House Power OUT/ON indicator of some kind?

[jymbee]

We have a whole house gas generator in our separate garage but it does not have an automatic transfer switch. Not a problem when the power goes out (assuming we're home of course) and after a length of time when we get a notice from the power company that it will be some time before power's restored, I just crank up the generator and flip the switch on the panel in the basement.

However if it's the middle of the night we might not realize the power is out and, when it does come back on we don't know when we can turn off the generator. Restoration notice from the power company typically lags quite a bit so we just resort to seeing lights on across the valley or having a neighbor call.

Searched for some kind of device that would alert us as to when power's out and back on but most of what I found got pretty negative reviews.

Any suggestions appreciated.

 

[zzvyb6]

My router and Access Point backup power packs have tone alarms that signal when house power is out. You wouldn't even have to plug anything into it. Just use it as an outage indicator.

 

[CalG]

We have a whole house gas generator in our separate garage but it does not have an automatic transfer switch. Not a problem when the power goes out (assuming we're home of course) and after a length of time when we get a notice from the power company that it will be some time before power's restored, I just crank up the generator and flip the switch on the panel in the basement.

However if it's the middle of the night we might not realize the power is out and, when it does come back on we don't know when we can turn off the generator. Restoration notice from the power company typically lags quite a bit so we just resort to seeing lights on across the valley or having a neighbor call.

Searched for some kind of device that would alert us as to when power's out and back on but most of what I found got pretty negative reviews.

Any suggestions appreciated.

An AC voltage presence indicator lamp is only $11 from Am-azon.
and amp clamp and an LED....

 

[LittleBill21]

your looking for this

https://amzn.to/4cEJnnu

 

[mrmikey]

your looking for this

Yup, that's exactly what you're looking for and what I've got. It's so loud that I actually had to put some duct tape over the louvres to quiet it up a bit so it'd be great if it's in the basement. Only thing that may make you nervous is you have to wrap the lead around one of your incoming lines. Do it carefully, pair of good gloves 'just in case' and you're good.

 

[Rustyiron]

I have the same situation except my "generator building" is about 300' away from the house where my remote meter and x-fer switch are on a pedestal & generator.
I originally put in several spare conduits and was able to just install a light and switch the is powered by the utility side of my transfer switch.
When we loose power I start the generator, throw the manual transfer switch and once in the attached garage throw the switch for the simple porcelain fixture in the garage. When that lights up I know that the power from the utility is restored.
Edit, simplify; with my transfer switch I'm able to power that "grid light" from the grid side of the transfer sw and it's protected with a simple in line fuse for safety.

 

[jymbee]

My router and Access Point backup power packs have tone alarms that signal when house power is out. You wouldn't even have to plug anything into it. Just use it as an outage indicator.

The "Out" part is easy-- everything turns off. It's the "Back on" part that's the challenge.

 

[jymbee]

An AC voltage presence indicator lamp is only $11 from Am-azon.
and amp clamp and an LED....

But when on generator, the AC indicator would show voltage.

 

[jymbee]

your looking for this

https://amzn.to/4cEJnnu

Aha, that might be the ticket. Will look into it more. Thanks!

 

[CalG]

But when on generator, the AC indicator would show voltage.

put it on he other side of the disconnect.

 

[ericm979]

Having an alarm screaming for the entire outage would be extremely annoying. Maybe a light instead?

 

[mrmikey]

Having an alarm screaming for the entire outage would be extremely annoying.

It doesn't. It's normally powered off when you have line power, i.e. no power outage. When the power goes out you turn the device on but it's silent, once the wire you've wrapped around the main incoming line senses line power then it starts screaming.

 

[Tinhack]

I would just put a couple of neon pilot lights on each leg of the feed. You only need one but two would tell you if you have only half service. When the utility power is hot, you get glowing lights. It would require looking once in a while but at least no screaming alarm.

 

[5030]

My ONLY comment to the OP is, I hope you are totally breaking out your utility feed when you power up your genny. If not, you are backfeeding the utility and if there is a lineman working on a pole near you, you could very well electrocute him. The transformer on the pole drops your feed down to 220 or 110-1 but when you backfeed the can, it steps up your voltage to whatever the line feed voltage is. Bad business.

Just break down and buy a vacuum break transfer switch and wire it in. No all the expensive to begin with.

 

[BleedingOrange]

How is it possible to backfeed when your main breaker is off ?

 

[WinterDeere]

If your meter is in a location convenient to check, and it happens to be a digital model, you'll notice there's a "240V" indicator that comes on when power is restored. Since meter is upstream of your transfer switch and main breaker, this is always live.

I had the same problem as you, until I noticed this "feature". Now I just stick my head out the front door every 30 minutes or so, to see if the meter has lit back up.

 

[Chanceywd]

your looking for this

https://amzn.to/4cEJnnu

I used one of those on my panel with one of those breaker interlocks before I installed a whole house generac and transfer switch. It worked but,not reliably. I found the part you wrapped around the incoming line would pick up/sense the voltage from the generator power in the panel.
I'm not advising you try it but my solution was to wrap that area area of the pickup with a small piece of aluminum flashing which I grounded to the ground bar. Then I wrapped that with some rubber to make sort of a Faraday cage so it could only pick up/sense voltage in the utility line when it came back on.

 

[Smokeydog]

Have a cabin not far from the log house on the same phase. Can see when the power is restored from our house.

The utility company has a pretty good outage map on their website. Sometimes can tell if power is going out for 10minutes or 10hours.

New digital power company meters do have a little light.

Use to have frequent power outages because we were out in the sticks. Population grew, grid upgraded and rarely had an outage for over 30years. After Covid the population exploded and back to frequent outages.

 

[Tinhack]

Have a cabin not far from the log house on the same phase. Can see when the power is restored from our house.

The utility company has a pretty good outage map on their website. Sometimes can tell if power is going out for 10minutes or 10hours.

New digital power company meters do have a little light.

Use to have frequent power outages because we were out in the sticks. Population grew, grid upgraded and rarely had an outage for over 30years. After Covid the population exploded and back to frequent outages.

I don't know if I have one of those meters or not. Even if I did, I can't see it from the house. The meter is on the opposite side of the pole and about 300' away.