Installing the Alternate Load Center

• 1). Remove the parts and equipment for the standby backup generator and the standby load center from the manufacturer's packaging.
  
  
• 2). Review the included instructions, and identify the various parts.
  
  
• 3). Mount the backup load center to the wall using 2-inch all-purpose screws and washers. The load center should be mounted within a foot of the existing electrical load center.
  
  
• 4). Drill a 1 ¾-inch hole through the wall to the outside.
  
  
• 5). Feed the backup load center wiring pigtail through the hole to the outside of the home. Feed this cable into the exterior connection box on the outside of the home.
  
  
• 6). Attach the exterior connection box to the exterior wall of the home.
  
  
• 7). Seal around the box with silicone acrylic caulk.
  
  
• 8). Connect the electrical leads from the interior of the home to the terminals inside the exterior connection box.
  
  
• 9). Connect the exterior electrical cable, which is included with the standby generator, to the exterior connection box.
  
  
• 10
  
  Connect each conductor to the terminals inside the electrical box. Make sure to match conductor colors. Attach matching red conductors to the same terminal, matching black conductors to the same terminal and so on.
  
  

Identifying Existing Circuits in the Home's Electrical System

• 1). Turn off the power to the home's main load center. Never work on a fuse panel, breaker box or load center without first disconnecting the power supply.
  
  
• 2). Remove the front covers of both the main load center and the backup load center. Each load center features a large-diameter cable entering the load center that provides power (power feed). Each load center also features many wires individually connected to the breakers that are routed from the breakers out of the load center. The wires leaving the main load center supply power throughout the house. The wires leaving the backup load center must now be connected to the wires and the breakers in the main load center.
  
  
• 3). Identify critical circuits in the home's main load center that will be transferred into the backup generator's load center. Critical circuits could include power for the furnace, key lighting, water supply, food storage and communications.
  
  
• 4). Pick the circuits to remain active in the event of a power outage so power supply is transferred by the standby generator.
  
  

Transferring Circuits to the Alternate Load Center

• 1). Transfer each of these circuits from the main load center to the backup load center. Transfer 15-amp circuits to backup 15-amp circuits, 20-amp circuits to 20-amp circuits and so on. If transferring a 220-volt circuit from the main load center to the backup load center, make sure to transfer both sides of the line and to reconnect the circuit in the backup load center in the same configuration used in the main load center.
  
  
• 2). Transfer each circuit by disconnecting the positive wire from the circuit breaker in the main load panel and connecting it to a lead that is fast and to a circuit breaker in the alternate load panel. These two wires can be connected by stripping the end of each wire, twisting the two wires together with needle-nose pliers and completing the connection with a vinyl-covered yellow wire nut.
  
  
• 3). Follow the same procedure for the black, negative wire for each circuit. When complete, the breaker in the main load center will be bypassed for the critical circuits. The electrical wires feeding power to these circuits will receive power through the alternate, backup load center.
  
  
• 4). Connect the silver ground bar in the backup load center to the silver ground bar in the home's main load center using 12-gauge unshielded copper ground wire. These two electrical panels should share a common ground in order to complete the electrical circuits and safely ground all of the equipment.