What the heck is the purpose of the AC /Generator switch on an E panel?

[Halfcrazy]

The Bypass slider is a service bypass. It is ONLY intended if there is an inverter failure or the inverter needs maintenance. As you point out it does the same thing as the internal relay.

So simply put:
The Single or 2 pole breaker behind the slider (Not in the Slider) connects the AC input bus bars in the Epanel to the AC input of the Inverter. So if it is UP or ON the AC from the generator or the grid goes to the Inverter. if it is DOWN or OFF it disconnects the AC input bus bards from the AC input of the inverter

The Black Slider has 2 positions:
Up or Run or Invert= Output of the inverter is connected to the AC out bus bars
Down or Bypass = Output of inverter is NOT connected to the AC out bus bars in the Epanel but the AC input bus bars do get connected to the AC out bus bars to bypass the inverter

[Bonanza Bucko]

Halfcrazy:
Wow...now I'm not Half crazy!  Thanks. 

I certainly wish your explanations were included in the owners' manual for the E panel.  That would have saved this tech bonehead from about a year's worth of wonderment. 

Our E panel and Magnum inverter are serving a house on a remote beach in Baja California, Mexico.  The nearest hardware store is 100 miles away and the closest electrician is 350 miles away.  The beach bums who populate the place are either tech idiots like me or drunk most of the time; I'm only that way part of the time :-).   We have internet via satellite but no phone and no other services of any kind; we have to do all out own installation and repair work on the house the electrical system, the water system (powered by the inverter, propane for showers and stove, salt water septic tank and etc. etc.  The house has systems that belong on a yacht.

So thanks again....you comments will help a lot.  I  have printed them so I can include them in the owners documents next time we go down there in about two weeks.

The place is so remote that we have had to fly there in our small airplane for the last 35 years before a new read was built in the last couple of years; the old "road" was almost impassible and it took about 10 hours to drive the 100 miles to the hardware store.  The runway is under water at the high tides twice a month and too wet to use for about two days either side of those tides; that means that nobody can just drop in to visit: NICE and when I was working the office couldn't ever "get" me...NICER.  The fishing and hammock laziness are superb, however. So I work/putter abound every day until about noon and then I read a trashy shoot 'em up novel in a hammock on the porch unit it's time for happy hour.  When we go fishing that is a real adventure because the fish don't know we are bad guys and want to eat them:-)  We have Whale Sharks cruising about twenty feet off the sand most of the year and we have FinBack Whales, smaller only that Blue Whales, coming into our bay in the spring with their calves.  We love the place.


BB

[tcva357]

So in hooking up my e-panel,i need to run a circuit to the generator xfr switch from the ac out bus correct?Also say I want to use the inverter as a battery charger do I have to do anything to the inverter other then flip brkr down?I am assuming this back feeds the inverter to make it a charger.

Thank's

Tim

[tcva357]

So I think I got it straight although not an engineer but a Electric Serviceman,the E-panel lead marked AC out goes to the Outback Inverter AC int?And the lead in E-panel marked AC in goes to the AC out on Inverter,i am assuming that what you can do is if you run a circuit in the AC out bus say from a generator you can backfeed inerter and use it as a Charger?Why is there only one neutral wire in e-panel?Inverter has AC in and out neutral?

Thank's

[vtmaps]

So in hooking up my e-panel,i need to run a circuit to the generator xfr switch from the ac out bus correct?

huh?  what generator transfer switch are you talking about?  Maybe you should describe your system... Perhaps I don't understand what you're trying to do.  The generator output usually goes to the AC in bus.

Also say I want to use the inverter as a battery charger do I have to do anything to the inverter other then flip brkr down?I am assuming this back feeds the inverter to make it a charger.

You don't need to do anything to any breaker in order to use your inverter as a charger.  When the inverter detects AC on the AC in bus, it will stop inverting and use that AC to power its charger.  At the same time it will (using its internal automatic transfer switch) pass the AC through to the AC out bus.

--vtMaps

[vtmaps]

the E-panel lead marked AC out goes to the Outback Inverter AC in?  And the lead in E-panel marked AC in goes to the AC out on Inverter

I'm not sure what you mean by "lead".  The AC out from the generator goes to the ePanel AC in bus.  The ePanel AC in bus is connected (through a breaker) to the inverter AC in.

The inverter AC out is connected through the Bypass switch to the ePanel AC out bus.  The ePanel AC in bus is also connected through the bypass switch to the ePanel AC out bus.

If this description is not clear and you can't make sense of the ePanel wiring diagrams and instructions, I think you should get some local help wiring it up... You can ruin your inverter and/or your generator if you make a mistake.

--vtMaps