No Power

[juice240]

I've wired in a Service Disconnect on a small cabin I've been building. I have 122.4 Volts on each pole coming in, and 122.4 Volts out when I turn the breaker to the ON position. I have about 8' of 2-2-2 after the disconnect to power the panel inside the cabin, but no power (1.2 volts) at the panel inside the cabin.

Where am I losing the power from this point?

Thanks,

Juice

 

[rdsk8ter]

do you have power on the output side of the disconnect?

 

[juice240]

yes sir I do, I'm losing the power somewhere between the output side of the disconnect and the panel inside.

 

[larry_g]

I think this is gonna have to have some pictures..
lg
no neat sig line

 

[pentavolvo]

Agreed need pictures or you have bad cable

 

[Rookie2]

fused disconnect ?

 

[Speedy Petey]

Unless it is cut somewhere in that extremely short 8' section you have a connection issue or a bad breaker/fuse.
Wire does not simply go bad for no reason in the middle of a run.

 

[juice240]

@ Rookie 2: 100 Amp Circuit Breaker.

@ Speedy Petey: I agree; I could understand this if I didn't have power on the output side of the breaker - the wire is brand new and installed today. I'll try to check continuity the next opportunity I have.

 

[Rookie2]

Do you have 240v ? L1-L2
If you read 240 inside but can't find 120v then it's a problem with the neutral . You should get 120 to neutral or to ground to L1 or L2

 

[juice240]

Thanks Rookie 2 - that's one thing I didn't think to check today. I'll check that at the next opportunity.

 

[Mustang51js]

Open up the disconnect and take some pics,what points are you testing from.

 

[Mustang51js]

Also turn the breaker off and on a couple times, a lot of times people don't realize the breaker isn't on but looks like it's in the on position, you should hear it click off and on when flipping

 

[juice240]

Mustang: I'll take some pics next time I'm out there - generally not out there during the week. I'm testing from the Neutral to both hot legs at both the input lugs and on the output side of the breaker. When the breaker is in the off position, I have no power on the output side. When the breaker is in the on position, I'm reading 122.4 volts between neutral and each leg, same as on the input lugs.

 

[Mustang51js]

What does it go to when it goes inside,if that's what you are reading then it's not the breaker. Even if they happened to be on same phase you would still have power on the 120 volt stuff in the house. Is there a main breaker on the panel inside the house also

 

[rharman]

Also turn the breaker off and on a couple times, a lot of times people don't realize the breaker isn't on but looks like it's in the on position, you should hear it click off and on when flipping

Must be on as he stated he had voltage on the outbound side.

I'm also thinking a problem with the neutral.

 

[Mustang51js]

Must be on as he stated he had voltage on the outbound side.

I'm also thinking a problem with the neutral.

His last post said he's getting 120 from nuetral to each leg,he needs to check inside now and should be able to figure out if it's the nuetral going into the house.

 

[juice240]

No main breaker on the panel in the cabin - it's wired from the service disconnect to the lugs on the panel.

 

[teamextreme]

I vote for bad neutral connection. This would explain reading 120v on the load side of the breaker freeding the subpanel, but not getting anything on the other end of the 8' wire. Be careful with this, as there actually is voltage there, just no neutral reference, so you could still get bit, even if your meter reads nothing. The way to test this is to measure voltage from hot to ground instead of hot to neutral, or measure between the 2 hots and you should get 240v.

 

[Mustang51js]

Ok so you only have a couple options then, one is broken wire inside the cable which is possible but unlikely, nuetral going inside is not tight either in main disconnect or panel, and last could be that since you only have two hots and nuetral going inside you may have hooked it up to the ground bar in the panel inside,and if bonding screw is out then you would have no neutral. Do you remember what points you were testing on the panel inside.

 

[Jarcese]

Most digital meters will give you roughly 120v from hot to a disconnected neutral without load. Wire floating in air will give you a reading. You will at least have some kind of voltage reading greater than 1.2 volts unless you are using a low impedance meter. Unless that's the case, it would seem that what you are testing either has continuity somehow or nothing is connected at all. Even 8' of floating wire will read as load. Maybe not 120v, but definately more that 1.2. Long runs will read 120v to neutral even when it's disconnected.

Depends on the meter,but the moral of my story is you don't get roughly 0 to hot with a disconnected neutral and no load. I just wanted to chime in because I've had people tell me a neutral was good because they tested 120/240 with no load when it was testing 190/50/240 with load. That's happened to me in my work more than a few times.

Not saying anyone here is wrong, but you have to know what type of meter you are using because you can be led astray easily.

 

[Rookie2]

True , it can be confusing. I usually go to a 50watt lamp in a rubber socket (test lamp) I have for temporary light.

 

[alfredeneuman]

Measure the line to line voltage on the load side of the main circuit breaker, with all the branch circuit breakers off. It will about 240 or 0

A 240 volt load may be on, in which case the voltage from the good leg flows through the load and returns on the wire on the bad leg.
You'd get the same voltage when it's tested from line to ground, or neutral.

....in which case you'd have a bad main breaker.

 

[Mustang51js]

Measure the line to line voltage on the load side of the main circuit breaker, with all the branch circuit breakers off. It will about 240 or 0

A 240 volt load may be on, in which case the voltage from the good leg flows through the load and returns on the wire on the bad leg.
You'd get the same voltage when it's tested from line to ground, or neutral.

....in which case you'd have a bad main breaker.

I had to reread it myself also but he said he was getting power on the load side of the breaker but nothing in the sub panel inside.122 volts to each let from neutral

 

[dogdog]

this is the short version
just go back to the basics isolate and test each component (the 8' section, the service panel, the breakers) separately starting at the 8' 2-2-2 make sure there is nothing grounded / broke / shorted in the wire that he can't see. that is continuity test with power OFF.

2 continuity test here.
no beep test. POWER OFF, meter to continuity. assume you have red black white for your 2-2-2, and RMC (rigid metal conduit)
test between
white-red , white-black, white-ground, red-black, red-ground, black-ground. it should not beep.

beep test.
power off meter to continuity
jumper two wires at a time on one end and test on the other make sure you get beep.
go through all combinations.


continuity test your service panel make sure you didn't accidentally screw in something that shorted the hot to ground/neutral.

continuity test on your breakers make sure they have that continuity beep when it is on.

assuming you know the basic electricity safety.
Then with the power on, and do a voltage test, after you put back everything. Test if you see 120 ish between each of the hots and neutral, 240 ish between two hots. at the service panel legs.

if all these checked out then you can rule out it's your 8' and service panel, but you have some where else shorted wires and your fuse is not blowing.

 

[dogdog]

or you could be something happened to mine old cables that is buried under 6" of concrete and 18" deep that all continuity checked out still no power on the cables on that section only, suspecting something seep through it's insulation and shorted / grounded the electricity before it reached to the other end. But I am not about to break 6" concrete and dig 18" to find out. Just pulled new cable instead.

 

[alfredeneuman]

I had to reread it myself also but he said he was getting power on the load side of the breaker but nothing in the sub panel inside.122 volts to each let from neutral

You reread it but didn't understand it.

Rookie2 posed the same question in post #9, the OP said he hadn't checked the Line to Line voltage at the load side of the main breaker.
Testing from line to neutral has limited value.

On a Line to Neutral load, when the Neutral is disconnected, the voltage will show on the open neutral if there is a load on the circuit.
The same applies to line to line loads. If there's a line to line load the voltage will occur on the 2nd conductor hooked up to the circuit, backfeeding the 2nd conductor.

That's why I suggested that he turn off the branch circuit breakers, and test it from line to line.
If the all of the branch breakers were all turned off, it would even show up in a line to neutral test. I just suggested skipping a few steps, and testing for 240 on the load side of the breaker to begin with.

 

[Mustang51js]

You reread it but didn't understand it.

Rookie2 posed the same question in post #9, the OP said he hadn't checked the Line to Line voltage at the load side of the main breaker.
Testing from line to neutral has limited value.

On a Line to Neutral load, when the Neutral is disconnected, the voltage will show on the open neutral if there is a load on the circuit.
The same applies to line to line loads. If there's a line to line load the voltage will occur on the 2nd conductor hooked up to the circuit, backfeeding the 2nd conductor.

That's why I suggested that he turn off the branch circuit breakers, and test it from line to line.
If the all of the branch breakers were all turned off, it would even show up in a line to neutral test. I just suggested skipping a few steps, and testing for 240 on the load side of the breaker to begin with.

If you read post 13 it says he checked the load side of the breaker. The problem is the nuetral is either broke going to the sub panel or a bad connection at the sub panel. Even with a load on your not going to get 120 volts to neutral if there's no neutral, you will get 3 volts most of the time, unless the ground is somehow connected to the nuetral,but if that was the case he would have power and not make this post. I know this because I just tested for it before I posted this.

 

[Mustang51js]

What kind of disconnect do you have anyway