OT if you are an electrician or have a clue about electricity get in here I need help

Kornholio · Jan 5, 2007

I am learning as I go so if someone knows anything about this please holler. Alright here is my situation. I have a shop outside my home and have been doing some 220V wiring for some machines I have. No problems there, they are all hooked up and running fine.

Well I also have a machine that I was wiring for today that needs 3phase power. I bought a 5hp 3 phase converter and got that thing wired according to the instructions...or so I thought.

When I turned on the phase converter it killed all electricity to the shop...no breakers got shut off in the shop. I came in the house and there is a 100amp breaker that had a broken circuit that I assume runs to the shop. Well, it won't turn back on.

why didn't the breaker to the phase converter stop the circuit? And WTF did I do wiring wise to cause a 5 horse converter that draws 30 amps max to break a 100 amp circuit.

I know I'm an idiot when it comes to electricity but I don't care, I'm doing this anyway. Help.

AngleBroom · Jan 5, 2007

never dealt with phase converters, but is there anyway you could draw a line diagram of some sort to let me know what you got goin on. I.E.

100A panel ----------{3 phase converter-----to ???
You have other machines using this same 100A panel also?

Kornholio · Jan 5, 2007

Anglebroom, I have all my machines and lighting hooked up to this breaker box.

I have the wiring to the phase converter hooked to a 30Amp double pole breaker. 220 going to the converter. And the converter going to a receptacle.

This is the link to the phase converter wiring instructions http://www.americanrotary.com/pages.php?pageid=2&mode=preview

AngleBroom · Jan 5, 2007

still checking , give me 5 minutes.

AngleBroom · Jan 5, 2007

How many wires are you running to this machine? You should have 4 total.

Kornholio · Jan 5, 2007

Running 10/2 with ground to the phase input, 10/3 with ground to converter and receptacle...yes 4 total

AngleBroom · Jan 5, 2007

How far away is your house from the shop?
Did you run the 10 gauge wire exposed or in conduit? Little confusing on this part.

Kornholio · Jan 5, 2007

House from shop is like 50 feet. I have a breaker box in the shop that gets it's electricity from the house.. The phase converter is 5 feet from the panel in the shop. No conduit.

AngleBroom · Jan 5, 2007

Did you buy all the equipment shown in these pictures or is it all one unit(come with the converter)?

AngleBroom · Jan 5, 2007

Kornholio said:
House from shop is like 50 feet. I have a breaker box in the shop that gets it's electricity from the house.. The phase converter is 5 feet from the panel in the shop. No conduit.

What's the feeder panel rated?

Kornholio · Jan 5, 2007

AngleBroom said:
Did you buy all the equipment shown in these pictures or is it all one unit(come with the converter)?

It all came with.

AngleBroom · Jan 5, 2007

So you aren't drawing your power from the house, but the breaker box in the shop?

Kornholio · Jan 5, 2007

AngleBroom said:
What's the feeder panel rated?

No clue but the main is 100 amp breaker in the shop. Don't know about the house

Kornholio · Jan 5, 2007

AngleBroom said:
So you aren't drawing your power from the house, but the breaker box in the shop?

Now I'm confused. I have a breaker box in the shop. I think it gets it's power from the house.

I'm gonna go check some stuff I'll be back in a few minutes

AngleBroom · Jan 5, 2007

Are you in the dark in the shop with the main breaker being faulted?

Kornholio · Jan 5, 2007

Yeah shop is dark, main breaker is On and was not tripped.

AngleBroom · Jan 5, 2007

The main breaker in the shop or in the house?

Kornholio · Jan 5, 2007

in the shop.

AngleBroom · Jan 5, 2007

Here's what I would do:
Go back to the phase converter and make sure you made all your connections right. Your T1,T2,T3 connections should imperatively be made the same on both ends. Make sure the wire in the connection box is well insulated and not knicked. Make sure you grounded it on that end.
I'll write more in a sec.

AngleBroom · Jan 5, 2007

If you have a digital camera and could take some pictures of how you have everything hooked up at each connection point I'm sure we could get it solved. By the way, always pay an electrician to come and do the electrical work.

uppy: