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help! electric problem

gaiusmarius

gaiusmarius

me
Veteran
i have been using the normal plugs in the house to power 3x 600 watt, i have a small panel with a timer and 3 plugs protected with relays. im supposed to be able to plug it in and presto. it has been running for about 6 months perfectly, but now the 2 plugs where i have it plugged in are both dead all of a sudden, while non of the fuses are blown. if it was a fuse there would be more plugs not working not just those 2. anyone have any idea? i will take a pic of the control panel and tell you how much was being used for air and water on top of the 3x 600 if that will help.

peace out

:tiphat:
 
Avenger

Avenger

Well-known member
Veteran
Pics of the board and a better description of the setup would be helpful.

Are you certain that the 2 outlets are dead? or is it a problem related to the timer/relay board?
 
gaiusmarius

gaiusmarius

me
Veteran
yes there is no power on 2 outlets, 1 on each side of a wall. each one has space for 2 plugs. both outlets lack power all of a sudden. i plugged in other appliances to check. all that was plugged in is a pre made electric panel. it has a 220 plug on 1 end and 3 outlet plugs and a timer on the box. it's made to run 3x600 watts on a normal plug, next to that i have a small air controller, vent and pump. will post some pics asap.
 
D

Danseur

Could it possibly be a gfci outlet? Do those boards make them like that?
 
gaiusmarius

gaiusmarius

me
Veteran
ok here are some pics of the panel etc

ok here are some pics of the panel etc

picture.php


picture.php


picture.php


picture.php


any ideas are appreciated, i see now that the plug must have got quite warm, its even a bit yellow.
 
Avenger

Avenger

Well-known member
Veteran
yeah, looks to have gotten a bit warm.

I'd turn off that circuit and pull that receptacle out and see if there is damage to the wiring there.

A volt meter would be handy to have about now.
 
Bumble Buddy

Bumble Buddy

Active member
Sometimes a breaker can flip but not give the appearance of having flipped; try opening and resetting the breaker. Also, its hard to tell but there may be some scortching apparent on the faceplate of that outlet?... that would be a really bad sign that it is overloaded. Another thing to try would be to open the breaker and then remove the faceplates of the outlet to see if there is any scortching or if there is a wire loose, check the entire wire run from breaker screws to outlet if you can.

Be very careful when working in and around a power panel, the bars remain energized. Another question I just had was if you made any changes to the power load recently? Also, you mention fans and pump being on the circuit, these devices and others can sometimes fail causing excessive load to be drawn, you might try operating the relay with various combinations of the ballasts and other electrical components out of the circuit.
 
D

Danseur

Just to clarify the two plugs you are referring to not working are on the box itself or the pic of a receptacle with the torn panda?

If it is the receptacle in the pic with the torn panda then pull it back and take a look. Do you know what gauge wire that is in the pic holding it near the torn panda?
 
gaiusmarius

gaiusmarius

me
Veteran
it's the plugs in the walls that are dead as of yesterday. already did a couple of runs with the exact same setup, it's possible that it happened when we used a grill to make raclete in another room , but that would be strange as the raclete grill plug is still fine, but the reason i know its not the breaker is because the plugs in all the other rooms still work, the breakers would leave more plugs without power. im not very talented or knowledgeable about the electric side of things, but ill open up the outlet plate and see what there is to see :)
 
D

Danseur

FLIP THE BREAKER OFF BEFORE YOU GO DIGGING AROUND IN THERE EVEN IF IT APPEARS DEAD.

sry for caps, imo the receptacle is fried. Oh and very nice garden by the way, quite lovely.
 
gaiusmarius

gaiusmarius

me
Veteran
well i tell you what, i think i'm gonna start seriously studying how to wire rooms and set up my own panels. it's too annoying when you always need a trusty electrician for this stuff. lucky im only vegging right now, imagine if it happens in the last weeks with all the smell. mind you an extension cable could keep the ventilation going if nothing else. still....:p
 
H

Hazyfontazy

hey there good buddy ,,if u get stuck pm me and fly me to you(cheap these days)an i wire it safely for you :tiphat:
 
gaiusmarius

gaiusmarius

me
Veteran
ok it sure seems like i did overload the outlet. the whole seller who sold me the panel assured me that any normal outlet could handle it due to the relays inside. but you can tell only one of them is melted the one which had the panel on it. does this explain why the outlet on the opposite side of that wall is also powerless ?

damn i had no idea it was melting like that, glad it stopped working now.

this is the best pic i could take.

peace and thanks all for the imput.

picture.php
 
gaiusmarius

gaiusmarius

me
Veteran
i don't get why it melted like that. i have had an additional 250 watt mh running before now and it was fine. could it be that the outlet was badly installed? ie a lose wire? i guess the whole thing needs replacing, just wonder if the cable in the wall needs replacing too.

i had the ventilation and the pump as well as the oscillating fan on one plug and the 3x600 watt in the lower one in the last pic. it clearly seems that the lower one is the problem. hence i wonder if there was a bad connection that caused it to heat up like that?
 
C

coconaut

You were already maxed out using the three 600w lights.
If that grill you used was indeed on the same circuit, then the combination of the grill and the lights would no doubt fry something, other than your food. Electric grills use quite a bit of juice.
The outlet that was powering your lights was the 'hottest' part of the circuit when you plugged the grill in. Then whole circuit heats up because it's overloaded, the lights outlet fails first because it reaches melting point first.

By 'hottest' I mean temperature. Outlets on a circuit are usually the weakest link, plugs do not always fit snugly, and this can create small gaps between the male/female contacts. Electricity arcing through those tiny gaps creates heat, more juice, more heat.

Of course one would hope that their breaker trips before an outlet melts. Have you exercised your breakers lately? It's not common but breakers can become stuck open, and they should be flipped off, then back on at least once a year.
It would also be a good time to see how many amps your breakers are rated for. You're 240v, I'm 120v, so I'm not sure if you have 1 or 2 breakers for each circuit.
But to give you an idea, those three 600w lights alone are drawing a minimum of 7.5 amps.
 
M

medfinder

gaiusmarius said:
ok it sure seems like i did overload the outlet. the whole seller who sold me the panel assured me that any normal outlet could handle it due to the relays inside. but you can tell only one of them is melted the one which had the panel on it. does this explain why the outlet on the opposite side of that wall is also powerless ?

damn i had no idea it was melting like that, glad it stopped working now.

this is the best pic i could take.

peace and thanks all for the imput.

picture.php
Click to expand...


Thank God u didnt catch fire.

Hope everything turns out ok!
 
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