3 phases in one switch box

[vitoboy]

hi all
ive been asked to wire some high bay lighting in a unit from a tp+n c/u.
my question was as its accross all 3 phases what do you do about the switch end?
i dont like the idea of 400v in a metal switch box.
ive got 4 rows of 400 hids and want them switched in rows.
ta all
vitoboy

 

[johnboy6083]

label the switch with 400v. at the end of the day,nobody whould be opeining the switch up anyway, and in an industrial/comercial situation, you have a much lesser risk of DIY

 

[Darkwood]

when switching large inductive loads its best to have a contactor bank rated for inductive loads and then use a control circuit through a switch bank to pull contactors in- in whatever arrangment you require... this way 1 switch can bring the whole lighting on if so required, and to agree with 'johnboy' it is common to have more than 1 phase in industrial and commercial situations and just requires a label to point out that the switchbank contains 400v.

 

[mackers]

contactor like said makes life alot easier,400v @ switch fine as long as labelled!

 

[Knobhead]

Go for contactors, then if your worried about 400V in a switch you can operate all the coils off a single phase

View attachment 10262

 

[benji]

any rotating machinery in this unit

 

[needasparks]

any rotating machinery in this unit

Like your style.

Hope you get the answer your expecting or someone needs a tin hat

 

[Knobhead]

You can borrow this

View attachment 10267

 

[vitoboy]

thanks for the replys.
no rotating stuff in there but im still splitting the lighting up over three phases.
i thought of using a contactor per row but with only 3 x 400w of inductive load i thought a 10A switch should be fine.
customer reqires that each row is on its own switch...
so guess under the circumstances its a 400v sticker.

 

[UNG]

If you are worried by three phases in switch one box then use three boxes with one gang switches mounted next to each other you would still need 400v labels to warn about the higher voltage between co located accessories but it provides a simple solution

 

[Darkwood]

thanks for the replys.
no rotating stuff in there but im still splitting the lighting up over three phases.
i thought of using a contactor per row but with only 3 x 400w of inductive load i thought a 10A switch should be fine.
customer reqires that each row is on its own switch...
so guess under the circumstances its a 400v sticker.

My own golden rule is work out the inductive load per switch so in your case 1200 / 230 x 1.8 =9.39amps then double it to ensure durability of switch from back emf, 20amps switches are easily available.