Greetings AAC'ers. I have a mystery on my hands. I have a 24VAC 3A transformer with a high quality 2AMP circuit breaker on the secondary. I also have two 24VAC Jandy/intermatic type servo motors (3 way valves used in swimming pools). When the valves are transitioning about half way, the circuit breaker trips. They are rated at 750ma ea.
So I placed an ammeter in between the transformer secondary and the two paralleled valves, and measured 1.26AMPS using A/C TRUE RMS ammeter when the breaker tripped. Huh??? Perhaps a bad breaker you say???
So then I removed the the two servos and substituted a 14 ohm resistive load. Low and behold the current held forever at 1.8amps. It never tripped.
My question is, why would the servo motors trip the breaker at a much less current? My hunch is the phase of the motors might be interacting with each other perhaps driving up the real current? Any ideas? If so, best way to measure the actual current draw?
Any help appreciated.
Aram
So I placed an ammeter in between the transformer secondary and the two paralleled valves, and measured 1.26AMPS using A/C TRUE RMS ammeter when the breaker tripped. Huh??? Perhaps a bad breaker you say???
So then I removed the the two servos and substituted a 14 ohm resistive load. Low and behold the current held forever at 1.8amps. It never tripped.
My question is, why would the servo motors trip the breaker at a much less current? My hunch is the phase of the motors might be interacting with each other perhaps driving up the real current? Any ideas? If so, best way to measure the actual current draw?
Any help appreciated.
Aram