I came here to see what I could learn about my Son's situation (My Son is currently in Iraq.), and found this thread. My Son is having similar problems, but with failures at the panel. So this is really a general design question for generated power in Iraq.
Not sure if were talking about the same place as "makalroy" or not. Let me describe the basic configuration (and what little I know about it) to everyone.
- Troops (mostly Marines) live in steel cargo containers. Picture these containers with bunks and window A/C units side-by-side lined up inside a warehouse somewhere.
- Generators are swapped out all the time, and by different entities/contractors.
- Power is supplied 100% by generators (although some locations are dual local utility/generator).
- Gounding is haphazard at best (if at all).
- Many different people are doing hands-on work there (on the same project).
The real issue now is repeated failure of the center lug in the panel. You can see the damaged lug in this shot from the first failure (below):
Here is a pic of the second panel. Notice the hole burned near where the lug attaches (I added the descriptions based on what my Son described)(below):
Here is my question, what could be causing this repeated failure? Please excuse me for being so vague, I am very concerned about security issues.
Frank