I swapped out a smaller 6 circuit for this 10 circuit unit. The kit comes with everything needed for proper installation.

This transfer switch was an upgrade from a smaller six-circuit unit I installed in 1996. That switch was made by the same company, and is high quality. The new 10-circuit switch (it's really eight . . . the difference being that four are set up to be two ganged pairs to support 220v appliances) is every bit the quality of the previous one, and I expect the switch to last decades.This switch is "intermediate", and fit us perfectly. I like the features they continue to provide on this model, two specifically being the load meters for each phase, plus the option for either front or back wiring. The front wiring option is handy, because it is highly likely the switch will last longer than the generator, and changing generators in a hurry is easy to do if one need only plug in the generator with a 30 amp cord and a P-1430 four-prong plug - which I did.Hurricane Isabelle came through here in 2003, and we lost power for a week. We were the only ones in our neighborhood who didn't throw away all our food. With this new switch, we can also run the A/C in summer, or the heat in winter, and keep the food and lights/cable/internet on.The seller, MDC Deals, is a solid one, and offered this switch at a decent price (note they charged $30 shipping and handling which is high). Item arrived promptly and in original packaging.

I didn’t have a lot of room to install the transfer switch but I wanted more than six circuits. This was exactly what I needed. I like the load meters to balance the load.I have an industrial generator rated at 20 amp at 220V. I wired everything for 30amps in the house. I bought a 30 amp exterior plug to plug the generator into. This required an adapter for my 20 amp cord to plug into a 30 amp socket. You can find the adapter on Amazon.I tested it out and all worked well. Knock on wood, I haven’t had to use it yet.

Only negative thing I can say is that the meters only work sometimes

Some additional information that I hope is relevant. This is more about interfacing your generator than the transfer switch itself.The transfer switch works as advertised. Be sure to match the wattage output of your generator to the transfer switch. This switch will max out at about 3750 watts on EACH side. My generator has a max of about 4400 watts (120 volt - all to one side of the transfer switch) or 2200 watts (240 volts - with 2200 on both sides). If you use propane instead of gasoline (much cleaner burn) you will lose about 10 or 15 pct of your wattage.The transfer switch uses a L14 30 amp plug. Your generator MUST use the same plug. Many generators have the ability to switch between 120 and 240 volt mode. This will give you all the "juice" on one side of the transfer switch with "ZERO" on the other. With this thought you should probably be choosing a generator with an output between about 4000 and 8000 watts max. A 4000 watt generator will give your the max watts on one side of the transfer switch (in 120 volt mode) while an 8000 watt generator will give you the max watts on both sides of the transfer switch (in 240 volt mode)Quick example of 120 volt vs 240 volt. My microwave wont run in 240 volt mode on my 4000 watt generator. But it is fine in 120 volt mode. I had to flip the black and red wire in the plug of the transfer switch to get the microwave on the side with all the "juice". Then 'toggle" my generator between 120 and 240 mode when I don't need the microwave.This is a mild annoyance, but I got my generator for about $600. And it runs about 16 hrs on a tank of propane. I have to mix and match which breakers I use due to the "size" of the generator but for just over a grand (electrician installation included) I keep my house heated, food cold, microwave some food, some small appliances - coffee maker add toaster, TV, internet, and sufficient lights when there is an outage.Be aware that all portable generators require oil changes regularly (mine is about every 20 hours). Using your generator judicially (say 4 hr on 4 hr off) you can get about 2 days between oil changes. If you are thinking about propane - you cant store inside your house - not even your garage - but there are some nice vinyl propane tank covers for $20 on the web. U-Haul sells high quality propane tanks - ones with "gas gauge" and fills them. I bought my tank and got it filled for about $65. About $40 tank, $20 propane. Then bought a 2nd tank and cover.You should run your generator monthly and put a small load on it just to be sure that it is in working order. And you cant run your generator INSIDE either. No not even in your garage.GET AN ELECTRICIAN. Plan what you need against the power of your generator. Keep in mind any power loss due to propane or natural gas. After you wire up, dry run a few times until you are sure that you know how different items you will need to run react together.Even after you do all this you still might have to switch a few things around. Don't throw the pieces of cut off wire away. You might need them if you do have to make some changes.Of course if you buy some massive generator (7000 - 8000 watts) than ignore most of what I wrote. Except the get an electrician part.PS. my transfer switch had a defective "breaker". I called Reliance and they immediately sent one. Best to check them all first as it is easier to fix before you wire it up to your panel box.

the box wired up easily, id of some of the wires were illegible but got everything connected, then, powering on, found that 3 of the transferred circuits were dead. Too much time had already been spent installing it to return it , so we opened the box and found that 3 of the connections inside the box were not connected. Spent an extra half hour with fingers twisted inside the box to make the connections in the tight space, but when they were connected, everything checked out proper.

Purchased 3 separate times just to get replacement parts for the first one. The switches fall apart and are only held in by place retaining rings that fall off. We are an Electrical contractor and we do not recommend these. We've lost over 4 hours on call backs trying to get this to work.

Easy installation, appears to be built well. I have a friend that has the same unit for years and it has not failed him yet.

First off this is CSA approved for Canada. The only thing you may have issues with is your local inspectors interpretation the Canadian Electrical code in regards to the wire nuts in the main panel if you can't easily create a junction box for the connections to this panel (the preferred way). In my area, these don't need a permit but need to be installed by a "licensed and bonded electrician". My electrician didn't have any issues with having the wire nuts in the main panel as it was an "existing install" and I would have ended up with "multiple" junction boxes. I had the electrician use "WAGO"s rather than wire nuts for a cleaner looking install.So now that's out of the way, all I can say is the unit is great and SUPER easy to install and follow since the wires have letters so you know what goes where. The two 20amp 240V can have the trip bar between them unscrewed creating 2 120V circuits. I used this as part of a 6000W 240V UPS inverter/charger + LiFePO battery setup as to back up a bunch of circuits to be instantly in the event of power outage (youtube has some great video's as to how to do this using this model specifically). Being able to put those circuits back in "Line" mode in the invent the inverter/charger fails is why I picked this unit. I've used this unit in another normal "generator" setup and it also worked well for that.

It is a challenge so if you are not experienced electrician leave it to one. For the knowledgeable it is a straightforward install and quality built. I originally had a 6 breaker version and I was under utilizing my generator so I upgraded to the 10 breaker to add more circuits. The meters are very helpful. Recommend for anyone who is wanting to tie their generator in. Note it may not meet some local electrical codes. Very safe and works well.

Installation was okay. I used a single pole 120 Volts generator, so the 2 poles of the Transfer SW had to be connected together at the inlet.Although the transfer switch is 120/240V, it does not really specify how to connect it when a single-pole generator is used for 120V, unless you are planning to use one single "row" of the Transfer.The breaker switches don't seem to be easy to serve/replace, although are parts offered by the manufacturer via resellers.The selector levers are very sensitive, so it is very easy to switch from GEN to LINE and vice versa, without letting you stay in the OFF position. So you need to be extra careful.the four 20 amps circuits are only allowed to be connected to 20 amps circuit, since when in GEN mode, the breakers of the Transfer Switch are the only protection of the home circuit and bypass the main panel breakers.You can connect 15 and 20 amps circuits to the 15 amps Transfer Switch positions, but only 20 amps to the 20 amps positions. In my case, only 6 15 amps circuits were possible to connect, so you would need to change the 20 amps Transfer Switch breakers to 15 amps if you are planning to use all the circuits in a single-pole 120Volts.

The transfer switch is great quality and was easy to install

I looked into a lot of options for having a safe, reliable and legal generator switch-over system for when the power goes out, and have been very happy with it since I installed it myself a few months ago. In fact, I have two of these systems in two different houses, and they both operate flawlessly.Construction and finish are top notch, and the kit includes everything you need to get wired to the main panel. I opted to use the included extension chord plug which wires and mounts nicely to the lower right face of the unit, and I will run the extension chord outside to the generator when in use. Alternatively, you could hard wire an extension chord plug outlet through the wall (sold separately) but I like the option of being able to jeep and run the generator in the garage where my main electrical panel is.The (English) instructions are sufficient and there are numerous videos online showing this and and other, similar systems being installed. I would not recommend tackling this installation if you don't have a least a little electrical wiring experience. While it is straight forward, you are working with (potentially) something that can have significant consequences if you do something wrong. I found a few cheaper and not-to-code solutions for wiring a generator to a main panel, but in my opinion, this is the only solution to go with. It makes no sense to save a few dollars now, that may cost a LOT more later.