Reliance Controls Corporation 31406CWK 30 Amp 6-circuit Pro/Tran Transfer Switch Kit for Generators (7500 Watts).,Gray

I cannot say enough good things about this product and this company. I purchased this transfer switch in July of 2014 to go along with my new Westinghouse WH6500E portable generator. I am reasonably handy, and have done a small amount of electrical projects before, but by no means am I a professional. I did all the setup, installation, and wiring myself. My setup includes the portable generator with a 30 amp power cord feeding into a Reliance Controls power inlet box mounted on the house. I then installed permanent 10 gauge building wire between the power inlet box outside and the transfer switch mounted inside next to my panel. For the most part it was all very straightforward and I expected to have no problems.After initial setup I got the generator running to do a quick test. Long story short, there was a problem, and I could not run off the generator power. I struggled for 6 months to figure out what was wrong. I did various tests, but did not want to break down and pay an electrician, so I continued to hunt for the issue myself. After 6 months, I finally decided to call Reliance customer support. I was impressed to get connected to a very helpful lady from Racine, WI. Imagine that, good ole US of A customer support! She was extremely helpful, and was happy to give me her email address so I could send pictures of my setup for diagnostic purposes. We communicated via phone and email over the course of 2 days, and she quickly helped determine my issue after having me run 2 tests.The problem was entirely mine, the Reliance Controls transfer switch works flawlessly. In fact, the problem I had was a clamp that was too tight on my building wire, and was causing a short. I had arc marks on the transfer switch due to my wiring short. That did not phase the Reliance Controls transfer switch at all. The breakers on the switch and the generator worked as they should. Everything is fixed and working correctly now, thanks to the great customer service at Reliance Controls. This product is extremely robust and well designed. I would recommend this to anyone!A couple of lessons learned from my experience. Professional electricians would obviously already know this stuff, but I was learning as I went.1) Be careful not to over tighten cable clamps, it's easy to do.2) The power inlet cord gave me some issues. You need to make sure you really get the cord at the inlet box pushed in and turned as far as it will go. It may take a slight bit of force, but if you don't, you may only get one side of the power coming through.3) The instructions are slightly misleading for the wiring of the watt meters in the transfer switch. Make sure you only have 1 side of the black wire and 1 side of the red wire passing through each of the watt meters.

It was easy to install, and it worked perfectly.

I just completed installation of my ProTran 6-circuit transfer switch. I found the wiring of the switch to the 1980's-era power panel to be quick and straightforward. Same for the wiring between the transfer switch and the outside power inlet box. Physically connecting the wires from the switch to the panel circuit breakers took less than 30 minutes, and from the switch to the power inlet box less than 10 minutes. However, the whole project took me a day and a half.My power panel is sunken, and the face is flush mounted with the garage wall, thus a straight connection between the wall-mounted switch and the sunken panel was not possible. I had to remove sheet rock from below the panel, run the conduit from the wall-mounted switch to the panel from underneath, and then patch the hole.Also, I wanted the power inlet box to be attached to the outside brick, and opposite of where the switch is installed inside the garage. I purchased some PVC conduit, a stress relief connector, and a small elbow box and ran building wire through the conduit, through the sheet rock, and through a hole I drilled in the mortar between bricks. I had to patch a little around the hole in the sheet rock to fill in a slight gap where the conduit entered. I also used a stress reliever where the wire entered the back of the inlet box, and concrete connectors to attach the back of the inlet box to the brick.Because my power panel breakers were not all identified, I took the time to verify which breaker provided power to which part of the house.My biggest challenges:1. Working with building-grade solid copper wiring. This wire is very hard to manipulate if you cut it too short or too long. Too short and you may not be able to get all the wires to go where they need to. Too long and you may not be able to cram them into the switch box or inlet box. It took me quite a while to get this right, especially at the power inlet box. I finally figured out that cutting the white neutral wire a wee bit shorter than the others made it easier to press the inlet box front cover closed.2. Attaching the power inlet box to the brick wall. It comes in two pieces, the back plate and the front cover. If you do not allow for space between the back plate and the wall, you will not be able to get the front cover back on. My solution was to loosely attach the back plate to the brick and then use expanding foam to provide weatherproofing and support -- and a gap. The foam provides firm support and keeps the box away from the brick just enough to attach the front cover.3. Getting the correct adapter. The transfer switch comes with a 10-foot, 30 amp, L14-30R power cord (4 male prongs and 4 female plug slots: Neutral, Ground, Hot1 and Hot2). My Predator 3500 generator comes with a 3-slot power plug, so I had to find an adapter. I ordered a TT-30P to L14-30R adapter only to find out later that such an adapter comes in two versions: 1. bridged, and 2. un-bridged. In my ignorance I got the un-bridged. A bridged (or "tied") adapter connects Hot1 and Hot2 together so that they end up providing 120v power to both sides of the transfer switch, i.e., all six circuits. An un-bridged adapter powers Hot1 but leaves Hot2 dead. The result is that half of the transfer switch circuits remain dead. So, I ordered the bridged Reliance Controls AC3130 adapter to fix that problem.Kudos:To resolve the adapter problem, I called Reliance Controls customer support. After only two or three rings Jane answered the phone. She was very pleasant and helpful. I briefly explained my problem, and she immediately identified the bridged/unbridged issue and suggested a couple of remedies, one of which included the AC3130. I could not have been more pleased.Conclusion:This was a pleasant installation project, but had its challenges, none of which was overwhelming. For someone with moderate mechanical and problem-solving skills, and who can carefully work around electricity, I would say this project fit comfortably into the DIY category. I highly recommend the Reliance ProTran transfer switch kit.