Use for "suicide cables"?

Factual Questions
41

I can well understand their use, powering a house to get
the furnace going when the power won’t be on for another
week and the electrician wants a princely sum to hook up
that transfer switch.

A safer and more expensive ( not as expensive as a house or
casket though) is the following set-up

Once you know where you’ll keep the generator and have figured
the length of cable and know that where the connection to house
is made and that that area WILL be dry do the following.

One end of the cord has a male fitting to plug into the generator
the other end is wired to dryer receptacle mounted on a board
another dryer receptacle is mounted on same board, the 2nd dryer
receptacle is wired to a pig tail or piece of cord that plugs into the
receptacle for the dryer

Now a short piece of cable is equipped with two male ends, this is
the “go between” this plugs into the two dryer receptacles mounted
on the board. SO although more expensive to make up there are NO
exposed prongs, they only way to get zapped or electrocuted is to touch
the prongs on the short cable that plugs into the two receptacles on the
board.

You will not be lugging around a big cord with live ends, no matter
how hard one tries to be safe. Accidents can and do happen, it is
getting closer to night time, you are hurrying and trip over something,
you did not see, in that trip the end of that deadly cable is touching you.
This is why it is called a suicide cord.

Also you should have a routine for restoring power.
1 have a good WORKING flash lite ALWAYS ready at the dryer receptacle.
2 SHUT OFF MAIN BREAKER OR REMOVE THE FUSED PULL-OUT
FOR THE MAINS MARKED ‘MAINS’ OR ‘LIGHTS AND APPLIANCES’
3 START GENERATOR AS INSTRUCTION MANUAL SAYS.
4 PLUG cord into generator, other cord into dryer receptacle.
5 then plug in short cable with male ends into the two dryer
receptacle on the board.

When you see other homes with power on, , start at step 5 and
work backwards.
Using a suicide cord is dangerous and if you end up electrocuting a
lineman from the utility company, you will have the company and its
lawyers on your ass and you’ll have some very serious legal issues.

42

I have a stand by generator and automatic transfer switch, but if I didn’t and used a suicide cord, which I wouldn’t do, I’m pretty sure my generator wouldn’t be able to back feed the line successfully because the other two houses on the transformer would quickly bring the generator to a stop wouldn’t it?

43

zombie or no

it is a deadly hazard.

it is very limited to amount of current and easy to overload creating another hazard.

you are far better using a long beefy extension cord with separate select loads as needed.

44

Most mains in a house are two pole breakers, but most house wiring systems are 3 wire. If you are going to connect a generator open the main and disconnect the neutral line back to the power company.

The it is not going to happen to me attitude in violating safety leads to Darwin awards.

45

Honestly, it’s not that hard to do safely.

  1. Disconnect mains
  2. Connect male<-> male cord between generator and plug.
  3. Secure the cord in a way that can’t come out no matter what. Do this securing while the system isn’t live. One method involves cable ties.
  4. Start generator

Once the power is back on, you do the steps in reverse, as in :

  1. Stop Generator
  2. Remove male to male cord
  3. Reconnect mains

This kind of thing isn’t for everyone, but millions of people have the necessary skills to do something like this safely in reliably. It isn’t nearly as complex or dangerous as actually being an electrician, plumber, mechanic, or dozens of other jobs.

The reason why this has such a bad rap is because while probably tens of millions of people are capable of doing this safely, first time every time, there’s a lot of people that screw up steps 1 or 3, and in doing so they shock themselves or linemen.

Though I’m not sure how likely that really is, I’ve heard that linemen are supposed to put this shorting strap between the lines before they work on them, they don’t stake their lives on someone not having an improperly connected generator somewhere.

46

I recently explained a safer way to deal with “suicide cords”
and yeah they look scary too!

Another way is to get the genset running with NO load wired to the
generator. While it is warming up go to the electrical panel and shut
off the mains by flipping the breaker OFF, OR by pulling the mains that
could be a pull-out made of bakelite or porcelain containing two fuses.
by doing this, you have broken all connection to the service drops and
power lines that feed your home.

Even if the power came back on, the home would have no power.
In a storm situation or someone hitting the pole, it will take some time
to get things back to normal.

Now plug suicide cord into dryer outlet, the other end of cord is DEAD,
since there are no other means to power the home and plug other end
into genset.

If possible just leave a few lights on (if at night) then start adding loads
as you need them

Yes, this is a LOT safer than plugging cord into genset and walking back to
the receptacle with a “LIVE” plug in your hand. Get the whole routine in
your head so you understand it completely, , NO margin for error here !
THEN, make 2 set of instructions using cardboard and a marker and place
securely by the dryer receptacle and electrical panel.

47

Or just wire your generator properly. It’s a little extra work to install the first time, but then becomes a lot easier when it’s time to actually use it, and much safer.

48

Note: I have not read the thread. I may just be agreeing with someone else.

As I detailed in another thread, we had to use the generator for two and a half days last week.

Your scenario is valid, and I’m sure it’s often used. But it’s not the way I would do it. When we have to use the generator, we plug one or two extensions into it. (They’re 110 v because the generator is only 3 kW and not big enough to use the 220 v outlet for the water heater or stove.) The extensions come in through one half of the French doors where the weather stripping has come off/ been cat-ified. We plug stuff into power strips indoors.

What I would like to do is install a ‘two-sided outlet’ in an exterior wall. The inside would look like any other outlet, and the outside would look like any of the indoor outlets covered with a weatherproof box. With a ‘suicide’ cable I could plug the generator into the exterior outlet, and have power coming into an outlet indoors. No 50-foot cables lying about! Such a setup would do what we do now with the extensions, and would not be a part of the house circuitry. No need for a transfer switch.

49

Just use an inlet on the outside of the house like this and use a safe standard extension cord to your generator. No need for a suicide plug!

50

If you have female plugs on both sides of the wall, then you can use an extension cord outside without having to have it go out a door.

51

Jesus fucking Christ people. The NEC requires a lockout transfer switch. The NEC requires inlet receptacles for portable generators. This shit is not hard to get right. Do it correctly and stop fucking killing people.

52

If you have an inlet outside and a receptacle inside this does exactly that without risking anyone’s life.

53

That’s what I said. With females on both sides of the wall you can use the ‘suicide cable’ to plug the house into the interior receptacle, and an extension cord to the outside receptacle. Or you can use the ‘suicide cable’ to attach a generator to the outside receptacle and plug your power strip into the inside receptacle. IOW, power from house circuit => extension cord => electrical device (e.g., mitre saw) being used outside. OR: Generator => not-the-house-circuit receptacle => power strip for TV, cable, modem, etc.

No risk to anyone’s life, as there is no power going from the generator to the house circuitry.

54

Earlier this year I made a “suicide cable” for plugging our Honda gas generator into our home.

I first installed a 240V/40A receptacle in the basement near an outside door. I then made a 20’ cable that plugs between the generator and the receptacle. This cable has a male plug on each end. Definitely not to code.

When the power goes out, I simply turn off the main breaker in the panel, plug in the generator, and then close the circuit breaker for the 40 A receptacle.

It works great.

I addition, I built a box that monitors the current and voltage of each 120 V leg of the generator. It also monitors the voltage coming into the house, and a buzzer will sound to let us know when the power is once again available.

55

Very true. But, in my case,

  1. I didn’t want to screw around with installing a transfer switch.
  2. I know what I’m doing.
  3. No one else is allowed to plug the generator into our house; I am the only person who does it.
  4. If we sell the house, I will take the generator and suicide cable with me, so no one is for the wiser.
56

No, not two female receptacles. One female receptacle on the inside and a male inlet on the outside. Essentially a hard wired extension cord. At no point do you ever need to have exposed pins that have power on them. Click on the link in my earlier message to see one that Levitt makes. You can buy one at any big box store.

57

[soapbox]

No life other than your own. There’s a darn good reason that suicide cables are prohibited by the National Electrical Code - because they’re friggin dangerous. You have the potential to have exposed conductors, essentially a welder, in contact with whatever the end of the cable hits. Forget (for now) the poor lineman outside who can get whacked if the cable is powering your service panel. The danger is to the user of the cable. It will injure or kill animate things, or ignite inanimate ones. It’s just bad all around.

Spend the extra dough and get one of these, rated for the amperage and voltage, mounted on the outside of your house. Electricity goes in an inlet, and comes out of an outlet. A regular extension cord can still be used, only that the power comes out of the female end, like it’s supposed to, in contrast to the suicide cable.

[/soapbox]

58

Except that I specifically said it is not putting power into the house circuitry, and therefore not connected to the service panel.

59

So I read on an electrician forum the correct but inexpensive way to do it.

  1. Buy a generator interlock kit. First google to see if your electrical panel has one already, one designed for your panel will fit better. If not, use the link I just provided.
  2. Buy a generator inlet receptacle.
  3. Buy a small piece of conduit to connect your breaker box to the generator receptacle if it is outside. Look up other guides on how to connect it.
  4. Buy a 30 amp 240 volt breaker of the same brand and type as your electrical box, or one UL listed as compatible for your box.

You then turn off the main switch, replace the top left or top right breaker(s) (you need 2 spaces in most boxes for a 240 volt breaker) with the new 30 amp breaker. You connect the wires, appropriate for 30 amps, to the breaker, the neutral, through the conduit, and to the 30 amp inlet’s terminals.

Total cost : about $150 in materials to do this properly. Make darn sure the interlock kit is installed properly and it works cleanly, such that it is impossible to turn the main switch on at the same time the generator breaker is on.

Then you need a generator. 30 amps is the most common and inexpensive, which means you need about a 7200 watt generator. Here’s one I have my eye on, the Champion Dual Fuel ~7k watt generator. Specifically, the costco version of this generator has a rotor designed to give a clean sine wave, appropriate for charging UPS batteries and running wireless routers, modems, tvs, and computers.

I saw it listed for about $650. You purchase a large propane tank and store it outside (in case the tank leaks), such as this one. I suspect you definitely want an aluminum tank because it won’t rust and so it can be stored outside for years, holding a full load of fuel. Propane does not deteriorate when stored, unlike gasoline or diesel.

You keep the generator inside the garage/a store room, not outside, and you store it dry (make sure to run it dry of gasoline after you test run it.)

7000 watts is enough to run everything in a house except the AC, and if the AC is a 5 ton unit, it might run if it’s an efficient one that is variable speed like a Carrier Greenspeed. (5 ton ACs used between 7 to 9000 watts, and may require more than that to start, depending on if it has a capacitor hard start kit.) Window units and portable ACs that connect via hose to a window would of course work fine, if you have them.

Total cost : $650+$150+$200 = ~$1000.

If all you have is a small, cheap generator, like those $300 gas models, you should just use extension cords. Don’t be stupid.

60

Quick edits : I forgot to mentioned you need a generator cord, like this one, to actually make the connection. Also, my aluminum tank idea is a bust because propane tanks have to be recertified every 12 years, and a steel tank, even stored outside, will probably last that long. So this one, that stores 100 lbs/24 gallons is probably a better buy since it will need to be replaced every 10-15 years anyway. I reiterate, make sure to store the propane outside, if the tank ever leaks you want the gas to dissipate harmlessly.