I have a large lighting contactor cabinet which will control around 1,000 fixtures in a retail store for energy management. The lights are fed from several different panels, both 120/208 and 277/480. The inspector says any neutral of any of these lighting ckts must pass through the cabinet along with the ckt wire, he just wants the neutral to loop through. I have the lighting ckts coming into a 12x12x96 gutter from the floor and then my panels and contactor cabinet sit above this gutter, with both panels and contactor cabinet being connected with short nipples (6") to the gutter. I am not over fill in my gutter or within the nipples, he just says the neutral has to enter in to the cabinet to cancel induction. He's saves this is a NEC requirement but he as yet to provide me with the section. Has anyone heard of this? I would like to get the jump on this before he returns.
neutral required in lighting contactor cabinet
- Thread starter caper58
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The inspector doesn't realize that the feed and it associated switchleg will cancel out any inductive heating if they are run together and the neutral will not play a part of this cancellation in this particular type of installation. Does he also require this for a typical wall switch?
He is trying to apply (he is actually misapplying) 300.3(B)
Roger
He is trying to apply (he is actually misapplying) 300.3(B)
Roger
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- Location
- New Jersey
- Occupation
- Journeyman Electrician
benaround said:
Why would that be a problem?
zbang
Senior Member
- Location
- Roughly 5346 miles from Earls Court
caper58 said:
Unless both the neutral and switched hot conductors travel the same path, there isn't going to be much cancellation. Also, as pointed, if both and and out switched leads to the contacts follow each other, their fields will cancel. By the inspector's argument, looping the neutral through the box could add to the fields. (I think the guy is "misinformed".)
If any of your circuits' switched conductors route into the contactor cabinet in one of the nipples then out the other nipple, you would be in violation of 300.3(B) unless the neutral conductor for those circuits also go in-one-nipple out-the-other, and in the same direction. In other words, if one nipple serves as line side routing of a circuit conductor into the cabinet, and another nipple serves as load side routing of the circuit conductor out of the cabinet, all conductors of that circuit must pass through both nipples in the same line-side, load-side fashion.caper58 said:
The alternative is to run the switched conductors into and out of the contactor cabinet through the same nipple on a per circuit basis. This method does not require the neutral conductors to be run through the cabinet.
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