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Bad Contactor, or breaker wired wrong?

 
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ajcamm




Joined: 21 May 2020
Posts: 2
Location: Buffalo, NY


PostLink    Posted: Fri May 22, 2020 12:22 am    Post subject: Bad Contactor, or breaker wired wrong? Reply with quote


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Cheers all, new guy here...
I’m in the process of building my control panel. I opted for contactors (120V Packard C230B) for my high power switching.
I’m only at the beginning, wiring up main power into the panel.

My issue is, when I turn the key switch ON to apply 120V to the coil, my breaker pops...I tried multiple contactors so it’s not isolated to the one. I also disconnected anything on the “load” side of the contactor so this is isolated to only the contactor part of the circuit.

I’ve racked my brain looking at my contactor specs to make sure they are 120V, good there.
I even measured resistance of the coils to make sure I don’t have a short...I can’t find anywhere what the resistance is supposed to be but I’m getting roughly 270ohms on each coil...pretty consistent across the board.

I’ve measure my power at the receptacle before turning ON power, ~240V across HOT lines, and 120V from each HOT to Neutral.

I could hook up a power supply and tests the contactors, but I suspect its not them since they are brand spanking new. My hunch is that something is a miss at the breaker. What, won’t know until I open it which is the next task...
I installed the breaker myself - this is simple enough and I have previous experience installing breaking just from finishing my basement...

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated!
Cheers!
Andy
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kal
Forum Administrator



Joined: 12 Dec 2010
Posts: 11116
Location: Ottawa, Canada

Drinking: Pub Ale, Electric Creamsicle, Mild, Pliny the Younger, Belgian Dark Strong, Weizen, Russian Imperial Stout, Black Butte Porter


PostLink    Posted: Fri May 22, 2020 1:10 am    Post subject: Re: Bad Contactor, or breaker wired wrong? Reply with quote

Welcome to the forum!

ajcamm wrote:
I’ve racked my brain looking at my contactor specs to make sure they are 120V, good there.
I even measured resistance of the coils to make sure I don’t have a short...I can’t find anywhere what the resistance is supposed to be but I’m getting roughly 270ohms on each coil...pretty consistent across the board.

Keep in mind that the measured resistance of a relay or contactor coil should indeed measure close to 0 ohms as it is actually a short. Through the magic of electromagnetics however, you don't get infinite current passing through due to the inductive nature of AC vltage passing through a coil wrapped around a ferrite core. Long story short: Measuring resistance doesn't tell you anything - putting a DC voltage across the coil should measure either completely open (blown coil) or short (it works). You've got 3 of them so I'm sure they're fine, assuming they're a model that works and you've wired them correctly.

Quote:
My hunch is that something is a miss at the breaker. What, won’t know until I open it which is the next task... I installed the breaker myself - this is simple enough and I have previous experience installing breaking just from finishing my basement...

Most likely the breaker. See my control panel build instructions for details on the wiring a GFCI (I'm assuming it's a GFCI breaker). They're wired differently than normal breakers and many people (even licenced electricians) get this wrong. Many times a year we get a panicked email from someone who bought a pre-assembled panel from us that consistenly pops the GFCI breaker, and it's their electrician that made a mistake and wired it as a regular (non GFCI breaker). See here for details: http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/control-panel-part-2?page=3

Good luck!

Kal

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ajcamm




Joined: 21 May 2020
Posts: 2
Location: Buffalo, NY


PostLink    Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2020 3:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the info Kal...
As suspected, I had the neutral wired in to the neutral buss instead of into the GFCI breaker...noob mistake.
All good now, onward!
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kal
Forum Administrator



Joined: 12 Dec 2010
Posts: 11116
Location: Ottawa, Canada

Drinking: Pub Ale, Electric Creamsicle, Mild, Pliny the Younger, Belgian Dark Strong, Weizen, Russian Imperial Stout, Black Butte Porter


PostLink    Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2020 3:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Glad it was something simple Andy - Happy brewing!

Kal

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Our new shop with over 150 new products: shop.TheElectricBrewery.com
We ship worldwide and support our products and customers for life.
Purchasing through our affiliate links helps support our site at no extra cost to you. We thank you!
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