Another Electric Panel Build

[RufusBrewer]

I just jumped the contactor directly from the hot and neutral terminals and had the same buzzing issue. This is becoming a bit frustrating.

Then the relay is bad/defective/mislabeled or the vendor got you the wring part of you ordered the wring part.

Can you post a close up of the relay itself? The part with the specs printed on the relay?

 

[Eaglesbrewer44]

Let me frank. The fact there you tell me you have a 32 amp 110v coil tells me you are in trouble. There is no way the coil of that contactor is 32 amps. That coil is probably around 0.100 amps. The contacts are what are 32 amps. The coil and the contacts of a contactor/relay are electrically independent of each other.

When it comes to contactor/relay coil, the two specs you have to get right is the voltage (5 volts, 12 volts, 48 volts, 110 volts, etc) and the type AC or DC. If you do not match the current source spec and coil spec you are in trouble, like buzzing relays.

Your schematic does not show the contactor coil. I cannot follow the text description in your reply.

I wrote a user guide for a relay board a few years ago. Most if what is in here does not apply to your build. Maybe the first fee pages will be if some help.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/sainsmart-relay-board-user-guide.523263/

From my understanding I have a 110v coil. 32 amps is what I understand the contactor(relay) to be rated at. I thought I could describe is as a 32a 110v coil, but I now know that's not how you describe a contactor and a coil.

I guess I am missing something in my design if I'm not showing a contactor coil. I thought the Contactor and coil is illustrated directly on the din rail

I posted my build here to share my build learn from people who have done this before. I researched and planned as best I could so please bear with me if this is a stupid question...If my coil in my contactor is rated for 110v, shouldn't I be able to power it on with one hot leg of the 220v power cable and a neutral wire? Isn't that 110v?

 

[Eaglesbrewer44]

Then the relay is bad/defective/mislabeled or the vendor got you the wring part of you ordered the wring part.

Can you post a close up of the relay itself? The part with the specs printed on the relay?

Here you go.

 

[Eaglesbrewer44]

I wonder if I'm getting 220v from my main 100a sub panel. I had an 100a sub panel installed in my garage and have 30 amp gfci breaker and outlet installed for my brew panel. I had an electrical install the panel and outlet so and I'm fairly certain these items are installed correctly. I have other outlets besides my brew panel that run off this 100a sub panel and the outlets work just fine.

If my PID powers up when I flip the main power on the brew panel and my 120 volt outlet on the bottom of my brew panel can power on/off a test light, do you think I confidently rule out that I have my 100a sub panel and 30a outlet installed incorrectly?

 

[RufusBrewer]

From my understanding I have a 110v coil. 32 amps is what I understand the contactor(relay) to be rated at. I thought I could describe is as a 32a 110v coil, but I now know that's not how you describe a contactor and a coil.

I guess I am missing something in my design if I'm not showing a contactor coil. I thought the Contactor and coil is illustrated directly on the din rail

I posted my build here to share my build learn from people who have done this before. I researched and planned as best I could so please bear with me if this is a stupid question...If my coil in my contactor is rated for 110v, shouldn't I be able to power it on with one hot leg of the 220v power cable and a neutral wire? Isn't that 110v?

If it were my panel, this is what I would do.

Disconnect the wires from terminals 1 thru 4. This is not supposed to make a difference, but who knows. All you are looking at is the coil circuit. Pull the wires off and put electrical tape and cover the exposed copper

Yes, from one of the two legs of your 220v to the neutral (not ground) will give 110v. This matches the rated voltage of the coil. If you apply terminal A1 to one of your two 220v legs , then A2 to Neutral, the relay should click/snap once and be very quiet.

You need to trouble shoot this before going take the next step.

You can put a switch inline between the voltage source and A1. When you turn the switch to on, you should hear the contactor click once. Turn off the switch, another click.

Once you have this working, you can wire up 220v on terminals 1 thru 4.

 

[Eaglesbrewer44]

If it were my panel, this is what I would do.

Disconnect the wires from terminals 1 thru 4. This is not supposed to make a difference, but who knows. All you are looking at is the coil circuit. Pull the wires off and put electrical tape and cover the exposed copper

Yes, from one of the two legs of your 220v to the neutral (not ground) will give 110v. This matches the rated voltage of the coil. If you apply terminal A1 to one of your two 220v legs , then A2 to Neutral, the relay should click/snap once and be very quiet.

You need to trouble shoot this before going take the next step.

You can put a switch inline between the voltage source and A1. When you turn the switch to on, you should hear the contactor click once. Turn off the switch, another click.

Once you have this working, you can wire up 220v on terminals 1 thru 4.

FINALLY, SUCCESS!!!

So here is what I did. I removed the hot lines going into the contactor while it was hard wired from the hot and neutral terminals. I turned it on. It buzzed for a second and then clicked. I then unplugged it, wired my switch again and BAM, it worked! Turns out I had everything wired correctly, but it seems like the contactor was just stuck or something. Anyone experienced this before?

Thanks RufusBrewer and Doug293cz for helping me troubleshoot this.