Ramp install - we haz soundz

89 UKDM BA4 4WS (resto job!) · Post by **wurlycorner** » Tue Feb 24, 2015 6:11 pm

alinton wrote:Better than that thing you have anyway.

Errr, more durable than an IP66 rated plug and socket that's fully metal bodied with a screw on retaining ring?

Maybe not.

Look, to repeat myself...
The prime reasons I don't want to change it is because;
1. It's not my barn
2. The lewden socket is already there, on a switched supply, at the right rating, available for use
3. If I want to change the socket, I'd need to pay a sparky to do it because I'd need to get it certed, because (see point 1...).
4. The landlord uses this socket for occasional feeds to another building etc
5. So I'd also need to pay to get the plugs on any leads or equipment he plugs into it changed over, because I'd need to get it certed, because (see point 1...) more cost and aggro organising getting all that jobby there at the same time
If what was fitted was a commando, I'd use that because it's there, but it's not.

Coming back to what's 'better' though...
I hadn't come across these Lewden connectors before, but have experience using Commando and Rayrole plugs in industrial environments.
Rayrole are a PITA, but only because they're hard to get spares for and a bit more fiddly to connect up. The spares issue is the reason I've converted buildings over from Rayrole to Commando when they've been refurbished, but otherwise I almost certainly wouldn't have - Rayrole are very durable and compact.
Commando are cheap, easy to connect and easy to get spares for. But they're exactly that - cheap plastic crap with dog-jobby durability as a result (durability, not reliability LLL... i.e. drop one on concrete, run over one with something by accident, or knock the wall socket with one plugged in etc. and they break). Fine out in the field and I like them as in-line connectors (quick/convenient) but not as wall plugs in industrial environments where stuff gets moved about. bum droppings for that, IME.

These Lewden's seem to be as/more durable than Rayrole from what I can see.
I wouldn't fit them to any general industrial facility I refurbish or run because of the initial cost and the spares supply, but there's no question having had my hands on them, they're a much much more durable socket than a modern commando.

EDIT: ps yes I am a bit grumpy today...

89 UKDM BA4 4WS (resto job!) · Post by **wurlycorner** » Sun Mar 01, 2015 10:37 am

Righto, update on this.
Ordered the right bit to get the plug/socket combo sorted, which arrived on Saturday morning. They sent the wrong one

At that point, I was at the barn and clearly almost suicidal, because the landlord noticed and told me I could swap the plugs if I wanted, to get myself out of the jobby this weekend.
Started taking them apart and sussed out that the only part that's different between the existing plug at the barn and my new one, is these bits;

They're the insert that sits around the pins, can be removed by undoing just one screw and are interchangeable - easy peasy

So swapped them over.

Next I adjusted the lift cables, so the last thing to do before going for a full lift was to give the motor a quick spurt to check it was rotating in the right direction/swap phases over if not

Pressed the button and...
Main breaker at the barn tripped straight away (

63A breaker that feeds the whole site

)

Had no multimeter with me, so all I could do was physical checks.
I knew my wiring was ok (but re-checked the bits that weren't a total PITA to get at anyway) so next thing was onto the socket and isolator at the front of the barn.

Bingo!

Neutral not connected on the back of the plug

Bound to be the problem...
Fixed that, tried again...

Still tripping this muffin;

Need to go back over today with my multimeter to check all the supply is good (phases are all live/balanced and that the neutral isn't floating).
Assuming that's all ok, after chatting with a mate who's an electrical engineer, we think the problem is that the main MCB/RCD trip current is rated for domestic use (30mA) and it doesn't like the big inductive load of an industrial 3phase motor.
Probably needs a 100mA trip current supply, which means I'll have to get a sparky to put in an extra MCB/RCD supply direct to the isolator feeding the socket (all the other domestic feeds need to stay fed off the 30mA RCD).

Annoying...

89 UKDM BA4 4WS (resto job!) · Post by **wurlycorner** » Sun Mar 01, 2015 4:40 pm

All checks out ok.
New 100mA incoming breaker just to feed the ramp it is, then

So unless the landlord is happy with me taking out the main 3 phase supply fuses to the site

I'll have to get a sparky to at least do final connection into the bottom of the meter, even if I do everything else up to that

mercutio · Post by **mercutio** » Sun Mar 01, 2015 7:35 pm

great work wurly

89 UKDM BA4 4WS (resto job!) · Post by **wurlycorner** » Mon Mar 02, 2015 7:35 pm

Ta - it's getting there, right annoying bitch that I can't get it powered up yet though.
Spoke to the landlord today and he's got his sparks on it already and is going up there tomorrow to work out what he wants to do.
Hopefully he won't be an arse about it (so many sparks these days wrongly interpret the IEE regs to mean that you can't ever have any circuits that aren't protected by a 30mA RCD - which is complete and utter BS...) Hoping I'll be able to meet him there to talk it through.

89 UKDM BA4 4WS (resto job!) · Post by **wurlycorner** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 8:35 pm

Post by **Vtecmec** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 8:43 pm

89 UKDM BA4 4WS (resto job!) · Post by **wurlycorner** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 8:44 pm

No pics tonight...

Post by **Vtecmec** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 8:45 pm

89 UKDM BA4 4WS (resto job!) · Post by **wurlycorner** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 8:49 pm

Mainly because we don't have lift off yet - sorted the electrics quickly at lunch time on a working from home day, no time to bleed it / run it up yet...

But yes... very much