Auxiliary panel question

[epitts]

I picked up one of these panels Surplus Center - 120/240 VAC GENERATOR PANEL BOX to add to my MEP-002A. I open the panel up and it seems the wire color is all over the place. Red, Black, Green, Blue and Gray. How ever when I ohm out the panel it is using the Gray and Blue for power and the Green is ground, but Black and Red are wired as Neutral. My knowledge is limited on the spark side but I think I am right. See attached photo's and be nice!

Thanks for any help

 

[Triple Jim]

From what I can see in your photos, everything you said is correct. It even says "white" on the 30A receptacle where the red and black wires go in. Having red and/or black for neutral is very non-standard in the U.S.. I'd change them to white to avoid future problems, and would probably change the other colors to standard as well.

The terminals in the 30A connector appear to be the push-in type. I've had back luck with those, and regularly change to screw terminals whenever I come across them. The bad luck includes intermittent connections, and worse, a very hot outlet in one case, causing the plug to partially melt.

 

[epitts]

They do look like that but from the side you can see the screw. Thank for backing up my findings.

 

[Triple Jim]

Excellent, then it's just a matter of wire colors. It is a bit odd that there's only one 30A 2-pole breaker on the panel, so that the 20A outlets are not limited to 20A.

 

[quickfarms]

Excellent, then it's just a matter of wire colors. It is a bit odd that there's only one 30A 2-pole breaker on the panel, so that the 20A outlets are not limited to 20A.

I think those are actually two single breakers for the 110 outlets.

 

[derf]

I think those are actually two single breakers for the 110 outlets.

Two singles. One for each leg.

I just ordered two of those panels.

 

[epitts]

The way the panel is wired is one breaker feeds one side of the 240 outlet and one 110 outlet. The other breaker feeds the other side and one 110 outlet. Both breakers are 20 amp each. So you can run 110 or 240 but not both at the same time.

Thanks for the feed back

 

[derf]

Why can't you run both at the same time?

 

[epitts]

Why can't you run both at the same time?

I just thought you would overload the breakers. Am I wrong?

 

[derf]

Over 20A on either breaker will trip it before too long but you can run a 240V load and a 120V load at the same time. For example if you had a well pump that draws 5 amps 240V and a 120V device that draws 5 amps you could run both.

 

[epitts]

Over 20A on either breaker will trip it before too long but you can run a 240V load and a 120V load at the same time. For example if you had a well pump that draws 5 amps 240V and a 120V device that draws 5 amps you could run both.

So as long as the combined load is not over the 20 amps you are ok.

 

[Triple Jim]

So the outlet labelled 120/240-30A A.C. is fed by 20A breakers?

 

[derf]

I think so. A balanced load is always better but a little unbalance shouldn't hurt.
For example, if you want to run two 9A 120V loads you can plug them both into the same outlet (using the panel in this thread as example) and it would work fine. But, the generator would be happier if you plugged on 9A load into each outlet so you would have 9A on each leg and therefore be balanced.

 

[derf]

So the outlet labelled 120/240-30A A.C. is fed by 20A breakers?

Yep. The outlet is rated for 30A but the gen that panel was made for was probably a 5kW and only capable of delivering 20A.

 

[epitts]

So the outlet labelled 120/240-30A A.C. is fed by 20A breakers?

Each leg is feed through a 20 amp breaker.

 

[epitts]

Installed the panel

I installed the panel today using 6/4 SO cable. Ohmed the panel through to power lugs, all ok. Started it up, let it warm up, flip breaker NO SMOKE!! Pluged in my killOwatt 61.8 HZ and 121.5 Volts. All is good.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Triple Jim]

Sounds good, Eric... nice work!

 

[joediveguy]

Hey Eric, I was thinking about doing the same thing! How has it been working for you? Can you post some pictures and a description of how you hooked it up to you GenSet? Thanks, Joe

 

[epitts]

So far so good, attached is a video of ti in use. If you have more questions let me know.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHrbwjzz3lk&feature=results_video[/media]

 

[joediveguy]

So far so good, attached is a video of ti in use. If you have more questions let me know.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHrbwjzz3lk&feature=results_video[/media]

Thanks Man, I need to get off my arse and build me one of those boxes!