Inverter problem & gas gennie question

[Soapman]

Well I have two questions this time.

  The first one is that my inverter isn't working. With nothing plugged into it, it's reading an overload. Now it's in an unheated garage and at my other house it was in the basement. Could the cold be causing this? I just brought it in to warm up and I'll try it later to see if it works again. Has anyone heard of this before? I was planning to leave it in the garage.

  The second question is about the small generator that I got for Christmas.With no inverter in the garage I started thinking( never a good a thing ). I started the generator and got some lights going. Then realized that this is only a small gennie (950 watts) and only has one plug. So I made sure the inverter was disconnected, spliced two old extention cords together so that it has two male ends and plugged the gennie directly to a recepticle. This energized the whole system. The lights work with the switch, the radio came on and all the plugs on the work bench work. One heavy gage cord and the whole thing works.

 Now the question part. If I were to do this to the house in a power outage just to run the lights ( all CFL's ) would it work or is that dangerous? I realize that I'd have to shut off the main breaker so I wouldn't back feed into the power lines and possibly hurt someone. With this small gennie I also have to turn off all large appliances ( fridge, frezzer, furnace, water punp etc) With all the large stuff off this should be able to run lights and maybe the tv or at least the radio. So would this work or did I just find a new way to burn down a house?

 Of coure if the inverter still works I'll have all that power too and it could be hooked up the same way. Then I could just use the gennie to help charge the batteries if they started to run low. So, good idea or am I losing it like my wife says?

[wpowokal]

Just one comment, a chord with two male ends is dangerous.

allan down under

[terry5732]

The cord is not inherently dangerous by itself. Someone who doesn't know what's going on IS - with or without the cord.

[asheets]

Well, it is called a "widowmaker" cord...

[harrie]

Yes, This is done alot, however like the previous posts, it is dangerous in the wrong hands. I guess I would make sure that two male plug cord is well hidden when not being used during a outage. And I think you have the right idea, to throw the breakers on the items you dont need, and of course the high voltage stuff for sure. Than just make sure you stay within the rated wattage of the gas genny. And most important, make sure the exhaust is well vented to prevent cabon monoxcide gas entering your home. Im sure you know that already, but it seems each year someone dies from running a gas generator in their house.. Just my two cents.

[Soapman]

The gennie would be outside. I just wasn't sure if the power feeding backwards through the breakers would cause any damage.

 As for the "widowmaker" cord. I've never heard of it being called this but if you hook it up to the power source last and disconnect it from the power sorce first there should be no problems. Hiding it is a good idea though. I realize that this type of cord should be used with EXTREME care.

[dinges]

Widowmaker, or a suicidecord. Enough said. To be kept under lock, away from children and other irresponsible people.

http://www.anotherpower.com/gallery/dinges/suicide_cord_001

[wpowokal]

It is much safer to set up a changeover switch in an apropriate box.

allan down under

[Flux]

Some of the non military grade logic chips will not work below 0C. You may be lucky with the inverter if it is just the logic stages shut down.

Flux

[phil b]

I also have a male-male cord for my generator. Neither end of the cord will fit anything else around the property. One plug is a 20 amp with one of the spades 90 degrees to the other. The second end is for a welder. You can use plugs from driers, twist lock, three phase etc. Anything that you cannot plug in elsewhere. Hope this helps.

Phil

[nanotech]

I notice you mention doing the same thing with the inverter.  Hopefully not at the same time.  The phases of the AC will not line up and your inverter will go POOF!!

What you CAN do to use them both at the same time is to plug them into different circuits (isolated by the breakers of course).  Use the inverter to run stuff like lights that don't care about the waveform and use the generator to run heavier stuff like the fridge and TV (so long as all the lights are on one breaker or the TV and fridge are, etc) that can sometimes get picky with modified sine wave inverters.