Hi there i was rummaging thru cinema**.com forums and saw a link to your circuit online books , congrats!!!

i am a working grip/electric, while not a licensed electrician i have learned a lot in two years about handling and running as well as using AC power sources be them from electrical companies and/or gennies.

My question to anyone that can help me here is how is it that you can use a double breaker be it the ones that use two 110-120 lines for 220-240 US type household power (making it not 240live, neutral & ground, but 120 live, 120 live and ground)

say for example how can you wire a 2*30 amp breaker to make it work as a 60 amp single breaker 120V, i have seen it done by a friend of mine (licensed electrician)during an Ad shoot, but as i have moved from panama ton costa rica have lost contact and well hehe never actually had the chance of asking him how to wire it
if you can help it would really be appreciated

 

Hi,

That sounds like quite a trick. If we're speaking of "normal" double breakers that install in house boxes, then I'm not sure it can be done. The layout of the busses in the box have alternating fingers, so that a double breaker spans both. That means that it catches bot hot phases, and essentially controls 240 VAC at whatever the breaker rating is.

If you've got an industrial breaker, you might try passing current through both units with a pigtail Y going in and coming out. If the current divides evenly, you might get the equivalent of 60 amps out of a double 30, but it sounds iffy.

 

yes sorry bout not specifying bout the type of breaker box used

it is a home type box (simple rugged distro used in panama for say, 10 kW worth of lights in a 3 phase gennie)and it was a box of the 1 in 1 phase the next in the other box, yes its kinda weird but, hell!

and i saw a double 30 amper (2*30A) turned into a single 60 amp for using a 4kW HMI lamp with an electronic ballast (auto switchable between US type 110-220) by dear god haha using a single piece of say 10 gage wire!

pleez pleez tell me its not my imagination!! i saw it done!!!!

yeah tis not imagined just would like to know how its done.

sorry could you xplain what do you mean by 'pigtail Y'? i read a bunch in english but, tech terms r alwez a puzzle!

 

Hi,

For the pigtail, take the feed and add two wires to split the path into the breakers. Take the two wires out, and join them together to the supply line. Just put tape over the wire nuts to be somewhat safe. It might even work.

That rig you described sounds scary.