Wiring Thread: This stupid safety device started alerting that there wasn't safety!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Wiring Thread: This stupid safety device started alerting that there wasn't safety!

Noctone: Oct 25, 2005; XO til we overdose..

Canuckistan posted:

I have a new 7000w generator I want to wire into my house. Normally I would say I need a manual transfer switch and move over the 6 circuits that I need to keep things running, but I also have an old style fuse box. Since I'm going to be getting a good chunk of circuits ripped out of the old box anyways I'm thinking of replacing the entire fuse box with a new breaker box.

Therein lies my question. Do I still need a separate manual transfer switch or are there breaker boxes that can contain the transfer components within it? I'm basically trying to save buying two components if there's a all in one solution out there.

The ideal solution would be that the entire breaker box would be on the manual transfer so I could selectively bring any circuit in and out of generator service as needed. I would also want a wattage meter so I could monitor load.

What you're looking for is this product from Kohler.

# ¿ Apr 2, 2009 16:27

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# ¿ May 6, 2024 02:26

Noctone: Oct 25, 2005; XO til we overdose..

I saw some 1000 kcmil cable at a substation last week. poo poo is massive.

# ¿ Feb 14, 2013 03:18

Noctone: Oct 25, 2005; XO til we overdose..

Three-Phase posted:

This is what's so nice about medium-voltage plant distribution. I can provide 1MVA at 480V with 1200A, or I can provide it at 4160V at 138A. Especially motors >500HP. I've seen diagrams showing 480V 500HP motors, those must require an absolute shitload of copper.

I've heard people are trying to steal copper from substations now. That's crazy.

Probably something like 3C/750 kcmil (per phase), so yeah. :stare:

# ¿ Feb 15, 2013 01:51

Noctone: Oct 25, 2005; XO til we overdose..

It's really hard to say without any details about what you're doing. More often than not, though, I'd say yes, polarity matters.

# ¿ Feb 17, 2013 20:33

Noctone: Oct 25, 2005; XO til we overdose..

USB wall outlets already exist. Just for power afaik, though.

e: and of course PoE has been around for a while, although I don't think I've really heard of it being used much, if at all, in homes.

Noctone fucked around with this message at 04:58 on Feb 26, 2013

# ¿ Feb 26, 2013 04:55

Noctone: Oct 25, 2005; XO til we overdose..

Nuntius posted:

Not sure if this is the best place to ask this, but it seems roughly right.

My girlfriend recently purchased a flexible shaft drill in Germany which runs on 240v with a maximum load of 800VA and at 50Hz. She wants to use it in Canada which runs at 120v (ish) and 60Hz.

(my understanding is that the Hz difference won't make a huge difference, just make it run a little fast/hot)

We got a Hammond 170FE autotransformer that has a capacity of 1000VA and can convert either 115v-230v or 230v-115v depending on the way you wire it. I wired it to go from 115v to 230v and tested the voltage of the output to confirm. I didn't however test the current (my friend lent me his voltmeter and said that it was not capable of testing that amount of current). When I test the drill, it runs VERY slowly. I tried reversing the circuit incase I was just an idiot, and when I did this it did not run at all.

What horribly obvious thing am I doing wrong? What stupid miscalculation have I made? What basic understanding do I not have? I have almost no knowledge of electrics that I didn't learn from spending a day on Wikipedia.

Hard to say for sure without datasheets/schematics, but my best guess is that the softstart is probably designed specifically for 50 Hz.

# ¿ Mar 15, 2013 03:14

Noctone: Oct 25, 2005; XO til we overdose..

Well see that's the thing. The point of a soft start is to ramp power up gradually, rather than just going full bore from the outset. If the controls in the soft start are predicated on a 50 Hz signal, then a 60 Hz signal could possibly be loving with the controls such that the logic never progresses to the point of ramping the power up. This is all wild speculation, though, it's really hard to say without any more technical detail.

If I were you I would try to contact the manufacturer.

# ¿ Mar 15, 2013 06:44

Noctone: Oct 25, 2005; XO til we overdose..

grover posted:

Those are connectors for 3-phase 208V power. For high powered connections. Kinda funny they'd pretend to plug in a powerstrip. I like this one, too:

babyeatingpsychopath posted:

Those are cam-lock connectors, typically seen on welding cable. The relative size of those looks like they'd be on a 100A cable.

I made one of those LAN killers, too. All the tips were hot, all the rings were neutral. It kept moving from its spot on my shelf, but nobody admitted to ever using it in anger.

To add on to both of these posts, cam-locks are primarily used for temporary three-phase power feeds. Probably the most common application I see is to connect a load bank to a generator. We also use them quite regularly at work to feed 480 or 208 to our breaker test sets.

# ¿ May 5, 2013 03:33

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# ¿ May 6, 2024 02:26

Noctone: Oct 25, 2005; XO til we overdose..

Flat head screws are the bane of my loving existence. Robertson or bust.

# ¿ Apr 20, 2014 21:29

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Wiring Thread: This stupid safety device started alerting that there wasn't safety!