Time clock stopped working

uksparks · Apr 25, 2014

Hi,

any ideas chaps? Got the time clock below, was working fine 12 months ago before works started, just gone to power up and am getting no voltage on the output, wound it up etc...

uksparks · Apr 25, 2014

Yeah, I connected them both to A1 and A2, when I should have connected one of them to L1 supply to top of Contactor and the other to A1 and then took a neutral to A2.

i knew I'd work it out, I feel like such a dim wit now, it was so obvious, naturally I would have thought it was a neutral and a switched live out of the time switch but evidently not!

Simlec · Apr 25, 2014

If you don't mind me asking, how do your tails enter the bottom of the 3p DB ?

Carlosfandango · Apr 25, 2014

Good point. Looks awful like separate holes!

uksparks · Apr 25, 2014

Awful, cheeky sod, I cut a slot in the bottom plate of the board, put a rubber edge to it, then fixed some 5mm paxolin to the inside and drilled 4 small holes in it just big enough to get each 25mm tail through, it needs to be though one non metallic hole to avoid Eddie currents... Hence the paxolin. I think it looks smart, the inside is Megger tidy.

Carlosfandango · Apr 25, 2014

My apologies! Too quick to judge eh!!

Simlec · Apr 25, 2014

Just checking

you could have just made one hole and bush/coupler, and saved yourself an hour.

davesparks · Apr 25, 2014

uksparks said:
Yeah, I connected them both to A1 and A2, when I should have connected one of them to L1 supply to top of Contactor and the other to A1 and then took a neutral to A2.

i knew I'd work it out, I feel like such a dim wit now, it was so obvious, naturally I would have thought it was a neutral and a switched live out of the time switch but evidently not!

Of course it isn't, where is the control circuit fuse if the timeswitch is supplying the live to the contactor coil! Or have you forgotten to fuse down the coil circuit?

It looks like you have got an atypical setup there to be fair though. The timeswitch would normally be DNO property and sealed by them, otherwise you could switch your off peak supply on at any time you like and not pay the proper amount for you heating.
The supply to the timeswitch is DNO property and the fusing of it is their problem. They would have to be responsible for your coil circuit if they supplied the power for it through their timeswitch.

davesparks · Apr 25, 2014

And I'm afraid to say it doesn't look smart, it looks a mess.

A bit of galv trunking with the switchfuse, DB and contactor box mounted to it would look smart.

Out of interest why have you mounted the contactor in an IP consumer unit, a decent metal enclosure would have given you much better working space inside and not be so flimsy. MEM contractors cone with a decent box and they would match up with the switchfuse better.

uksparks · Apr 25, 2014

There is a glass fuse in the back of the time switch that would be in line with the line from the top of the Contactor, to be fair I think with out loads of Henley blocks etc, there was probably not much else they could do when the isolator was fitted as it left the time switch on my side of it. I watched WPD install it a while back and it caused them a headache.

the Eon person today said he can't leave it like it, I said right I'm going out now, tootle off then...

Yes I could change it as much as I like so I get more cheap power in the day. I could hook the cooker up to it as have a spare way. Lol.

uksparks · Apr 25, 2014

davesparks said:
And I'm afraid to say it doesn't look smart, it looks a mess.

A bit of galv trunking with the switchfuse, DB and contactor box mounted to it would look smart.

Thats your opinion, personally I don't think it looks a mess.

davesparks said:
Out of interest why have you mounted the contactor in an IP consumer unit, a decent metal enclosure would have given you much better working space inside and not be so flimsy. MEM contractors cone with a decent box and they would match up with the switchfuse better.

I had a spare enclosure that just happened to fit the job perfectly, it's pretty solid, not flimsy, there was sufficient space to get the cables in, it's not like you need to keep buggering about with them once in situ.

uksparks · Apr 25, 2014

this is the inside, personally i don't think its bad, its clean and tidy, what more do you want.

[ElectriciansForums.net] Time clock stopped working

davesparks · Apr 25, 2014

The inside looks ok but the outside is a mess.

What more would I want?
For a start I would want the exel switch, contactor enclosure and DBs to be level with each other.
Not to have a bit of unsupported floppy pipe linking the exel to the contactor.
Matching switchgear throughout, ie. all MEM or all hager, not 1 MEM, 1 Hager, 1MK and 1 whatever that IP box is.
A bit of galv trunking to carry the tails etc.

I'll stop there, but you did ask what more I would want

If you were working for me when you did that I would likely set to it with a jemmy and leave you to start again!

Simlec · Apr 25, 2014

What's the 3p DB for?

davesparks · Apr 25, 2014

Off peak supply, why else would it be controlled by a DNO timeswitch?

uksparks · Apr 25, 2014

To be fair, it's quite acceptable work, you are giving valid points but just being ---- lol.

its my granny's house, so really I did not want to be spending any more of her pension on buying a new switch fuse and Contactor enclosure so that it matched when the old excel works fine and I had an enclosure. The rewire and work had cost enough as it is.

The three phase board feeds the new storage heaters, there's 11 of them, it's quite a big house.