Search for breaker in Topics

Hello. I need help with charging a capacitor bank I have. It consists of 10 capacitors: 4 4700uf capacitors and 6 6800uf capacitors. All are wired in parallel. I have been charging them with 110AC rectified to DC. The only problem is that whenever I flip the switch to start charging, it trips our shop's 20A breaker and you have to flip it back to start charging again. It trips our breaker every time and dims the lights making my dad angry. So I need some tips on what wattage resistor i need to use to keep from tripping the breaker. I experimented with a 10W resistor and that was way too much resistance. I am not allowed to experiment anymore until someone credible can tell me what to do. Thanks for your help.

Hello. I need help with charging a capacitor bank I have. It consists of 10 capacitors: 4 4700uf capacitors and 6 6800uf capacitors. All are wired in parallel. I have been charging them with 110AC rectified to DC. The only problem is that whenever I flip the switch to start charging, it trips our shop's 20A breaker and you have to flip it back to start charging again. It trips our breaker every time and dims the lights making my dad angry. So I need some tips on what wattage resistor i need to use to keep from tripping the breaker. I experimented with a 10W resistor and that was way too much resistance. I am not allowed to experiment anymore until someone credible can tell me what to do. Thanks for your help.

I have a 200 amp breaker box for a mobile home and I want to use it in my shed so I can run my 240 stick welder and some smaller power tools. I already have 3 wires ran from box to box, I just need the wire configuration.  

Well the other day I was at home and my parents were at work. I was hearing some weird noises from around our circut breaker. So I called my dad and told him I was hearing noises and it sound electrical. He didn't believe me until last night until I told him there were more noises comeing from it. So he opened the little door and flipped one of the switch thingies back and forth and it was arcing! So we replaced it and there was this weird blue purpley powder on it. So if your children hear noises around your circut breaker, you might want to check it. My mom said she heard something coming from over there but she thought it was a mouse or rat outside or in the wall. (Our neighbor has rats and they come over to our house all the time)

This is probably the dumbest question I've asked, and I know that me asking it and why I'm asking it is going to scare so many decent people. But I can ensure you that I'm taking appropriate safety measures when I do these kind of things. My questions is: I can either buy or easily build some sort of portable breaker box? I would like this box to be a sort of "test platform" of sorts, so I can make things that will plug into a 110 outlet (say a hotwire cutter) and if (for some reason) I do have a short somewhere, I will trip the test platform breaker, and not the fuse in my apartment.  Reason I ask is I work graves, and it hard for me to meet up with my landlord. meaning, if I blow a fuse (which my apartment still uses) I will have to go 10+ hours on average before I can get it replaced. Thanks in advance! 

Hey > Well is dere any1 who can help me out ??? I need some suggestions on how to build a prototype of a speed breaker that can be used to generate electricity >>>>> I just want to show how the concept works like >>>> the few links below shows the concept : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tIMhWpLDfw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClRTuDNJ5a4 it would be of gr8 help >>> if ny1 cld help me out in this matter >>>>  

Hey >  Well is dere any1 who can help me out ???  I need some suggestions on how to build a prototype of a speed breaker that can be used to generate electricity >>>>>  I just want to show how the concept works like >>>>  the few links below shows the concept :  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tIMhWpLDfw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClRTuDNJ5a4 it would be of gr8 help >>> if ny1 cld help me out in this matter >>>> 

I have a Task Force model #25143 electric mower (corded) that suddenly stopped while I was cutting some grass that I admit was probably too tall.  I have had no previous problems with it whatsoever since I bought it new last year.  After some searching I found out that it had tripped the breaker (was plugged into the GFI outside the house).  It's only a short cord--an extension must be used.  I bought a new one last month, but tried two other ones just to be sure--no change.  I tried using a different outlet--no change.  I tried using an inside outlet and promptly tripped that breaker as well.  I checked the blade, it spins freely, there was a small amount of grass on the shaft above it, I removed that.  There was a lot of cut grass on the underside of the deck (it's a mulching mower) and I removed all that going to the side discharge and the chute where the bag would be.  I took off the cover to the motor, there was some grass and dust in there, I cleaned it all out.  As for the connections, they are still clean as a whistle--no rust, corrosion, burning, fraying, etc. they still look new.  I was looking for a fuse and couldn't find one, checked by the motor and in the handle where the switch is.  After all this it still trips the breaker so I'm thinking there has got to be a short. The plug side of the extension cord was warm.  I found an answer that said use a multi-meter and I suppose I could go buy one but then what do I do with it?  I don't know what I'm supposed to hook it to and I don't know what any of the readings would mean.  I'm too low on cash now to pay for repair or buy a new one and where I live the grass needs to be cut almost 2x a week--any advice?  How can I find the short or is the motor gone?  I also read about motor "brushes" but don't think I saw any not that I would know what they look like anyway.  I included pics of the switch and the motor.

There is a circuit in my house which has become unpowered, but I can't find a breaker for it.  None of the breakers in the service panel are tripped (yes, I know what that looks like), and the two labelled "not in use" don't affect this unpowered line (I've cycled them both a couple of times).  The circuit has two GFCI outlets on it; both are unpowered and the TEST buttons have no effect (I've tried RESET, of course).  The circuit also has an overhead fluorescent panel, and an outside security light, neither of which are working. I thought I could use a circuit tracer (a.k.a. breaker finder) for this, but what I've read so far indicates that they only work on active lines (i.e., so you know which breaker to turn off). Does anyone have a non-obvious suggestion for how I can find where this circuit is turned off?  Or could I use a circuit tracer for this, even though it's unpowered?

My friend is blaming me for frying his laptop because i supposedly flipped the circuit breaker... I know from a basic knowledge of electronics and electricity that when you turn the breaker off and then back on, you just cut the electricity and it is restored...so this shouldn't cause any problems for electronics... but is it possible that the power block for the laptop can't handle the sudden off and on of the current, and then short, sending more current to the laptop, causing it to "fry"?

Ok I am adding a 30 amp power box to my house to plug in my RV when friends/family come to stay. then question is I am going to run a new line from the breaker box to the newly installed 30 amp panel outside (with its own 30 amp breaker) what size should the breaker inside be?

Hello. I need help with charging a capacitor bank I have. It consists of 10 capacitors: 4 4700uf capacitors and 6 6800uf capacitors. All are wired in parallel. I have been charging them with 110AC rectified to DC. The only problem is that whenever I flip the switch to start charging, it trips our shop's 20A breaker and you have to flip it back to start charging again. It trips our breaker every time and dims the lights making my dad angry. So I need some tips on what wattage resistor i need to use to keep from tripping the breaker. I experimented with a 10W resistor and that was way too much resistance. I am not allowed to experiment anymore until someone credible can tell me what to do. Thanks for your help.

I know you folks must have seen this question many times, but I still have to ask: my electric lawnmower tripped the circuit breaker (I suspect due to excessively long grass), and kept tripping it after I reset the breaker. The weird thing about it is that each time I reset the breaker and restart the lawnmower, the motor would actually start and run for half a second, before the breaker trips again. I infer that means the motor itself is not shot, and possibly not the rectifier either? Can anyone help with this? Thanks in advance!?

In this model the electricity should produce when car goes from it 

What size fuse would I use for a 12 volt 5 amp/hour sla battery.  Better yet, are there breakers for same battery.  I am wiring an electrical system for a bike.  As the complexity increases I accidently short the battery more often.  

Null

I need a simple way to get a chain off my bike so i can paint it and i dont want to buy a chain breaker is there any way around this with out destroying the bike or frame?

The refrigerator in my garage has tripped the circuit breaker several times without my knowledge, spoiling my food. Without actually going into the garage, how can I tell if the breaker has tripped, using something such as an led or buzzer? I could hear a loud buzzer in the garage.

I found a 3 amp snap in circuit breaker.  It says 3A-32V.  Does that mean 3 amps up to 32 volts or 3 amps at only 32 volts? The guy I bought it from wasn't sure.  He believed the volts could be anywhere between 1 and 32  and would flip the breaker at 3 amps anywhere in that voltage range.  In other words, 2 volts at 3 amps flips it, 12 volts 3 amps flips it , 24 volts 3 amps flips it, etc.  Is that how breakers work? Sorry about the backwardness.  I took the pic with my mac.

When the breaker is reset it runs a few seconds and does the same thing? I was de-thatching when the problem first occurred so the mower was under load. There was no burning smell? The mower is an 8-year-old 12 amp Homelite with a 21 inch cut .

While working with HV I got a short on the primary side for some reason. I thought "no big deal, just go flip the breaker (it actually flipped my personal 15 amp breaker that's used with my HV projects, and the 20 amp room breaker)." So I go reset the breaker, and now all of the outlets in my workshop work except the outlet I had my projects plugged into. ehhh..... WHAT DO I DO!!!!!!!!

I've made one of the basic models i've seen around here, but i was wondering if i could skip most of the painstaking soldering that i suck at, and use car parts. I'd still be soldering here and there, but not tiny camera circut boards. I'm not retarded, i am aware of the high volts at work on spark plugs, so spare me me the "you'll shoot your eye out" type lectures, already tasted that flavor. But would the automotive coil even charge if it is shorted across by the barrel coil? i know breaker type ignitions dont fire till the power source is cut by opening the breaker. but a spark plug is an open circut and i'm not sure if a coil pack will charge if that circut is closed.

I have recently bought a repoed amish rent to own building.  it was getting wired in the middle of the repo.  i have some stranded 10awg stranded wire with an extension cord male plug on one end.  i would like to have it to where i can easily disconnect the power by unplugging it from my outside outlet of the house.  inside the building is a complete breaker box with a 60 amp breaker and a bunch of 30's as secondaries.  i have read that 30 amp is max for the 10 awg stranded wire.  is there any way that i can have the other end of the wiring put in the breaker box with a 30 amp breaker as the main and 15's and possibly a 20 here and there for breakers.  it has about 6 outlets and one flourescent light in there.  i will have only a small air compressor, small miter saw, couple lights, and a drill battery charger in the building, but never all running at the same time.  can someone give me a couple pointers on this?  by the way, this is industrial warehouse wire, and not no cheap stuff.

I was wondering if the amperage ratings of devices, say, for instance, circuit breakers, add in parallel or series. For example, if I hooked up 5 20 Amp circuit breakers in parallel, would it take 100 amps to trigger them all? Or would it take 100 amps with them in series to trip them all? I'm not sure about this because I have used two 1 amp solid state relays in series to switch loads well above 1 amp, but it seems more logical for them to only do that if they were connected in parallel. Also, whatever the answer to my question is, does it apply to all devices? Circuit breakers, Triacs, etc? Thanks!

Just moved into a 60's home.  The electrical system has some "unique" aspects.  Everything works and the building inspector didn't find any glitches but the main panel wasn't labeled.  I spent a day tracing out most of the circuits.  I ended up with two 110V circuits that don't seem to power anything in the house.  ( hey that is better than the 3 110V and 2 240V unknown circuits that i started out with! )  I have accounted for things like outside lights and outlets, attic fan and lights, extra outlets in the garage, and a line out to a shed.   The breakers are wired and "on".     So can I trace these circuits from the main panel to where ever they end up?

I'm planning on getting a very powerful welder. I'm don't really think our puny 15 A circuit breakers can handle the massive amount of current it will draw though. I've heard of welders being plugged into circuits meant for stoves, but my stove's circuit isn't easily accessible from where I want to weld. I was wondering if it is possible (and safe) to splice together circuits in parallel. As in, is it safe to take the supply of one 15 A circuit, and splice it together phase to phase with a different 15 A circuit? (You know, like, without burning anything down. Specifically, my house.) When you connect two circuits in parallel, the amperage adds, so it should get me a good 30 amps, right? 

I just made a 3 phase MOT power supply and it's fun to play with (while being safe) but every time I use both phases it trips the breaker after only 2 arcs, sometimes it trips just from plugin it in, I am using a PFC cap on the mains side as well as a long extension cord, I have one of the transformers ballasted, and one of them has 3 MOC's in series on its output, the breaker can handle one of them just fine...for a little while. Is there any thing else I can do besides buying a bigger breaker switch? I'd say mine is 20A but i dont know for sure.  Every time I draw arcs from my MOT it heats up really fast really hot, I am using the same setup as above , the only thing I can think of is to submerge it in oil but I dont want to do that because I'll want to make changes to it. What makes it different from a welding transformer in that they are made to draw arcs from but when you draw an arc from a MOT its a direct short and will eventually destroy the transformer?

Its a yellow little box the size of a ice breakers mint (the square ones) it has the writing on it GMF MPX/DIAN

The well pump is currently hocked to a designated 15 amp 220 breaker in my main panel the pump specs mention that the maximum amps required  is 59. I wanted to run solar power to a dedicated panel box with breakers etc the line for the  pump would be 15 amp 220 as it is now WHAT SIZE SOLAR PANELS WOULD BE REQUIRED plus what other materials are necessary??? Thank You

Helping Pops out on this one... He's got a spare room with a small adjoining bathroom. The wiring breakdown on the fusebox indicates that these two rooms are wired as part of the same circuit on the main breaker. In the two rooms there are: 2 outlets, 1 GFI outlet, and 4 switches controlling 2 lights and 1 bathroom ceiling fan. In the last few months this room has been experiences some abnormalities in power: flickering lights, occasional outage, GFI tripped. The outages usually lasted less than an hour and would occur with or without any load and any time. GFI trips sometimes, but other lights will work on the circuit when it's just the GFI. Recently all power to this room has stopped. The main breaker never trips. With everything unplugged (including the ceiling fan) I checked the outlets in the room. Screwdriver voltage tester was used. The probe registers a 'charge' in the outlet and 'no power' on the return. Normal. However when any load (light, clock, tv) is applied all outlets instantly register a charge in both the positive and the return. Not normal. The breaker doesn't trip, resetting breaker or GFI doesn't work, and the positive and negative terminals of the outlets are both registering as charged. House is 10 years old with no previous wiring issues, in Canada. Can anyone tell me what's wrong? edit: January 24, 2011 Problem has been located and fixed. Closer inspection of the breaker panel revealed that the neutral was loose, and had started to melt the casing of the wire. The wire was clipped and spliced, and now things are back to normal. Thanks for everyone's input, best answer awarded!

I live in a old cobble stone house it seems there is one line that feeds all the out let’s the power comes and gos i have checked all the plugs to see if there was a loose connection every thing was tight the only power I can find comes from the attic but again there is no power ther again how can I trace the power feed to upstairs the wires are all steel Rome wire can a breaker be bad  I’m not even sure what breaker runs upstairs any help would be appreciated thanks mike

Was hoping to check/replace bridge rectifier because electric mower keeps tripping breaker. Cannot unscrew screws that secure the cover to the motor.

I have a new house, 2900 sqft. 3 breaker panels im looking for something i can put inline at the primary panel that will stop surges and keep my power at a solid 110v.

Please someone help, this is my first tesla coil project, my setup: 230VAC 50Hz input ricci 9000v 50ma NST with a built in GFI (ground fault interrupter) but i bypassed the gfi succesfully .see pics safety gap  7,5 cm diameter pvc secondary 1000 turns #24 magnetwire (0,5mm) secondary 10 turns 8mm copper pipe primary (tapped at 7 turns) saltwater capacitor 16 green beer bottles in a bucket with a capacitance of 0,0122 uF or 12,2 nF (thegeekgroup bucket cap) static spark gap 28mm diameter stainless steel spheres as electrodes with oven fan (temporary, i am building a hyperbaric gap) 10cmx27,5cm aluminum toroid topload with a brass screw as breakout point RF ground aluminum rod 1,2 meter  When i tested the coil for the first time the spark gap was set on 6mm and i got 20cm or 8inch streamers without breakout point but the gfi on my nst tripped after a few seconds. i didn't know there was a built in gfi on my nst so i fooled around with my spark gap and safety gap and the tapping point on the primary hoping to get better performance. after a few runs the gfi started to trip very fast and i could only run the coil with the spark gap set on max 2mm, any bigger then that would trip the gfi on the nst. so i found out that it had a gfi and i bypassed it with thick wire. Then when i ran the nst i got the exact same thing but with my circuit breaker in my home. i have made a video on youtube that shows the problem here is the link: (please help) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piH44ohowyE please anyone help me! Any help or suggestion is very welkom!

Like this: http://www.staplenews.com/storage/post-images/Bay To Breakers Goes Dry But Will It Fly 10.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1305149161495?  but where the face isn't covered. (I hate going to parties where i can;'t talk/drink/eat easily

So... I connected 120v ac mains power to a bridge rectifier > capacitors to smoothe > switch > output... how can I prevent the breaker from...breaking.  Also the integrated bridge rectifier can only take 6 amps for long amounts of time.  I need to somehow limit current without limiting voltage (at least to much)

I've got a 19 inch flat screen crt monitor hooked up to my mac. And when I play my music really loud, the image almost shakes like it would if I had the stereo hooked up to the power bar with it like it used to be. The stereo is on it's own breaker right now, but is it doing that from the actual vibration of the picture tube or is it dieing on me?

Need help with the installation of a used commercial tanning bed in my home, cant seem to get any wiring documentation at all, its a wolff classic by forever tan  ft24, its from the '80s, need it desperately for medical reasons, we have 220 already but it just blows the breaker as soon as u turn it on

Say I have a 12 volt battery and I want to connect a light and a radio.  Should I put a fuse next to the positive or negative terminal of the battery?  Or should I fuses in front of everything.  DC current flows from pos to neg right?  so I would put the appropriate fuse on the positive side of each electronic device?     Thanks

I just hooked up an outlet that I've had in my wall since I've re-dry walled my room, and it's by itself on a single wire, I just hooked it up to a breaker isolated from the rest of them on my panel, and have JUST my stereo plugged into it. All of a sudden my distortion problems I was having at near full volume are gone. I highly recommend running your stereo on a seperete outlet for you audio freaks out there!

My garage has either electric heat or none at all and my heaters blow the circuit breakers every time I try turning anything else on. HOWEVER I have a 220 circuit originally for a welder that I imagine would handle them easily. So, does anybody have a way to make a simple, plug-in adapter from a 220 circuit I seldom use to be able to plug in 110 heaters? (all the circuits are in the US)

I'm totally new to metal welding but am going to give it a try. My oven/range has a power outlet that reads on it: 125/250V, 50Amps. It has four prongs, three vertically oriented flat ones aligned as a triangle with the center one lower than the other two, and a fourth one top center that's round. My breaker box shows a 50Amp breaker for it. The welder says it's a MIG 170, 240V AC, 20Amps,single phase, 60Hz (Harbor Freight). I think the power I have is actually 220V but I'm not sure. If I do only have 220V will the welder only draw as much voltage as is asked by it - that is, if I only crank it up, say 3/4 of the way, will it draw less than its rated 240V? Or is that 240V just a maximum rating and it should run ok with 220V? It would seem odd that they would sell a welder that won't work for the power their customers would have by default without modifications. Also, where can I get a double socket for that outlet with one having an extension so I don't have to pull out my oven every time I need to weld something? Thank you. Bretina

I have a serious issue with utilizing an H-bridge to switch polarity of high voltage electromagnets. The voltage is roughly 110 DC rectified from mains. Every mosfet I use has exploded when I tried to switch the mosfets. I tried using relays but they keep arcing and tripping my breaker. I would very much like to know if it was possible to make a spark gap that works similar to a NPN transistor.

I am trying to make a proofing box for bread making, and have run into a small snag. When I try to adjust the electricity going to the light bulbs in the box with my dimmer switch nothing happens, also when I try to turn the light bulbs off with the rheostat it trips my circuit breaker. I am using 4 7watt 120volt bulbs arranger in a parallel circuit, which are connected to a 600watt dimmer switch. If anyone knows what I am doing wrong I would appreciate the help.

So I have a black wire and a white wire coming in to where I have to hook up this LED transformer I know this is 110v. I saw the circuit breaker and it was double pole so I assumed it would be a 220v I ordered a transformer that could handle 110 and 220 but the colors are different. Is the transformer shown meant to have input wires connected to the hot? which ones to I put where? What goes to white here and what goes to black?

Hi: Why  can't I download an instructable ? I am on a mac, have firefox, have cookies enabled and cannot log in. All I want to do is download an instructable that i like. Could you please explain what I need to do in easy to follow steps?  I have searched your community forum but have found nothing that works. Maybe this is  PC friendly  not friendly to Mac issue? Thanks for your help. It is very frustrating as i enjoy this site but this problem could be a deal breaker. :-) Eileen

Due to what I feel is a Bad design on the charger. I'm trying to limit current coming from a 120V AC to 24 Volt Dc Battery Charger.  The Charger Is what is supposed to be a  Plain 10 Amp Only 24 Volt Charger. However when hooked to a dead set of batteries the current skyrockets up to 30-35 Amps and it trips the internal 20 Amp Breaker.  Is there something I can do to regulate the current down to a better amperage ?  Thanks In Advance.