I don't understand my new timer board - Help

[SGmenace]

Hi,

I just got a new timer board and need help understanding how it works and how to get it working.
I will be running 4 x 1000w. Any help is appreciated.


Heres the board

Heres how the contactor is wired. The top cord that exits the junction box leads to a female end. The bottom cord that exits the junction box leads to a male end. What are these cords for?

Heres how the timer is wired

I don't really understand the labelling here. Clarification would be awesome.

I want to incorporate this cruise temp as a emergency high heat shut off. How should I do this?

So, how do I go about hooking this up?

 

[justugh]

good luck
u need someone with a license or at least trade work in this field
BUMP

 

[WeedFreak78]

Where did you get this? Was it a DIY thing? The 240V outlets are wrong..they should have either one , or both, flat prongs going sideways..like this>

you COULD swap the plug ends, but then what stops you from plugging 120 into 240, or 240 into 120?

What gauge are the power cords coming into/out of this unit? They look a little on the light side to be handling 4Kw+, I'd want at 10Ga wire personally, but I'd also hard wire something using that much elect.[/QUOTE]

Heres how the contactor is wired. The top cord that exits the junction box leads to a female end. The bottom cord that exits the junction box leads to a male end. What are these cords for?

The male end plugs into the wall, the female end, i think is just a pass through, looking at how it's wired, just to give you a constant live lead to plug something else into. These are the cords i said I'd beef up to 10 Ga., those look like normal cord leads you would find on lower power draw equipment. I also just noticed that the ground leads were cut off the cords and never hooked up..not good.

I don't really understand the labelling here. Clarification would be awesome.

I have NO idea...if i had to guess 6 timed 240V outlets and a 2 constant 120V outlets?..but I don't know how the hell they are splitting it like that.

Do you know how to use a multi-meter, safely? Plug it in,I'd say a standard 120V outlet will work ,and see what kind of readings you get on each outlet. If those labels are right, and it's supposed to be for 240V, you should get 120V on the 240v outlets and ~60V on the 120v outlets( I'm not sure on this..you may get funky readings if it's only pulling from one leg of the power supply)..assuming they are splitting the 240V to get one leg for 120V..which is also not the correct way of doing it. I believe it can cause issues with the power phasing, but that may only be an issue with things like perm magnet motors..I'm not 100% sure, but I would never do it that way.

 

[SGmenace]

This is NOT a DIY thing. This was purchased from a very reputable hydroponic supply store in my area. I will be paying them a visit in the next few days to get some more input and most likely will be getting a electrician. Electricity scares me.

The 240V outlets are wrong..they should have either one , or both, flat prongs going sideways..like this>

My understanding is the 240v has been split into two 120v hence the 240v labels on the outlets. As far as the "CON 120v" label goes, Im really not sure.

What gauge are the power cords coming into/out of this unit? They look a little on the light side to be handling 4Kw+, I'd want at 10Ga wire personally, but I'd also hard wire something using that much elect

My understanding is that these wires are NOT used to power the system. These are used to act as a trigger cable for my high heat shut off. I think these two wires will sandwich the high heat shut off as seen below.

To power the unit I need to wire an 8 gauge dryer cord into the contractor. The dryer cord will then be plugged into my existing dryer plug which has 8 gauge wire leading to a 40 amp breaker.

splitting the 240V to get one leg for 120V..which is also not the correct way of doing it.

If you don't mind me asking, what is the problem with splitting a 240v into two 120v? what would be the correct way of doing it?

 

[WeedFreak78]

This is NOT a DIY thing. This was purchased from a very reputable hydroponic supply store in my area. I will be paying them a visit in the next few days to get some more input and most likely will be getting a electrician. Electricity scares me.

It didn't come with any instructions? Good idea to go back and talk to them about it. It really should have comprehensive wiring/operation directions. If they are splitting 240v to get 110V..I wouldn't be buying any of there in house products..

To power the unit I need to wire an 8 gauge dryer cord into the contractor. The dryer cord will then be plugged into my existing dryer plug which has 8 gauge wire leading to a 40 amp breaker.

My understanding is the 240v has been split into two 120v hence the 240v labels on the outlets. As far as the "CON 120v" label goes, Im really not sure.

If you don't mind me asking, what is the problem with splitting a 240v into two 120v? what would be the correct way of doing it?

What type of plug on your dryer? 240V circuits are either 3 wire( common, common, neutral) or 4 wire( common, common ,neutral, ground). You can't split a 3 wire 240V because there is no ground, you can split a 4 wire because you have a ground, but you would have to share a neutral between two different 110V circuits, doubling the load on that one leg. There really is no "correct" way to split a 240V circuit..the right way is to run 2 individual 120V circuits. If your 240 circuit is n a double breaker..it might be as simple as replacing that with 2 single breakers and running another neutral wire for one of the circuits, you can share the ground, or run to a close ground, don't need to run a line for that.

 

[Stevie51]

Hi,

I just got a new timer board and need help understanding how it works and how to get it working.
I will be running 4 x 1000w. Any help is appreciated.


Heres the board

You say that is not a DIY thing, claiming that it was purchase from a hydroponic supply store, however it does appears to be designed and constructed by someone who is a DIY. None the less, there are a few NEC codes violations I see in its construction. This is not to say that your timer board will not work, nor am I saying that purchasing a "brand name" manufactured lighting controller from a hydroponic supply store will resolve the code violations...as I have seen that most brand name lighting controllers on the market do lack having any proper overcurrent protection (fuse or circuit breaker) to the lighting controller output receptacles, which lead me to believe that someone in the industry is trying to side step the NEC compliance by using the clause "to be installed by a license electrician". So then what should the DIY do? Cheat the NEC compliance by making the lighting controller "plug and play"? You say "most likely will be getting a electrician"...now I'm curious what an electrician has to say and is willing to do?

Heres how the contactor is wired. The top cord that exits the junction box leads to a female end. The bottom cord that exits the junction box leads to a male end. What are these cords for?

Needless for me to say anything more, as you have already correctly figured it out when you stated that "These are used to act as a trigger cable for my high heat shut off. I think these two wires will sandwich the high heat shut off as seen below."

Heres how the timer is wired

The wiring scheme shown in the photo appears to be the same wiring scheme use in wiring an Intermatic T103 timer. Whoever wired the three wires twisted together to the far right terminal failed to used the correct color. Using the wrong color serve only to confuse people and tells me that the person was either too lazy or too cheap to buy red wire.

I don't really understand the labelling here. Clarification would be awesome.

Starting from the far left, it easy enough to understand the three pair of receptacles are wired to 240 volts on your timer, to be turned on and off by the timer switches. I would assume that the last pair of receptacles on the right would be wired to 120 volts (as indicated by the "120V" label), but I do question if the "CON" label is correct, because in the photo of timer wiring it appears to be wired to a switched terminal on the timer.

I want to incorporate this cruise temp as a emergency high heat shut off. How should I do this?

Verify that your cruise temp is configured for heating. It is my understanding that cruise temp come pre-wired from the factory for cooling, but it may have been reconfigured for heating if it was included with the timer board.



So, how do I go about hooking this up?

 

[Getgrowingson]

Con is for constant. You CAN split a 240 to 120 as long as you have two hots a neutral and a ground. The 120 ccts should be each taken hopefully one leg of the 240 for one outlet and the other outlet gets the other. (For load balancing purposes) The 240 will be balanced. By splitting the 240 to two outlets of 120 the neutral will be carrying the unbalanced load. There's nothing wrong with what you have. Plug it in get your multimeter and put leads into both sides of the plug. If it's 120 you'll get 120 if it's 240 you get 240. As long as your not pulling more 120v circuit amps then the neutral wire is capable of carrying your fine.

 

[Getgrowingson]

The neutral in a 240 cct usually Is NOT carrying current . Unless the load isn't balanced on each 120v hot leg. You would not be doubling the load on the neutral in this case. You would just be adding the 120v circuits load

 

[SGmenace]

Thanks for your input guys.

Stevie51

You say that is not a DIY thing, claiming that it was purchase from a hydroponic supply store, however it does appears to be designed and constructed by someone who is a DIY

Sorry for the misunderstanding. I figured that would be implied considering its not a plug and play brand name light controller. By saying "not a DIY" I intended to mean it wasn't me who made this.

Verify that your cruise temp is configured for heating. It is my understanding that cruise temp come pre-wired from the factory for cooling, but it may have been reconfigured for heating if it was included with the timer board.

I'v already re-wired my cruise temp for heat.

Getgrowingson

Con is for constant. You CAN split a 240 to 120 as long as you have two hots a neutral and a ground. The 120 ccts should be each taken hopefully one leg of the 240 for one outlet and the other outlet gets the other. (For load balancing purposes) The 240 will be balanced. By splitting the 240 to two outlets of 120 the neutral will be carrying the unbalanced load. There's nothing wrong with what you have.

Everything you've said here is right. After speaking to the builder on the phone this is exactly how he wired it.

Plug it in get your multimeter and put leads into both sides of the plug. If it's 120 you'll get 120 if it's 240 you get 240. As long as your not pulling more 120v circuit amps then the neutral wire is capable of carrying your fine.

I'd love to just plug it and and use my multimeter but unfortunately I don't know how to wire my 8 gauge 4 prong dryer cord into the relay. I will have to take it back to the builder for this endless someone here with lots electrical experience can help me and feels that its possible for someone with little electrical experience. My 4 prong dryer outlet is good to go. I had a electrician switch out the 10 gauge wire for a 8 gauge wire and upgrade the breaker from a 30 amp to a 40 amp. All thats left is wiring the dryer cord into the relay.

 

[Stevie51]

Con is for constant. You CAN split a 240 to 120 as long as you have two hots a neutral and a ground. The 120 ccts should be each taken hopefully one leg of the 240 for one outlet and the other outlet gets the other. (For load balancing purposes) The 240 will be balanced. By splitting the 240 to two outlets of 120 the neutral will be carrying the unbalanced load. There's nothing wrong with what you have. Plug it in get your multimeter and put leads into both sides of the plug. If it's 120 you'll get 120 if it's 240 you get 240. As long as your not pulling more 120v circuit amps then the neutral wire is capable of carrying your fine.

Upon further examination of the photo of the timer wiring when I zoom-in on the picture, it does appear that there might be a wire (black in appearance) that is obscured from view behind the four white wires and the heavier gauge red wire. If that black wire is indeed going to the same terminal that the red wire is connected to, then I concur that would be the constant live feed for the 120 volts duplex receptacle.

 

[Getgrowingson]

Take a picture of the dryer plug and your wires coming out of you lighting controller and I can help you out.if there's no cable coming out of the contactor take a pic of it and I can show you how to wire it uo

 

[Getgrowingson]

It's rather simple. You should be able to do it no problem

 

[Getgrowingson]

After looking at the contactor. Your two hots (each 120v) . One will go to L1 the other will go to L2. The neutral will go to L3 and your ground will go under the screw with the bare ground wire mounted to the box. Super simple! Let me know if you have any problems or questions