Main breaker tripping

[webee]

I came in this morning to a note that said #20 is tripping the breaker. This is the MAIN breaker on the wall, not the powerbox breaker. I unpluged the motor, and it still trips. Would the motor start relay being bad cause this? Or where else should I look? Btw, I have Jap A-2's. I look forward to the help, as me and electrical issues are not close friends...

[drhookmec]

First try unplugging the electrical box and see if it trips.

This will tell you if the problem is in the power cord or something in the electrical box.

[webee]

drhookmec, My powerboxes are hardwired, no plug(don't ask me wy, seems damn stupid to me). The breaker won't trip until I try and turn the machine on.

[Marty Murphy]

Well, you could remove the electrical box cover and then try and turn it on and see whats a sparkin !!!

And since you mentioned Jap A-2's that are hardwired, the Jap plugs were a shi**y plug to begin with so someone probably did the easy thing, remove them and hard wire them instead of replacing the plug and receptical.

I will say if it trips the breaker on the wall as soon as you turn it on, maybe something has come loose in the box and is touching some metal (the cover maybe??)

Marty - Pro Bowl West

[webee]

I've looked for loose wires, and all look fine. If I just push the motor start relay(right in front, 4 little windows that pull in?), it runs for about a second, and I can hear the buzzing in the line down by the main breaker. *Note- I know this is not the prescribed way to troubleshoot

[gilesbowl]

unplug deck light ,they can be the source off lots of problems

[drhookmec]

If all wiring looks good I'd suspect possible a faulty breaker on the wall.

Or maybe the receptacle for the motor is bad/shorted.

[webee]

Good call, gilesbowl. I unplugged the light, and no trip. No to find the problem with the light. Thank you.

[bmc]

I re-wired all my deck lights so that I have the extra length to move the plug to the lane next door to trouble shoot issues like this... Huge time saver in the elimination process...

[webee]

The deck lights here are double for blacklight, which we don't use. The line that would normally go to the switch was going nowhere(there IS no switch), except to the pit on lane 21 where it shorted out and connected itself to the pit cushion. I clipped the line, isolated the wires, and secured it until such a time as I can just remove it. Thanks to all for your input.

[PJ]

Hard wiring is required in California and maybe Nevada is too. A bad ballast can cause the 1 amp fuse to blow, don't know about the breaker.

[duds99]

Here's one that happened to me. The main breaker on breaker box on wall would kick once in awhile. Replaced main breaker and strips 3 times. Still kept kickin main breaker for all machines. Went on for year or so. Then one day, came into center and had a machine kick breaker on pinsetter machine. Found out the 220 volt power cord for acc was rubbing on frame. Replaced power cord and no problems after that. Then some electrion was saying the piece on top were the 3 lugs come in was bad. I believe the short was over heating that part and thats why it was like that. So check your power cords.

[SoCalTom]

Hard wiring is required in California and maybe Nevada is too.

Hard wiring is required in California, Nevada, and several other states.

[Marty Murphy]

Really?? Then what would be the LOTO precedure if you cant unplug the machine? (Hey, not that I use LOTO, I am just wondering out loud to myself.) And as far as doing the hard wiring, just a junction box or is it a straight cord from the ceiling right into the machines electrical box cause I would like to get rid of these jap plugs in here someday.

Marty - Pro Bowl West

[webee]

Marty,

Mine have a line that goes from a junction box above the machine, straight into the electrical box on the machine. Where the 3 pronged reciever on the box normally is, is now a hole for the line to come in, and the wired straight into the breaker. The line is the aluminum coil romex(?) with my wires inside. If I had a smartphone, I would post a picture. I'll see what I can do about that. As far as the LOTO, if I have to do anything on the powerbox, I just shut of the breaker on the wall.