communal lighting , contactor

[glasgospark]

got a 240v ac set up for communal lighting in a small block of flats ,

call out was that outside lights not working , the contactor has 25mm incomer from db1 and 25mm outgoing to db2

incoming side also has 1.5mm t&e.


i cant seem to find the operating device for the contactor any suggestions ??

dusk-dawn pir ?

 

[glasgospark]

Your asking me? I'm in Cape Town....you're the one that was on site....

i mean for the fact its a 2core&earth T&E going to the photocell

 

[micknew]

Just to qualify my comment, no need to consider starting current as it only lasts for milliseconds.
Not enough time to cause damage to cable.

 

[micknew]

Faulty photo cell or contactor coil probably.

 

[NJR]

i mean for the fact its a 2core&earth T&E going to the photocell[/QUOTE

Used for live and s/live?

 

[Dcf]

Every photocell I've come across needs a live neutral and switch wire.
is there a slid lock fuse or something that is in circuit to switch the d/b?
as it was quite common back in the day to fuse the control circuit down using such methods.
start there and look to see if the photocell has had it

 

[doelectrics]

hi glasgo spark 1- cover the pir -lights should come on if not
2- bridge out the contactor a1 and a2 if i remember correctly if not
3- probable contactor fault replace i would replace the pir with a timer as well just my preference

strange that 25mm goes into the contactor would need to see it

 

[Hawkmoon]

i mean for the fact its a 2core&earth T&E going to the photocell

Considering you have not opened it up and checked (30ft up) then how do you know it is fed by 2 core & earth? - it's likely to be, as already said, L/SwL/N & Earth.

In post 1 you mentioned not being able to identify the protective device for contactor (I assume you meant the control circuit), did you find it?

 

[Hawkmoon]

Didn't you touch on what they do and how they work when you served your time?

I think with some colleges it depends how 'in depth' they go into it...easy to forget if you never/rarely work with contactors.

When I did this in college the class had to design and construct a university challenge type buzzer/light system where any 1 button pressed (of three) would disable the other buttons and activate its own buzzer and light - light on 'hold on' setup, buzzer stopped on button release - also included was a master reset button.

This took us the best part of a day to do - the exercise was pretty complex (and interesting) - Result: Never forgotten how to design/wire contactor circs

 

[R G]

Just to Re cap How is the photo cell fed , is it from say a 6a MCB from the main DB , I would check what goes away to feed it and the return back to the contactor , also a 3 core and earth are needed for the Photo cell to work usually , if theres a t&e , i would suspect the earth wire being used as a neutral , basically you need to get to the Photo cell and go from there , this is a relatively simple layout , so shouldn't take long to sort , if you need to rewire the feed to the sensor or replace the sensor , I would think about repositioning the sensor if its in an awkward place for access ,,,,

As regards the contactor , this would be a simple job of feeding the coil A1 with a live feed , you could also check that it has a neutral on the A2 side as well ...

 

[Marvo]

hi glasgo spark 1- cover the pir -lights should come on if not
2- bridge out the contactor a1 and a2 if i remember correctly if not
3- probable contactor fault replace i would replace the pir with a timer as well just my preference

strange that 25mm goes into the contactor would need to see it

Why on earth would you ever bridge A1 and A2? Stirling advice. I quit, I can't do this anymore.

 

[Hawkmoon]

Why on earth would you ever bridge A1 and A2? Stirling advice. I quit, I can't do this anymore.

Application of 'Big Bang Theory'

 

[Knobhead]

glasgospark it’s not often I concur with Biff.

You are a wasting one of the earths precious resources, air!

 

[Knobhead]

Hawkmoon it's been a bad day, you made me laugh. Hence the thanks.

 

[glasgospark]

glasgospark it’s not often I concur with Biff.

You are a wasting one of the earths precious resources, air!

Shut up you ---

 

[Jay Sparks]

Shut up you ---

Oh dear, dear, dear!!!

 

[Octopus]

Shut up you ---

Now you've been quoted twice your misuse of language can't be edited by you.

Are you trying for another ban?

 

[Marvo]

closed.