Only have power to half my breaker box.

[camshawn]

Using a volt meter or wiggy or neon tester, check from each leg to neutral. You should read 120 volts. If each leg is good, you need to confirm that you have 240 volts between each leg. If they are good, the problem is downstream from where you are testing, if not good, the problem is toward the source. Cam

 

[texasjohn]

This means you are insufficiently educated about electricity to be doing what you are doing...you need to get somebody who has a multimeter, knows how to use it, and will help you. The problem isn't too hard to solve, but is dangerous to mess with without more knowledge about how electricity works.

View attachment 383984 I forgot to add a picture when I first posted. this is the set up I have, the pulled breaker is for the generator.
s219 I didn't quite get what you said about the 2 legs not being hot, could you explain this ?

 

[David Devuono]

With your generator runnng and using a VOM, you should have 220-240volts between Red and Black, or 110-120 between both red and black and nuetral (white wire) I can quite tell but it looks like several breakers have white wires attached. Bit scary regarding the potential for light sockets etc to be hot. Take care.

 

[boggen]

stop what you are doing. if power goes out (electrical grid coming into your home from telephone pole outside) and generator is turned on, without doing correct switching, you could inadvertently kill someone trying to repair the lines. get a electrician in there to help ya out, and install an auto transfer switch.

also pending on plug of generator, you may have wiring completely different than what ya think ya need to do inside the box.

 

[PoorPlowboy]

The breaker is not connected to the busbar of the panel. The three flat gray strips that run top to bottom under the breakers are what transfer hot, neutral and ground to the breaker when it is installed into the panel and 'clips' onto the breaker prongs....

Totally incorrect.

The flat gray strips are all hot and there are two busses. Each one is tied to one 120v leg. The only thing going through a breaker is hot. Neutral and ground are not protected by a breaker.

 

[duke7595]

I'm saying the breaker most certainly will connect to both legs of the circuit panel, so that suggests to me that one of the incoming lines back feeding into the breaker is not hot. Or possibly one pole of the breaker is not making contact. That can happen if a breaker is beginning to fail from age or frequent switching.

If this is the case wouldn't you still have power to the entire breaker box ? Not just half ?

 

[duke7595]

With your generator runnng and using a VOM, you should have 220-240volts between Red and Black, or 110-120 between both red and black and nuetral (white wire) I can quite tell but it looks like several breakers have white wires attached. Bit scary regarding the potential for light sockets etc to be hot. Take care.

The breakers with the white and black wires are 120 volt, wired w/ 12/2 with ground. 12/2 w/ ground only has white and black wires and used for 120 volt only.
Thanks for your input, it's appreciated.

 

[hosspuller]

The breakers with the white and black wires are 120 volt, wired w/ 12/2 with ground. 12/2 w/ ground only has white and black wires and used for 120 volt only.
Thanks for your input, it's appreciated.

Something is not correct. 12/2 with bare ground should have the black connected (energized) at breaker, the white to the neutral, and the bare wire to ground. using the white (neutral) as a hot is wrong.

 

[texasjohn]

Everybody....we're on thin ice here....he's fooling with electricity, back flowing to his house or grid, and his questions demonstrate insufficient knowledge of electricity to continue this without more experienced help.

The advice we are giving him is contradictory and somewhat vague, certainly some of it is simply wrong.

If he goes back in there and gets hurt following this advice...I fear that the advice giver is at risk of causing bodily harm.

I recommend no further advice...he needs help from a knowledgeable person there, on site.

 

[duke7595]

Something is not correct. 12/2 with bare ground should have the black connected (energized) at breaker, the white to the neutral, and the bare wire to ground. using the white (neutral) as a hot is wrong.

Most homes are wired with 14/2 w G. for 120 volt single breaker and all have 2 wires w/ a ground What you are saying is for a regular 120 volt breaker is a 12/3 w/ground
this is something I have not seen for a simple 120 single breaker. The cost alone would be prohibitive, but i could be wrong.