How to deal with uneven load on 240 volt generator?

[belfert]

I plan to switch my air conditioning from 120 volt to 240 volt.  Therefore, I need to either use an autotransformer for my A/C units, or switch my generator to 240 volt.  I am most likely to switch my generator to 240 volt.  How do I deal with most/all of my 120 volt load being on one leg of the 240 volt?  My inverter is 120 volt only.  I know the 240 volt generator heads don't like a highly unbalanced load.

A simple rough diagram of my plans is attached.  I have more 120 volt loads than shown.

[thomasinnv]

Victron transformers can also be used to balance loads on a 240 ac source. Some other brands probably can as well.

[belfert]

One of my first thoughts was using a Victron Autotransformer directly after the generator to balance loads across the 240 volt legs.  However, even though there is a 100 amp unit they have restrictions that probably make this not a great option, at least with the Victron unit.  Outback Power has one, but limited to 25 amps.

[thomasinnv]

The victron is 28a continuous and 32a peak imbalance. There is a 32a or a 100a model. What are the limitations you speak of? Several people have them installed exactly for the purpose you speak of. If you have questions or concerns that are not covered in the manual you might try the victron forum for some answers.

[David Anderson]

Do you have two 120 volt hot legs coming off your genny output now?
If yes, you have 240v available.

Unless they are both on the same phase

David

[luvrbus]

I would call Jason at Wirco most of Dick's generators had 2 -110 volt leads, I called Gary for you, but he couldn't remember if yours did or not

[belfert]

I already talked to Justin at Wrico maybe a month ago.  At the time I was more focused on using an autotransformer to take the 120 and change it to 240 for the A/C units than changing the generator to 240.  It has been suggested to change the generator to 240 volt instead.

Justin was surprised I am using 120 volt as he shipped the generator as 240 volt.  I followed the instructions in the manual to convert to straight 120 volt.  One of the things I had to do was to tie the two legs together at the 50 amp breaker in the genset.  Since I had no 240 volt loads I wanted to only do 120 volt.  I am running two legs out of the generator from the two pole breaker, but they are each sized for 50 amps.  The double pole breaker will trip if I use too much power on one leg, but I only had that happen once.  I have spread the loads across the two legs as much as possible.

The limitation with the Victron Autotransformer is how much current you can have on the neutral.  Even the 100 amp model has the same limit as the smaller one.

[belfert]

Do you have two 120 volt hot legs coming off your genny output now?
If yes, you have 240v available.

Unless they are both on the same phase

I have two 120 volt legs on the same phase.  I followed the instructions in the Wrico manual to convert to 120 volt.  It would be easy to go back to 240 volt.