| Author |
Message |
jimmci9 #2
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 01, 2005 - 6:29 pm: | |
i need to test some high-amp capacity dc circuit brakers.... the push-to-reset kind.....they are supposed to be in the 250 amp range... which would work great for the coaches that have big battery banks... i need a non-destructive method to check them out....ideas???? |
Marc Bourget
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 01, 2005 - 11:40 pm: | |
Circuit Breaker Companies, especially used circuit breakers will typically have the test bench or know where to refer you.
Marc |
Tom Caffrey (Pvcces)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 02, 2005 - 12:32 am: | |
Jim, I think you could use a carbon pile and a shunt for measuring the current flow. Our carbon pile seems to draw way more than a starter for short periods.
If you use an inverter shunt and an accurate DVM, you should get within a percent or two.
For what it's worth.
Tom Caffrey PD4106-2576
Suncatcher |
Pat Bartlett (Muddog16)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, February 03, 2005 - 6:23 am: | |
Testing circuit breakers, this reminds me of a story, a long, long, long time ago. While working maintenance in a industrial situation, one of my jobs during our Annual Outage, was to test circuit breakers, all sizes, current ratings, and voltages. The procedure was new to me, when i was new to the maintenance world, at the time i didn't notice that the electrician assigned to the factory rep, was always the new guy in the electrical shop. The test equipment for testing circuit breakers was about the size of a medium size gang box, and very heavy, the test leads were 750mcm mining cable, with clamp type connections, my job was to hook these up for the technician, the first 4,160v/1200 amp breaker we tested, i jumped in there all bright eyed and bushy tailed. i preformed my tasks in a very short time, the technician turned the machine on, the breaker was 3 phase, b phase(center)blew off like a rocket, not to mention the light show that took place! The tech turned the machine off and said hook it back up again, i was embarrassed i thought i had tightened the connection very well, this time i really tightened it plus i checked the other two phases. The Tech again hit the switch, and b phase again flew off, sparks everywhere, i thought wow, that's a lot of force behind that.....the Tech says this happens all the time, put it back on and we will try to test it again. So being paid by the hour i did so....this time the Tech said what you have to do is hold down on this cable when we test the breaker, i gave him that are you kidding me look, he just smiled, trying to make me think he did this all of the time, i shook my head(remember i'm new and young), reattached the cable, i put my high voltage gloves on, grabbed the cable with both hands, and said,"ok i'm ready!", he hit the switch last thing i remember is my feet leaving the ground and being tossed against the wall (which was only 5 feet away). The electrical force (EMF) absolutely got my attention, ( oh yeah! that Mr. B Phase came loose again.) The moral of this story is this, if the breaker no matter what the size it is! Is questionable, throw the damn thing away, and buy a new one, only morons and Techs......test breakers! |
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