So a few years ago I mis-ordered a huge NEMA 3R box and sat on it a while until I came up with the idea of adding a long set of custom foam lined water proof alligator clip doors to its bottom and add it to a 45 degree raised base in making it useful for a out door splice box. Big box, like 24"x30"x10", lots of room for splicing stuff / connections out doors. The alagator clips allow for like 16" worth of width in the amount of cables that can be inserted into the panel than locked down tight on the lower part of the box so as to keep out bugs and moisture.
Got used for a show or two in getting a place for water proof connections than I needed to use it for an outdoor storefront located atop a roof all winter long in providing transformer and distro for some christmas stringer lighting like ten stories below it. Later immediate upgrades to that insert panel in blowing up transformers or tripping breakers allowed for voltage drop in doing feeder cable to feed the low voltage lighting. Yep.. Like #2 feeder cable feeding basically zip cord in smaller distro panel below. Worked well, a bit difficult to get the insert in and out (cursed insert panel) but it was removable with some work in remembering just how for the next upgrade.
Next upgrade was a thirty amp three phase twelve 15A output NEMA 1 breaker panel that was GFCI protected which also fit inside the panel once I did some trading off of breaker panels for a smaller two phase size box to house the tree phase gizzards given added cooling to fit the larger panel gizzards into the smaller panel size. Overall challenge of the NEMA 3R panel was in getting the sub-panel inside of it thru the door of the over-panel. Still this panel worked well and sat in operation in powering up some lighting on an airport runway for a good amount of time in all types of weather.
Onto the third upgrade for this splicing box to power up outdoor lighting. Problem with the last panel was that it didn’t shut off and there is no room within the panel for a timer and relay for such a timer. About four years worth of occasional small shows this NEMA 3R box has been used on, even if mistake, it has paid itself off by now. Unfortunately with like two months of hemming and hawing about the limitations of a panel that didn’t shut itself off, and the cost for a timer type panel insert that would be timer remote required, three days before the store front it was to go on I got the go to build the third insert. Been nothing but problems for the project manager and me since.
I don’t do shows these days any longer, but rain or shine I have to go out in the morning to solve the problem following a stop to McMaster Carr for will call +$600.00 pickup for some outdoor Edison plugs on the way. Should take about three hours to get to the jobsite this store that hired us to light it up for Brest Cancer Awareness Month. This following three other trips in the past week to the jobsite in making the thing work or not in mostly not working so far.
Insert panel I made over a weekend was a NEMA I panel with a simlar three phase thirty amp L21-30 plug in and six 15A breakered circuits out per circuit. In this case it was a change to stage pin outputs as opposed to the above panel having Edison outputs. Instead I did non-outlet GFCI panel mount feed thru’s for each circuit as governed by the 15A breakers and in-line with the stage pin outlets. Added to it was a cord mounted Osram table top remote timer that’s designed to be used atop a household table top and even has a motion sensor alarm on it say for a broken window. Interesting item. Would be kind of interesting should we wish to alarm the panel by way of this motion sensor instead of lock it, but I think overall it overkill for what we needed were it not for the price and doing what we needed. (Hmm, open up the big NEMA 3R box and off goes the alarm.) It was cheap in powering up the 30A relay switch as a timer by way of a male zip cord out of the panel loomed to the male zip cord attached to the timer that fed into a panel mount NEMA 1-15 outlet on the panel .. (Should one wish to use this distro without a timer, all one needs to do is unplug the timer and plug in the relay direct to the panels outlet for the timer in symplicity.) 1A pop up thermal circuit breaker added to this timer and relay switch in being slightly over the rating for the panel given a non-master breaker type but still within six circuit breakers in being ok by code to power up I think in doing so. All of one amp to power up the timer and relay. This pop up 1A breaker ain’t going to break the bank and it is not a type one can flip off in being in my opinion for it’s use still code compliant to use for a special application.
So done by Monday and ready to ship same day. Show had two 36 degree ETC Lekos with two Brest Cancer gobos but without donut or tophat at far too drastic angle for good projection along with a dozen Altman CDM outdoor Parcans to light the company sign and field of the wall. This was a “best you can do mid near top focus” problem solved in yep it won’t be great but 20' away might be ok. Pre-tested in the shop was that the CDM Par’s in being arc source fixtures would not trip at least the bench mount test circuits that include a GFCI on each test circuit. It’s an arc lamp and just as a computer it could have a lag time between hot and neutral but most modern GFCI’s compensate for that as these did and seem to in concept. Most modern GFCI’s have also gone away from the concept of if monumental enough trip they are toast. A few years ago if you tripped a GFCI as an “improvement” to them, should you trip it in a big way you now had to replace the GFCI also in it not resetting.
So earlier last week we were having problems with the fixtures - the were not going on. Given a lack of time to pre-test the control it could be that the normally open relay switch I bought was reverse of the pre-programmed timer switch. Shouldn’t be but could be, or that the timer remote while inside the box somehow got unplugged. Few other options in lights not going on. Couldn’t fix it that night as there was not time to read the manual on the table top controller. Sent another crew out and they had to physically drain water out of the Edison and stage pin plugs in use in this system. Literally hot air dryer in the back of a car - still raining... drying off the inside of plugs than wrapping the connections in plastic bags and wrapping the crap out of them with e-tape to keep them as tight as possible. System worked following this but at some point stopped working on many of the lights / most of the lights this past weekend following another rain.
Mind you, these are commercial grade Leviton Edison and Bates Stage pin plugs and as of today while there in some inspections was not literally water draining out of them, there was moisture which in the past has had sufficiency to bring down a plane in shorting between circuits - sufficient it could trip a GFCI also. A few circuits work, other’s don’t thus the trip in the morning.
Been fairly able to by way of cell phone assure that the GFCI’s are working properly in tripping when a ground fault short is detected. GFCI’s activate when un-plugged from load and work when conneceted in suspect circuit when connected to a working loading. Project Manager don’t understand why this system worked last year given the past version of this power supply or former year’s power supplies with GFCI protection... yep it did. This by way of different layout and protection of the plugs or without GFCI protection. Going to install a bunch of weather tight Edisons into the system, dry out what I didn’t buy enough plugs for and raise up from the ground what cannot be properly fixed. Yes a bit of moisture could short even if high resistance a GFCI. Doing it safely is the goal. A lot of re-plugging to do in the morning and or routing and configuring cable.
The GFCI panel at least is valid in doing. Been using the exact same non-outlet GFCI's a year or two now with the building provided truck heaters in them not failing or the GFCI's in use not being the problem as fairly confirmed after drying out plugs, wrapping them and the system working last week. More a question of what it is powering up in the GFCI working properly and in no need of bypass as agreed for it is proper safety. Thus what about the wiring outside of this NEMA 3R panel is causing these things to trip and why?
Never had these problems before but again outdoor lighting - never went this advanced in safety before or as might be how it was done as opposed to last year.
Got used for a show or two in getting a place for water proof connections than I needed to use it for an outdoor storefront located atop a roof all winter long in providing transformer and distro for some christmas stringer lighting like ten stories below it. Later immediate upgrades to that insert panel in blowing up transformers or tripping breakers allowed for voltage drop in doing feeder cable to feed the low voltage lighting. Yep.. Like #2 feeder cable feeding basically zip cord in smaller distro panel below. Worked well, a bit difficult to get the insert in and out (cursed insert panel) but it was removable with some work in remembering just how for the next upgrade.
Next upgrade was a thirty amp three phase twelve 15A output NEMA 1 breaker panel that was GFCI protected which also fit inside the panel once I did some trading off of breaker panels for a smaller two phase size box to house the tree phase gizzards given added cooling to fit the larger panel gizzards into the smaller panel size. Overall challenge of the NEMA 3R panel was in getting the sub-panel inside of it thru the door of the over-panel. Still this panel worked well and sat in operation in powering up some lighting on an airport runway for a good amount of time in all types of weather.
Onto the third upgrade for this splicing box to power up outdoor lighting. Problem with the last panel was that it didn’t shut off and there is no room within the panel for a timer and relay for such a timer. About four years worth of occasional small shows this NEMA 3R box has been used on, even if mistake, it has paid itself off by now. Unfortunately with like two months of hemming and hawing about the limitations of a panel that didn’t shut itself off, and the cost for a timer type panel insert that would be timer remote required, three days before the store front it was to go on I got the go to build the third insert. Been nothing but problems for the project manager and me since.
I don’t do shows these days any longer, but rain or shine I have to go out in the morning to solve the problem following a stop to McMaster Carr for will call +$600.00 pickup for some outdoor Edison plugs on the way. Should take about three hours to get to the jobsite this store that hired us to light it up for Brest Cancer Awareness Month. This following three other trips in the past week to the jobsite in making the thing work or not in mostly not working so far.
Insert panel I made over a weekend was a NEMA I panel with a simlar three phase thirty amp L21-30 plug in and six 15A breakered circuits out per circuit. In this case it was a change to stage pin outputs as opposed to the above panel having Edison outputs. Instead I did non-outlet GFCI panel mount feed thru’s for each circuit as governed by the 15A breakers and in-line with the stage pin outlets. Added to it was a cord mounted Osram table top remote timer that’s designed to be used atop a household table top and even has a motion sensor alarm on it say for a broken window. Interesting item. Would be kind of interesting should we wish to alarm the panel by way of this motion sensor instead of lock it, but I think overall it overkill for what we needed were it not for the price and doing what we needed. (Hmm, open up the big NEMA 3R box and off goes the alarm.) It was cheap in powering up the 30A relay switch as a timer by way of a male zip cord out of the panel loomed to the male zip cord attached to the timer that fed into a panel mount NEMA 1-15 outlet on the panel .. (Should one wish to use this distro without a timer, all one needs to do is unplug the timer and plug in the relay direct to the panels outlet for the timer in symplicity.) 1A pop up thermal circuit breaker added to this timer and relay switch in being slightly over the rating for the panel given a non-master breaker type but still within six circuit breakers in being ok by code to power up I think in doing so. All of one amp to power up the timer and relay. This pop up 1A breaker ain’t going to break the bank and it is not a type one can flip off in being in my opinion for it’s use still code compliant to use for a special application.
So done by Monday and ready to ship same day. Show had two 36 degree ETC Lekos with two Brest Cancer gobos but without donut or tophat at far too drastic angle for good projection along with a dozen Altman CDM outdoor Parcans to light the company sign and field of the wall. This was a “best you can do mid near top focus” problem solved in yep it won’t be great but 20' away might be ok. Pre-tested in the shop was that the CDM Par’s in being arc source fixtures would not trip at least the bench mount test circuits that include a GFCI on each test circuit. It’s an arc lamp and just as a computer it could have a lag time between hot and neutral but most modern GFCI’s compensate for that as these did and seem to in concept. Most modern GFCI’s have also gone away from the concept of if monumental enough trip they are toast. A few years ago if you tripped a GFCI as an “improvement” to them, should you trip it in a big way you now had to replace the GFCI also in it not resetting.
So earlier last week we were having problems with the fixtures - the were not going on. Given a lack of time to pre-test the control it could be that the normally open relay switch I bought was reverse of the pre-programmed timer switch. Shouldn’t be but could be, or that the timer remote while inside the box somehow got unplugged. Few other options in lights not going on. Couldn’t fix it that night as there was not time to read the manual on the table top controller. Sent another crew out and they had to physically drain water out of the Edison and stage pin plugs in use in this system. Literally hot air dryer in the back of a car - still raining... drying off the inside of plugs than wrapping the connections in plastic bags and wrapping the crap out of them with e-tape to keep them as tight as possible. System worked following this but at some point stopped working on many of the lights / most of the lights this past weekend following another rain.
Mind you, these are commercial grade Leviton Edison and Bates Stage pin plugs and as of today while there in some inspections was not literally water draining out of them, there was moisture which in the past has had sufficiency to bring down a plane in shorting between circuits - sufficient it could trip a GFCI also. A few circuits work, other’s don’t thus the trip in the morning.
Been fairly able to by way of cell phone assure that the GFCI’s are working properly in tripping when a ground fault short is detected. GFCI’s activate when un-plugged from load and work when conneceted in suspect circuit when connected to a working loading. Project Manager don’t understand why this system worked last year given the past version of this power supply or former year’s power supplies with GFCI protection... yep it did. This by way of different layout and protection of the plugs or without GFCI protection. Going to install a bunch of weather tight Edisons into the system, dry out what I didn’t buy enough plugs for and raise up from the ground what cannot be properly fixed. Yes a bit of moisture could short even if high resistance a GFCI. Doing it safely is the goal. A lot of re-plugging to do in the morning and or routing and configuring cable.
The GFCI panel at least is valid in doing. Been using the exact same non-outlet GFCI's a year or two now with the building provided truck heaters in them not failing or the GFCI's in use not being the problem as fairly confirmed after drying out plugs, wrapping them and the system working last week. More a question of what it is powering up in the GFCI working properly and in no need of bypass as agreed for it is proper safety. Thus what about the wiring outside of this NEMA 3R panel is causing these things to trip and why?
Never had these problems before but again outdoor lighting - never went this advanced in safety before or as might be how it was done as opposed to last year.
