How to Wire an Alternator as a Generator?

Settling for the large whole house generators is no doubt the safest and the most uncomplicated way to avoid power cuts. But are you sure you want to waste your hard-earned money like that?

But if your plans are not to invest thousands of dollars on these, you can simply wire an alternator as a generator and use it! Yes, we are talking about using the alternators, do some wiring and convert it into a generator.

If you think it’s tough, let us tell you how to wire an alternator as a generator without much effort! Let’s dive into it!

Step by Step Wiring Alternator as a Generator

Well, you can always go home and enjoy the Generac Whole Home Generator whenever there is no electricity. But here, we will go for the cheap way!

Step 1: Finding the Breaker Box  

The first job is to get a battery bank set up along with the alternator charging system. Get anyone of your choice. All you need here is to hook up the power inverter.

Here, you can hook it into the main breaker box. But if you want to power your house with an alternator, you must certify that you are not working with this on any outside power grid.

Step 3: Understanding the Breaker Box

In this step, you have to check the electrical power supply your house requires. For the small houses, 100 amp services will be enough. But if you have a large house, the electrical supply requirement will be higher than this.

The houses that are built after 1970 usually have a breaker box added already. These are just like switches. However, if you have an older house that was created before 1970, the service panels will have fuses. The breaker and the fuse are almost the same.

But if the fuse of your house blows, it is done. But in the case of the breaker, when it trips, all you need is to take and turn it to the OFF position and then to the ON position. In this way, you can restore the service. If your house has a breaker box, here, 220v feed will come into it.

After this, the two banks will take over 110 powers and thus the power will be split. And here, you will get the breaker switched. You can use each of them for each circuit in your house. There are single pole breakers along with the bigger, wider, and double breakers too.

At times, you might be worried about if you need a fuse between the alternator and the battery. Can you wire alternator directly to a battery or do you always need a fuse between them? Check it out first!

Also Read: How to Wire a Generator to a Breaker Box All by Yourself!

Step 4: Start the Wiring

If you are capable of wiring it to the breaker box’s feed side. Keep in mind that the inverter is 110v. But here, you need 220v. To get 220v, you have to wire 110v from your inverter to both of the breaker box’s sides. In this manner, you can divide the breaker box’s power among the circuits.

This will exactly work like the power grid. Start with the 12v generator which is constructed with an automotive alternator. And finally, you have to go back to the battery bank. You need to charge it up. And in return, the battery bank will supply the required 12v input for your 110v inverter.

Eventually, you can easily wire them into the house breaker box directly. Once again, we want to remind you that the house should not be on a power grid. Check if there is any glass glove meter or not to find out if you are working on a power grid or not.

If you do not see any glass gloves, you are safe and ready. Your first job here is to take off the service panel from the front of your breaker box. In this manner, you can access this.

Step 5: Complete the Wiring

If you are using a larger 110 inverter that will provide you 4000-5000 watt, you will need to split the positive into 2 different leads. Once you are done, all you need is to wire them to both sides of your breaker box.

On the other hand, you can also use the smaller inverters that are perfect for 2000-3000 watt. In this case, you have to settle for two different inverters. The story is the opposite here. In this situation, you have to run the negative from each of the inverters and take them to the center buss.

The center buss is the common ground buss. To make sure that you have found it, check for the copper wire bunched up around the buss bar. Once you get your hands on it, take the negative from each to this one.

After this, go through the positives from each inverter once again and run them to one side of the breaker box. And eventually, you will get power for the whole house!

What are the 3 wires for switching on an alternator?

As you are working on the alternator, you should have a look at the three wires you will face when it comes to wiring the alternator as a generator. The first one is the battery positive wire. The work of this one is to connect to the starter.

The second one here is the voltage sensing wire and the one is the ignition input wire. The work of the voltage sensing wire is to connect to the battery. And the last one which is the ignition input wire does the job of connecting from the alternator to the key switch.

Wrap Up

So, it isn’t too much tough to wire the alternator as the generator of your house, right? As much as we tell you it’s easy, you have to be very careful when you are dealing with the alternators and wires.

Working with wires requires a lot of patience and perfection. If you are not sure about it, take it to the professionals, they will deal with it for you!