, so you still need to run a separate ground wire, I think I covered some of this in a video I made awhile back, this is the link kzbin.info/www/bejne/l4nId4tthrNqeLM The exception to this is arch faults as you see in my video, my house is brand new and falls under the current NEC, which means most everything needs to be arch faulted, when installing a transfer panel with arch faults, you will need to move all the neutrals into the transfer panel, and run a larger main neutral, the grounds can still be left in the main panel, just need to run a main ground wire and bond the panel. There are several good whole house surge protectors on the market depending on how much you want to spend, The Siemens FS140 is a really good one, as well as the Eaton CHSPTULTRA, the FS140 will divert 140,000 amps and the Eaton is at 108,000 amps, so you see the FS is a little better, but a little more expensive as well. But remember the best surge protector not only will not work if you don't have a good grounding system, it can cause the surge to back into the neutral and cause a lot of expensive damage, as you saw in this video, that's what happened to me. If your ground system is over 15 years old, and only has 1 ground rod, it is most likely zinc, (zinc corrodes after about 15 years) and should be replaced with a new state of the at electrode grounding system, with 2- 8' copper ground rods, 6' apart, code allows for #6 insulated or bare wire, I always like to use #4 THHN, and that was mandatory at the last company I managed. If it's not that old, but you only have 1 ground rod, a second could be added 6' away from the first, an irreversible crimp will need to be used to extend the wire, code only allows one continuous wire, or an irreversible crimp. Hope this all helps!

Funny enough as it is I can't completely remember what major code violations I put there, it's been awhile since I made this video, give me a couple of days to watch it again and I'll let you know. I do remember it was a trick question, I also put a couple of minor code violations there as well.

@@smallhomeoffgridprepping1511 Lol. If you have time to re-watch it, I'll be curious to see the results!🙂

Hey , I didn't forget you, still really have not had time to go back and watch the video, I will defiantly get to it and let you know. I did release the first video today on installing a transfer switch and transfer panel, check it out, I will have the next one probably in about a week and that should show you what to do to use your solar whenever you want without using the breakers, and have your power come on automatically when the power goes out.

Thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying our videos. Unfortunately yes there is several downsides to doing this that way, breakers turn on and off, but they are not switches and should not be used as. Turning breakers on and off will cause the breaker to eventually go bad. Over the years when I came across bad breakers from this, most only became weak and tripped under light loads, however there are several other problems with bad breakers caused by turning on and off, I did once see a breaker that froze in the on position, and did not trip when the hot shorted to ground from a rat chewing on it, and though I never saw this happen, I have heard other electricians come across breakers that were still on when the handle was off. Other problems are potential damage to appliances from constant power spikes, and internal surges from heavy load appliances all starting at once, which could also possibly damage mosfets or resistors in the inverter. Most appliances go bad during start mode, not while running or shutting down, so by constantly starting by cutting the power source, then restoring it , will shorten the life of tv's, microwaves, modems, etc., even the drivers in led bulbs can be damaged from from constantly cutting and adding the power source, A good choke or power diverter for your inverter could help reduce the power spikes, and a good surge protector could help reduce the internal surges. I haven't made any videos on this yet, but I will be because I plan to do this on my house, but you could add a 120 transfer panel with a 30 amp transfer switch, and transfer a certain amount of circuits to that panel and run certain things on your solar, if your inverter does not have a built in battery charger, you could use an external battery charger to maintain the charge at night. This is also good for outages, if your main power goes off whatever is in the transfer panel stays on. Hope this helps!

@@smallhomeoffgridprepping1511 That’s the best explanation ever! Thank you so much for clarifying this to me. Really, I cannot thank you enough. As soon as I read your comment, I shut off the solar generator and I will resume normal operation once I install the transfer panel. I do have a 1-Phase surge protector though, installed onto the inverter panel so, hopefully I did not create too much damage as far as the electronics. I think it went on for almost a straight month, meaning I switched 3 breakers on and off once a day for 20/30 days, I would probably say around 20 times total for each of the 3 breakers. Hopefully, I did not damage the breakers. Would you suggest change those breakers? I am glad I reached out to you, I learned so much from you that when my electrician came out the first time it was really surprised that I would tell him exactly what I wanted and how I wanted it. LOL

@@smallhomeoffgridprepping1511 BTW, I will be waiting for your video on this!💪

It really depends on how old the breakers are, I don't think they would need to be replaced if they are fairly new, and were in good shape to begin with, just check them while pulling a heavier load on them, if they feel too warm or hot, then I would replace them. I am really glad you are enjoying our videos and was able to direct your electrician to doing the electric work the way you wanted it, that is exactly why I do these videos. I just ordered a transfer switch and will probably be putting that video out within a couple of weeks, we also are putting a new one out, probably tomorrow or Saturday on Solar generators.

@@smallhomeoffgridprepping1511 I'll monitor them to see if they are warm or hot to touch. Two of the breakers are fairly new (3 months old), one is the main breaker of the main house panel, which is probably 15 years old. But I'll keep an eye on them and I'll report back.Thank you for the tip. Can't wait for the videos on the transfer switch and on solar generators. Too bad you are down in Florida. I am in the Great Plains of Texas!

Glad you're enjoying our videos!!!!

Sorry it took so long to get back to you, I have been very tied up working on our eBay store, That's my style too, simple, inexpensive, and extremely effective!!

Sorry again for the long time to respond all of these inverters sold out from the factory, some are slowly coming back, but are going up quite a bit from the manufacture, and have 45-60 days shipping times. Because that happened so fast that we couldn't even figure out what was available, we temporary removed them from all of our sites. The 6000 Watt (The one I have, and you see in the video) was just added back to our eBay store, the price did not go up yet, and shipping times are still normal for now. check out this link to our eBay store, we have 78 products so far(more being added daily) and most are solar related- www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?item=195811125499&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.m3561.l2562&_ssn=smallhomeoffgridprepping

This one is 12 volt, it comes in 24 as well, but the 24 volt and most others (8K, 10K, 15k,etc.) have all sold out from the factory, they are starting to come back, but have gone up quite a bit in cost and are currently 15-45 days for delivery. The 12 volt 6000 is still currently available and has not gone up in cost yet, but selling out quick .Shipping is normal (5-9 days) check out our eBay store to see more solar products we have. www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?item=195811125499&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.m3561.l2562&_ssn=smallhomeoffgridprepping not sure if this will highlight, if not just copy and paste in your browser.

Thank You, I'm glad you enjoy it, you stay happy and healthy as well!!

These inverters definitely work great, and you cant beat the price, they're quite a great deal for what you get!!

No problem, glad you enjoyed it!

Thank You-Glad you enjoyed it!! We have another one coming out soon that's close to this one, just more in detail about solar and ac, and as always- with you as well 🤣🤣

Thank you!! and with you as well, lol 🤣🤣

that is completely true, led bulbs use a fraction of the current that an incandescent uses!

38 seer is defiantly up there, mine is a 22 and works great with my solar, the cool thing to these inverter units is that the pretty much don't have a start mode that consumes a lot of current making them perfect for solar.

@@smallhomeoffgridprepping1511 my inovair should be at my house by the time I get home. I'm a truck driver and only home 2 or 3 days a month. Hopefully I can get this unit installed in my couple days I'll have home. Yeah I'm excited about the minisplit for ac and the heating abilities. It costed alot compared to other units I looked at and hopefully it can do as advertised. The roof top ac pulls 90 amps off my nissan leaf battery setup and the propane furnace is kinda an electrical hog also. If the minisplit does well I'll remove the rooftop ac and trash it. Thanks for the videos

Thanks! It works great!

No Problem, glad you enjoyed it!

The 60 amp breaker was random, I just put it in to show how it's done. The best way if code allows it in your area is to connect the inlet to the main panel, and install a main interlock, that way you could chose what you want to run and turn off the other circuits. If code does require a transfer panel, you most likely will have to do load calculations for permitting, that will determine what size feeder breaker you will need to install in the main panel to feed the transfer panel, then you will have to transfer the desired circuits you want based on the sum of the generator being used, portable generators are usually 30 or 50 amp. This is more expensive than just powering the whole panel, transfer panels are usually only used were code requires it to balance the load. I have a video on connecting an inlet and interlock to the main panel, I will post a link, but you can find it on our channel, it's titled connecting any generator to the whole house, this is also how I connect my solar power to my main panel as well to power the whole house.

kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZmqnnalrideNldE

Running a well on Solar with an inverter is not that hard, my well is a deep well (130'), with a 1.5 hp pump, it only takes 1600 watts when running, and more for a split second on start up, but my generator that is 5900 watts with a 6600 max surge has no problem starting it and running the well. I don't know if you have seen my recent videos on the solar system I have been installing in my house, but I have briefly shown my split phase inverter a couple of times, I will be doing a video soon showing how the inverter works. I have a low frequency 6000 watt split phase inverter, it is low frequency so that means it works a little different than high frequency inverters, it is 3000 watts continuous, then will work between 3000 and 6000 for a brief amount of time, but only about 5 minutes, or less. mostly for things like variable speed motors that briefly speed up , then slow back down, then it has a start surge of 24,000 watts for a split second to start large motors, but keep in mind you can't get more more power out of an inverter than your solar and batteries can supply, I have 5-101 amp hour batteries wired in parallel, that is only 6060 watts, so I could not get 24,000 watts out of 6060 watts, so If I had a motor that needed 24,000 start watts, I would have to have 15 more batteries. It will still be a week or two before we have our web site and other ecommerce sites updated, but we just completed putting a deal together with a large company that manufactures beautiful split Phase inverters, the one I have is a 110/220 that actually puts out 230+, that is usually fine with 240 appliances, that one works great for me, it runs my entire house including my ac, but have not tried the well yet, that one will be going for around 475.00 when we get these added to our sites, we also have a 4000 watt continuous with 8000 max and a 32,000 surge, that one has adjustable voltage from 220-240 with a dial that allows the user to adjust what voltage you want, that one will go for about 650.00.We will have dozens of more options for inverters as well going up to 30,000 watts, and everything in between, I'll let you know when our sites are updated with these new products so you can take a look.

Glad you enjoyed the video! These units have variable speed motors, they measure both heat and humidity to determine run time, the motors when the unit starts are at full speed then adjust themselves from there, so the wattage should not really go too much higher, but the run time will increase when its hotter and more humid out, this unit is in the shade most of the day which makes a big difference as well, air conditioners don't blow cold air in a house, they remove heat and humidity, the heat is dissipated from the outside coil, so if the sun is hitting the coil and adding heat back it will take longer to dissipate, and run longer at full speed. These air conditioners are key for solar power, these are no longer considered mini splits, they are inverter units that have normal air handlers that connect to existing duct systems in homes, but also still have heads that can mount on the wall, and cassette air handlers that can mount in the ceiling. These units now come in all sizes, we sell these on our website and have any size from 3/4 ton going all the way up to 5 tons. When someone is installing solar they will usually find it will cost them less money to change the ac unit to one of these then it will to build a large enough solar system to run a old style ac unit that pulls over 100 amps on start up, and has a compressor that pulls anywhere from 12-20 amps in run mode. If you have seen our recent videos, you know I have been installer my solar for the last few weeks, and have made some videos on it, I am making one tomorrow on the charge controller , but after that will be making one showing how my solar system runs my whole house ,all the amps volts, and watts including the ac unit.

@@smallhomeoffgridprepping1511 Ok, thanks for the good info. I have window a/c's 1/2 to 1+1/4 ton But the startup is large, I just purchased a 10,000 btu dual inverter window unit to replace the 1+1/4 unit, hope it woks well. I'm in CA in a manufactured home and getting permits is a real issue. I'll be running it from my RV solar system, no permits required. I did already get low frequency inverters, but I don't know if they would really be enough for the large window unit. And I have a hybrid electric boat and trailer with a small cabin on the front to power other stuff, should be enough for me, and my little a/c units, lol. Thanks!

I would think you would have no problem running the inverter unit with a low frequency power inverter that was at least 1000watts continuous, low frequency power inverters are great for heavy loads, with heavy start loads, the one I have is 6000 watts with a start surge of 24,000 watts, so if you have a low frequency inverter I think you would have no problem running what you're trying to.

@@smallhomeoffgridprepping1511 Mine are 3000 and 3500 cont/ and 3x surge, Thanks!

You could have got away with a high frequency inverter. You don't have any big surge appliances. The high frequency are more efficient and don't use near as much idle power. I have both low and high frequency and they both have their place. Low frequency is great for old style ac units and well pumps... air compressors. Good to have but not needed in your application from what I've saw

Thank you! We love this house, it is quite cozy, and built to Florida Building Code, it's designed to withstand 140 mph winds. We had a lot of fun designing and building this.

This is actually a sub panel, it's fed by a 200 amp MB pass through panel about 120 feet from the house, it's built on a pedestal with the meter can.

@@smallhomeoffgridprepping1511 gotcha. I. noticed the bond screw backed out and grounds and neutrals separated. Good video

Thank you, glad you liked it! There is at least two more videos coming out on this, it was a big install and couldn't fit it all in one video, but next we will be connecting to the house as a solar generator, using the generator interlock, and inlet, then we are going to show the inverter, charge controller, the batteries, and all the wiring I'm going to run the house at full load and run the air conditioner, and show all the different amp draws, volts and everything on both sides AC and DC, keep a look out for them!!