Device to alert owner when residential power is back on

[Scotty Dive]

Well....with Hurrican Sandy we are on our generator going on day 5. I am looking for a way to be notified when the commercial power is turned back on. Pretty much all of my neighbors are running generators so we really have no way of knowing when the power comes back on. I saw this device and am wondering if anyone has expereince with it and could comment or is there another way (product) that can notify me?

Amazon.com: Reliance Controls THP108 PowerBack Utility Power Return Alert Home Monitoring Products: Home Improvement

 

[forgeblast]

When you report an outage with our elec company (penelec) they give you the option of a call back when the power is back on.

 

[CobyRupert]

This product looks good as it looks like it doesn't come into direct contact with the utility conductors that are ahead of your main breaker. A easy cheap ($17) (but manual) way is to by a little pen sized "ticker" (non-contact voltage tester) from any hardware store. If it beeps when you put next to any of the conductors upstream of your turned off main breaker (i.e. line side of the main breaker, at utility meter, the utility service wire on the side of you house to the meter, etc.. ) the utlity has probably been restored.

Non-Contact Voltage Tester-NCVT-1SEN at The Home Depot

 

[6sunset6]

If you are on a transfer switch it would be automatic. If you are extention cords other stuff will come on. IF you are backfeeding thru an outlet and your main breaker is off, I hope , then you need something.

 

[nybirdman]

When you report an outage with our elec company (penelec) they give you the option of a call back when the power is back on.

Would be nice but not where we live.What if the telephone is down?

 

[GPintheMitten]

The first one from Reliance Controls is no longer available (according to the web page on the link). I don't know if they are just out of stock or went back to the drawing board on it.

I'm going to get the non-contact voltage tester from Klien, mentioned in the second link.

If phone notification doesn't work and you don't have or want to get a non-contact voltage tester, you could periodically check by shutting down the genset, reverse the lockout on the panel and switch the main on. But for less than $20 for the tester, I'm going that way.

Besides, I think this is what Holmes on Homes uses.

 

[aczlan]

If phone notification doesn't work and you don't have or want to get a non-contact voltage tester, you could periodically check by shutting down the genset, reverse the lockout on the panel and switch the main on. But for less than $20 for the tester, I'm going that way.

Also good for that one last sanity check that power is off before connecting the generator...

Aaron Z

 

[Scotty Dive]

I guess I am a bit lazy - For $40 bucks and a few minutes of my time, having an audible alarm to tell me when power is back is a nice feature. I tend not to want to power everything off every few hours just to make sure. When I do power off for the night I switch the main back on in case the power is restored. I do have one of those testers somewhere...will try that too.

I looks like they sell these at HD but amazon is out of stock???

I do not have an auto transfer swtich , but what my electrician installed was a device that when my main breaker is off, it allows another breaker to be flipped for the generator. Then I can manage any circuit I so choose acccording to the generator load and whats on the circuit. I really like it.

 

[snonut]

When I had my generator hooked up, my electritian also hooked up a light to the grid power. I turn on the light switch when hooking up the generator and when the light is on, the grid has power returned to it. I just shut off the switch after unhooking the generator.

 

[RickB]

When I had my generator hooked up, my electritian also hooked up a light to the grid power. I turn on the light switch when hooking up the generator and when the light is on, the grid has power returned to it. I just shut off the switch after unhooking the generator.

Winner here. Cheap, easy to install and effective. I had my electrician wire a 3" box with a simple porcelain fixture with a light bulb and pull chain to the grid side of my manual transfer switch. Done.

 

[radioman]

If you are on a transfer switch it would be automatic. If you are extention cords other stuff will come on. IF you are backfeeding thru an outlet and your main breaker is off, I hope , then you need something.

not all transfer switches are like that. Mine is manual. Also it depends on how you setup your transfer switches circuits. I did not move all of my circuits over to the transfer switch. So whatever circuit is not on the generator circuit the light switch goes on and stays on. Once the light comes on, I can go ahead and shut down my genny and switch back to power company line. No need to be fancy and setup anything else.

 

[forgeblast]

You can leave the number you want them to call, cell phone might work if charged. Most of the time if we loose power we can still call out (we just keep an older corded phone).

 

[ray66v]

I have the same problem.

And considering that it cost me $32 to run my generator for 12 hours, I would definitely like to know right away if the power is back on.

I did have a transfer switch at my old house, so it was to tell because some of the circuits were not in the generator panel. I just turned on some of the lights that were not in the generator panel. When they came on, I knew the power was on.

This house has one main, and two sub panels, with a total of over 80 breakers, so its got to be all or nothing.

I have thought about splitting the line coming in to the main panel to a 2nd main?, that could stay on the grid, and transferring a couple of lighting circuits to it. But, I am not sure if that can be done in any kind of an economical way. Or, what the code implications would be for that.

Some sort of a portable wireless alert device that you could wear on your belt for example, or set on the night stand, would be great.

 

[RickB]

You can leave the number you want them to call, cell phone might work if charged. Most of the time if we loose power we can still call out (we just keep an older corded phone).

There is simply nothing as easy or convenient as glancing out at the fixture above the entrance panel and seing that light bulb lit. Best money of its kind I've spent in years. This convenience came several years after the generator and manual transfer switch install. No dependence on a notification that may or may not be timely, or come at all.

 

[Rustyiron]

There is simply nothing as easy or convenient as glancing out at the fixture above the entrance panel and seing that light bulb lit. Best money of its kind I've spent in years. This convenience came several years after the generator and manual transfer switch install. No dependence on a notification that may or may not be timely, or come at all.

+1
If you have a "smart meter" like I have, there is no display or LED when the "street" is off. This might just be my particular brand of meter that they use here, but it's the way mine works.

 

[Pete Judd]

If you have an outlet that is on the grid, plug in a old radio turned on and volume up, you will hear it, and very cheap. That's what we do.

 

[ljohnson778]

There is simply nothing as easy or convenient as glancing out at the fixture above the entrance panel and seing that light bulb lit. Best money of its kind I've spent in years. This convenience came several years after the generator and manual transfer switch install. No dependence on a notification that may or may not be timely, or come at all.

X2... I don't want to burn any more fuel than I have to, and this is foolproof.

 

[medic1050]

My cue is the Barn Lights, they are not on the house circuit and I don't bother running a generator to it. When those lights come back on the power is back on.

 

[DKCDKC]

Most folks in this area have the digital electric meters. Mine is just outside my office window. I can just look out the window and, if the reading is visible, I have power. I have a very simple small generator to run appliances and water pump (well). A full transfer switch would cost almost as much as the generator. I disconnect from the grid and backfeed through a 45 amp 240 circuit - turning off all but the few needed circuits. We have fans for the summer and a woodstove for the winter... And have never been out more than a day or two anyway.

 

[MossRoad]

A lightbulb, LED, buzzer, etc... can easily and CHEAPLY be wired into the main side that would alert you if power returned.

As someone else mentioned, put it on a switch so you can disable the thing when the power comes back on.

For me, I just watch the neighborhood lights from time to time. When their lights come back on, I then usually run the generator for a while longer, before shutting it down and switching back to grid power. We have had many instances of power coming in, then going out again just seconds later.