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**Tiber_Brew** · 12-17-2010, 05:42 PM

Did you remember to ground it in holy water?

All kidding aside, I feel for ya bro; that's gotta make your heart feel like 200 lbs of lead. I hope that you can get that good looking panel in working order and get some brews under it.

TB

EuBrew · 12-17-2010, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CodeRage

Is this the only 110V device in the panel? If you plug it into another 110 GFCI outlet and it doesnt pop I would suspect there is something wrong with the GFCI spa breaker or how it's wired. My suspicion is the neutral may be mis wired in the spa breaker. Is this the only 110 device in the panel?

Another thing you could try is to remove the gnd from the power supply and see if the breaker still pops. That would tell you if the problem is due to a ground fault or not.

I removed the ground and it still pops.

Here's a pic of the wiring in the spa panel, and I know I need cord grips, but I didn't have any and was anxious to hook this baby up!! I'll get them on tonight.

I'm pretty confident it's not an issue with the wiring of the spa panel but I could be wrong.

There are 4 more 110V devices in the panel but none of them have a load on them, they're wired through the BT relay board then to receptacles. They can't get power unless the 12V supply is working. After I get done putting some fires out at work I'll hook up my stir motor (the other 3 are pumps and I don't want to break them down but will if I need to) to see if causes the breaker to trip too.

Thanks for the input!!

EuBrew · 12-17-2010, 05:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yuri_Rage

Have you considered the possibility of a bad power supply? It may have an internal short...maybe you DID let the smoke out.

Maybe, but like I said, I can wire a plug to it and plug it into a GFCI receptacle with no problems. I hooked up a small motor to it prior to installing in the panel and it worked fine. I'll try this method again tonight to see if the power supply is the issue.

I sware I never saw or smelled any smoke!!!!

**Yuri_Rage** · 12-17-2010, 05:55 PM

Well, if you can wire the power supply to a different GFCI outlet and have no problems, then I suspect your spa panel is the culprit. However, it's hard to tell from your pictures whether it's wired correctly. You'll just have to trace the wires again...and again...and again. A mistake or faulty component will eventually surface, but it's really hard to troubleshoot your problem without being there in person.

**Yuri_Rage** · 12-17-2010, 06:17 PM

Sorry my replies are so simplistic. Your troubleshooting seems methodical and thorough enough on its own. It's just a matter of finding that one misplaced wire or faulty component...

Windsors · 12-17-2010, 06:41 PM

I had a similar problem. If you find that the problem is not a bad power supply, maybe this thread can help

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/another-electrical-question-experts-161505/

Bill

**CodeRage** · 12-17-2010, 07:02 PM

I see your problem. the Neutral on the Spa GFCI is mis wired. The Neutral coming from your main breaker should screw into the GFCI breaker. Normally the terminal is located between the L1 and L2 terminals. Then the pig tail goes to the Neutral bus bar which is tied to the rig. Current from L1 or L2 is going straight back to the main panel neutral and the GFCI cant account for the current, this is why its tripping.

trigger · 12-17-2010, 07:02 PM

So there was a little PM conversation going, but I had a thought and wanted to see what others thought. The 12V power supply seems to be the GFCI culprit, as you showed by eliminating it from the circuit and everything else working. It's just not playing nice. When you tested the power supply was it mounted in the panel? If not then I'm thinking that there is a short somewhere in the power supply between a hot wire and the panel, which is grounded. To test this run a resistance test between each of the AC leads and ground and the 12V leads and ground with your multimeter on it's most sensitive setting. They should all come back as infinity when the power supply is mounted. If any of them display a value then that leg is somehow in contact with ground, which would be tripping your GFCI. You should also run the same test from the power supply's cover to ground, and get a very small value (<1). If you find a leg that's going to ground, try unmounting the power supply and placing it on a towel or something else to insulate it from the metal enclosure and run the same test with all of the wiring still connected. If this eliminates the short then it's probably the way that the power supply is mounted that's causing the problem. If the short still exists than it's internal in the power supply, and that will take some more investigation, and probably a new power supply since the thing's brand new.

trigger · 12-17-2010, 07:05 PM

Nevermind! CodeRage spotted it. Doh!

**Ohio-Ed** · 12-17-2010, 07:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EuBrew

well sh*t.............................

I got everything wired up finally and tried to fire her up but she doesn't feel like playing nice

Good news is I didn't let the smoke out!!!

There's a problem with how I have my contactor/estop relay wired I think. When I press my start button I get nothing, but when I hit the button on the contactor I get momentary power and the breaker on the spa panel trips.

I checked the ice cube relay and I only have power to 1 terminal (terminal 8), that's the one that is connected to the 2A breaker. I have no power going to my start button or estop button so I'm sure I wired something wrong on the ice cube relay and contactor.

Ohio-Ed can you chime in here? I wired as you described in the PM I sent you.

Any ideas where to start on trouble shooting ?? I have a multi meter.

EDIT:::::::: There's something going on with the 12V power supply. I checked to make sure it was in the 110V position and not the 220V and that's fine. I took the 12V+ and 12V- leads to brewtroller off and it's still the culprit on tripping the breaker. I still have issues with the wiring on the estop though because I can't get the relay and the contactor to latch even with the breaker for the 12V supply off.

I'm slightly baffled because I first unhooked the wires for the 12+ and 12- and had the same problem, ok so it's not brewtroller. Then I took all the wires off and wired directly to a plug leading to a GFCI outlet, no problems there either. If I leave the breaker for the 12V supply OFF in my panel the spa GFCI doesn't trip. I've checked all connections to make sure they were tight and no luck there either. I have traced all the wires back as far as they go and I have continuity on all three, neutral, hot, and ground. Yes neutral is on neutral bus, ground on ground bus.

Anyone have any suggestions???

WOW... A lot of activity, sorry I wasn't able to respond. Sounds like CodeRage and gang have you on the right track. Let me know if you are still having problems with the E-Stop circuit. Also, if you downloaded my drawing, which version are you working from? I posted a couple and have made some additional changes since. If you don't have an electronic copy to post/share for others to help from, let me know and I can try to get a copy online some where.

It's a pretty good feeling when you hit the start button, hear the contactor snap and you know it's alive (not bad when you hit the stop button, hear the snap and know it's dead either). You're gettin close.

Ed