Dimmer Pack Project

[matt220992]

To to let everyone know how I'm getting on as I havn't posted back for a while....

 

 

 

 

I'm almost done doing Initial ideas and have a good idea about where everything is going to be attached etc.

 

Only thing I'm still a bit worried about is powering it. I'm thinking of not bothering with making it compatible with mains (13A) stuff AND 63A three phase. Keep it as simple as possible like people have said. One or the other I think and so I'm thinking of going industrial and going with the 63A 3p stuff.

 

One thing is still confusing me though, I basically now want a 63A 3phase IN with four 63A Single Phase or 32A Single phase out (whichever people think would be easier/cheaper/most appropriate for what I want to power). But after looking at how distro boxes work I don't get how you can have more than three single phase outputs?? I probably sound a bit stupid but I need this explaining!!

 

My understanding is that inside you have 5 wires coming in from the 3 phase source 3 live and then an earth and a neutral. Then any single phase source like say a 63A Single would be connected to one of the Live lines and the Neutral and earth and so on with the others.... SO what happens when you want the fourth single phase output??

 

Matt :)

[paulears]

I shan't do the usual don't do it stuff - you know this anyway.

 

You know the kind of consumer units you have in homes? Boxes you fill with MCBs - 6A for your lighting, 30A for the ring mains? In a home one, they're usually single phase - and the mains comes in one end, goes through a chunky switch to turn the whole thing off, then a bus bar extends down the box, and each mcb screws to it, then the output to the final circuits comes from the other terminal. In a three phase version, then there is a bus bar for each phase - so in your case, one of the phases will go to the MCB for the dimmer, and also to the MCB for the additional circuit(s). Just consider each phase as a separate source - you can have whatever 'outs' you want within the current limits you pick.

 

Personally, what you should do is find the electrician now who you're going to get to either wire it, or check that you've done it properly before they test it. They can advise on practical things like buying a consumer unit off the shelf, or building a one-off from din rail and bits and pieces. If you are doing it as a proper rack mount device, then you can buy 19" panels and then fit all the bits and piece to this, which looks nicer - but is fiddly.

[Simon Lewis]

Matt,

 

The 'simple' way to do this is use dimmers that are wired for three phase. The incoming 3 phase supply is connected to 5 large terminals (we've used 35mm DIN rail terminal blocks) and then take four cables, each with 5 wires (3 lines, neutral and earth) from the terminal to the dimmers themselves. All this is done in a 19" rack case with the 63A 3phase connector on and with some large cable glands for the distributed power leads.

 

If your dimmer(s) are only single phase, you will have to run two dimmers off one phase.

 

Overall though, this is fairly serious stuff - heavy duty power distribution, expensive connectors, a level of electrical knowledge that may not always be present at your place of study. If you are getting the power distribution dealt with by an electrician, fair enough, but I trust that the test and troubleshooting part of your build will be overseen by someone competant?

 

Simon

[matt220992]

Hi everybody,

 

Sorry it has been so long since I have been back, lots of exams and revision going on but also tidying up of this project!

It was a little bit of a hectic rush to finish but I got there and so here are some of the pictures I had to take for the final few pages of my coursework of the finished article.

 

Thank you to everyone who replied with their advice and ideas, they really did help me out. So here is a link to the pictures - Enjoy! :D

 

http://www.facebook....63&l=a98fd0f94c

 

I am still yet to install a "proper" power supply. It is just running one dimmer from standard mains to show it working for the coursework. I think I will commision a custom built rack power distro or something for it so I can actually start using it!!

 

Thanks again folks,

 

Matt

[peza2010]

congratualations, that looks like a VERY tidy bit of flightcase construction

[paulears]

I like the control built into the lid, held in place by velcro. Where did you get all the bits from, Penn? From my own attempts at case construction, it does look like a rather neat job.

[musht]

As my old woodwork teacher used to tell us ` a thing of beauty is a joy forever` , very nice case.

[matt220992]

Thanks guys :)

 

In answer to where I got the hardware. I went on ebay and found this guy selling quite a lot of what I needed. So I emailed and asked if he could get other stuff in and he turned out to work for Castle Cases and gave me a pretty good discount :)

 

Carpet and velcro etc were just bits and bobs I found on eBay as well.

[Junior8]

Looks like an exceptional effort to me. Well done indeed.

[paulears]

We see quite a lot of projects for this exam, and to be honest some are dreadful - this is a really nice piece of work.

[waster]

 

I am still yet to install a "proper" power supply. It is just running one dimmer from standard mains to show it working for the coursework. I think I will commision a custom built rack power distro or something for it so I can actually start using it!!

 

 

May I suggest the following...

 

http://www.thomann.de/gb/work_stromverteiler_63a_wpd633_stuv.htm

 

I have installed a few recently to power dimmer racks and have been happy with them for the money.

[matt220992]

That Thoman one does look absoloutly ideal!

 

Thanks for pointing it out, just need to do some serious saving up now! Are there used versions of this being sold for a lot less that would do the same sort of thing or is it better to go with something brand new?