What are the ways to pair Savant with a generator?
| Setup | What it does | What Savant requires |
|---|---|---|
| Generator and modules, no battery | Sheds loads so the generator carries the house | Power Director or host, ATS signal, grid and generator monitoring, Power Modules v3.5 or later |
| Generator, modules and Savant Power Storage | Battery from the first second, generator for long outages | Hardwired AC standby generator with 2-wire start and stop |
| Portable generator | Not supported | n/a |
How does load shedding help a generator?
A generator has a fixed output. If the whole house tries to run central air, an EV charger, a dryer and an oven at once, the generator can overload. Savant watches the load and turns off the circuits you chose as lower priority while the generator is running, then turns them back on when there is room. Savant's compatibility guide says this needs the transfer switch's auxiliary contacts wired to the Power Director and a Current Track Module or Smart Energy Monitor on the main feed, so the system knows when the house is on generator power.
Generators have load management of their own, too. Generac says its Smart Management Modules can, in many cases, reduce the size and cost of a system. Savant adds circuit-level monitoring, outage scenes and battery control in the same app. More on the idea in home load shedding explained.
Why add a battery?
A standby generator takes several seconds to start and transfer, and it burns fuel the whole time it runs. A battery picks up the house within moments (Savant lists under 70 ms for the PS20) and carries it through that gap. Savant's compatibility guide covers a generator feeding the Savant inverter, so in a long outage the generator can keep the battery system going. Our guide on pairing a generator with a battery covers how the two share an outage.
Who does what?
We are an authorized Generac and Kohler partner and can supply the generator, or work with the one you have. A licensed electrician makes the electrical connections and a licensed gas fitter does the gas work. We design the Savant side, set the priorities with you and set up the app.
