50 Amp Single Pole Breaker

[kwired]

Probably stage lighting, multiple high wattage lamps.

Aren't you still limited to 50 amp branch circuits? Now I may have to look at the code book.

I can see 60 amp (or even higher) for feeders but my recollection is there is no allowance for over a 50 amp branch circuit for any lighting circuit.

Add it says in 210.23(D) that branch circuits over 50 amps shall only supply non lighting outlet loads.

 

[Speedskater]

In pro audio, a 50 or 60 Amp 120V single leg feeder to a 6 breaker box, can be a good plan. Keeping all the audio equipment on the same leg, may offer a slight audio noise reduction.
And even with modern audio equipment when there is probably no difference, it keeps everybody happy.

 

[hillbilly1]

Aren't you still limited to 50 amp branch circuits? Now I may have to look at the code book.

I can see 60 amp (or even higher) for feeders but my recollection is there is no allowance for over a 50 amp branch circuit for any lighting circuit.

Add it says in 210.23(D) that branch circuits over 50 amps shall only supply non lighting outlet loads.

Most likely they have secondary protection such as fuses at the fixtures. Technically, it is a feeder with taps.

 

[Beaches EE]

I have seen these connecting the handles on single pole 50A SQD breakers in a 2P application:

 

[kwired]

Most likely they have secondary protection such as fuses at the fixtures. Technically, it is a feeder with taps.

supplementary protection is not the same thing as branch circuit protection. Fixture taps are allowed without supplementary protection. You can have up to a 50 amp branch circuit, you can have supplementary protection at each luminaire if you want, but those are not branch circuit devices. If you could do that why not run a 100 or 200 amp feeder and make taps to each luminaire in some applications?

I am not seeing anything in art 520 that would overrule 210.23(D) on this.

 

[kwired]

I have seen these connecting the handles on single pole 50A SQD breakers in a 2P application: View attachment 2552685

It would allow independent trip of each pole. It will limit movement to the point that you will have to shut the other pole off to get your tripped one to reset though. Would be required if you are using a common neutral between the two poles.

a 2 pole 50 amp breaker is likely less cost than two single pole 50's plus the handle tie, and much more readily available as a general rule.

 

[dpcarls1598]

Pulled 3-single pole 60A Zinsco's from a switchboard, fed a panel in a health food store juice bar that was decommissioned, someone made a handle tie out of wire.

 

[electrofelon]

I had this dream a while back that I was looking for a 1000 amp single pole breaker, does that count? I don't think the writers of that dream ever established what it was for, I was just at the supply house looking for it. I hate work dreams. I was all stressed I couldn't find it.

 

[hillbilly1]

supplementary protection is not the same thing as branch circuit protection. Fixture taps are allowed without supplementary protection. You can have up to a 50 amp branch circuit, you can have supplementary protection at each luminaire if you want, but those are not branch circuit devices. If you could do that why not run a 100 or 200 amp feeder and make taps to each luminaire in some applications?

I am not seeing anything in art 520 that would overrule 210.23(D) on this.

You can have 100 or 200 amp feeders and tap at each fixture, done all the time in large parking lots. The op's question was large single pole breakers, and what they are used for, does not mean they have to be branch circuits, a feeder can be from a single pole, as well as two or three pole.

 

[kwired]

You can have 100 or 200 amp feeders and tap at each fixture, done all the time in large parking lots. The op's question was large single pole breakers, and what they are used for, does not mean they have to be branch circuits, a feeder can be from a single pole, as well as two or three pole.

If you ran a 100 or 200 amp feeder you would need to tap to a overcurrent device that is rated for branch circuit protection, said device would also need to be readily accessible. You also can only do this with certain luminaires with heavy duty lampholders as mentioned in 210.23(B) and (C) and not just any luminaire. You can not tap individual luminaires in large parking lot directly to a 100 or 200 amp feeder. If you are seeing it done all the time, someone is not following/enforcing NEC properly.

 

[Little Bill]

The OP's question didn't include what was allowed, he only asked what a 50A single pole breaker would be used for. That's what we were answering to. The OP is just learning and we should try and answer him without going into other stuff that might confuse him. But since you drifted off to what a 50 or 60A is/isn't allowed to protect, I will say that the 60A I replaced in a lighting panel also fed individual 15A or 20A breakers. So you would have a bank of a given number of lights with it's own control board, the bank is fed from a 60A breaker, then multiple 15/20A breakers to the lights. So you could think of the 60A as the main and the 15/20A as the branch circuits.

 

[Marty Funkhauser]

Thanks for all the info

 

[kwired]

The OP's question didn't include what was allowed, he only asked what a 50A single pole breaker would be used for. That's what we were answering to. The OP is just learning and we should try and answer him without going into other stuff that might confuse him. But since you drifted off to what a 50 or 60A is/isn't allowed to protect, I will say that the 60A I replaced in a lighting panel also fed individual 15A or 20A breakers. So you would have a bank of a given number of lights with it's own control board, the bank is fed from a 60A breaker, then multiple 15/20A breakers to the lights. So you could think of the 60A as the main and the 15/20A as the branch circuits.

sorry to rub you the wrong way. I did mention it could maybe have been a feeder but initially questioned a 60 amp breaker in a stage lighting panel cause I was pretty certain you can't go over 50 amp for a lighting branch circuit. Simple reply that it was a feeder breaker would have ended it long ago.

A lot of what gets learned here is from slightly off topic discussions. Just details of someone's application often triggers another tangent to the conversation that maybe isn't entirely on original topic but yet is not on an entirely differently playing field either.

 

[electrofelon]

sorry to rub you the wrong way. I did mention it could maybe have been a feeder but initially questioned a 60 amp breaker in a stage lighting panel cause I was pretty certain you can't go over 50 amp for a lighting branch circuit. Simple reply that it was a feeder breaker would have ended it long ago.

A lot of what gets learned here is from slightly off topic discussions. Just details of someone's application often triggers another tangent to the conversation that maybe isn't entirely on original topic but yet is not on an entirely differently playing field either.

Go to your room Kwired and think about what you have done for a while.