Air Compressor Disconnect Light

[T Reno]

I searched the forums and can't find the picture of an Disconnect for my Air Compressor that also had a light above the disconnect to remind me to turn compressor off....

The Light was on when the Air Compressor is powered and then off when its powered off...was on one leg of the 220 electrical...

If I remember right it even had some sort of FORD logo above it

thanks in advance

 

[Provincial]

A light can be wired into the output wiring from the disconnect easily. Go from one output leg of the disconnect to the light, and from the other terminal of the light to neutral. The light will only be on when the disconnect is in the "ON" position.

Any light can be used that matches the voltage of the circuit. You can even use a 240V light by connecting between the two output legs of the disconnect. There are LED's that can be used, but some may need some sort of device in the light circuit to match the voltage/current requirements of the LED to the power source.

Your reference to the Ford light indicates that someone in the past had this same idea, and used an interesting light for the indicator. I'd stay away from flourescent bulbs, and perhaps even neon.

It sounds like a great project!

 

[sberry]

Air comps don't use neutral.

 

[6PTsocket]

A light can be wired into the output wiring from the disconnect easily. Go from one output leg of the disconnect to the light, and from the other terminal of the light to neutral. The light will only be on when the disconnect is in the "ON" position.

Any light can be used that matches the voltage of the circuit. You can even use a 240V light by connecting between the two output legs of the disconnect. There are LED's that can be used, but some may need some sort of device in the light circuit to match the voltage/current requirements of the LED to the power source.

Your reference to the Ford light indicates that someone in the past had this same idea, and used an interesting light for the indicator. I'd stay away from flourescent bulbs, and perhaps even neon.

It sounds like a great project!

Led's work fine with the right value dropping resistor. For many years, neon indicators were used They also need a dropping resistor.There are indicators with the resistor built in and even 120 v bulbs with the resistor in the base. You still find them in extension cords with power indicators in the female end.Without getting overly wordy, neons are a little bit simpler to run on 120vac

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[Provincial]

Unless you are using a 240V light, you have to connect from one hot leg to neutral. Since most breaker panels interconnect the neutral and ground buss bars, it is common, but not proper, to use the ground wire as a "neutral."

To properly wire a 120V light, you need to run a wire from the neutral buss to one terminal of the light. Many compressors have a neutral wire in the junction box to enable using 120V contactors.

The OP needs to examine the wiring available to determine what to do.