2 power feeds into one cabinet

g.mccormick

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Jul 2012
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I am going to have a large cabinet that will have two 60hp drives and some other things in there. For reasons, the two drives will be fed from seperate panels. Is there any reason I can't just use two seperate disconnects with two throw door handles for this?
 
You can put two disconnect handles in the door.

Be aware that sometimes it can be really tricky to line up two shafts to close the doors. I recommend that the shafts be well supported.

I've also used a flange mounted disconnect handle, cable type, where the single handle operated multiple disconnects. In this case I bolted the bails of the breaker operators together so that all disconnected simultaneously.
 
yes but only if they are behind separate doors, as it is not allowed to have power with an open door. (that is why the door handles are used.
 
g.mccormick,

all work must be done in accordnance with NFPA 70 - national electric code and NFPA 79 - Electrical Standard for electrical Machinery, and NFPA 70E - arc flash.

i am questioning whether you can do this or not.
you may be able to get away with this if the power sources are in the same building, definitely NOT if the power is from two separate buildings.
you must also put placards on the enclosure stating multiple power sources, state the power source location down to the panel and breaker.

regards,
james
 
You can use 2 disconnects....BUT.... both disconnects have to be off to allow opening the door. You will have to use an electric lock on the panel door that monitors both power sources, or use 2 locks. Hoffman, among others, sell these electric door locks.

Make sure you label the panel....
"This panel is supplied by more than 1 power source".
 
You can use 2 disconnects....BUT.... both disconnects have to be off to allow opening the door. You will have to use an electric lock on the panel door that monitors both power sources, or use 2 locks. Hoffman, among others, sell these electric door locks.

Make sure you label the panel....
"This panel is supplied by more than 1 power source".


I was planning on having each switch have through door handles. Would mean turning off two handles before being able to open door.

And understand on label
 
As said before.... you will have an issue with 2 "thru the door" handles. Very hard to line up correctly.
I sell equipment to multiple customers that actually specify...."No "thru the door" disconnects allowed".

I really like the cable drive disconnects, far easier to set up.
 
As said before.... you will have an issue with 2 "thru the door" handles. Very hard to line up correctly.
I sell equipment to multiple customers that actually specify...."No "thru the door" disconnects allowed".

I really like the cable drive disconnects, far easier to set up.

I like the cable drive disconnects also, have never seen one with two switches capability.

The customer is me, so if the handles are a little difficult to mess with, I will have to live with it.
 
I too would say that you need to have the disconnects interlocked with the door but whether or not you can do what you are suggesting will depend on where you are and their local laws and regulations. I feel that here is a lot of opinion floating around here that is not necessarily factual.

NEC states that you must have a disconnect. The door of that disconnect must be mechanically interlocked. This disconnect does not necessarily have to be in the panel. The disconnect can be seperate from the panel according to the NEC.

The NEC does not govern equipment though, except for 1 article that is rather short and unsubstantial. NFPA 79 is the electrical standard for industrial equipment and, at least in my state, is technically optional. In other countries manufacturers must produce safe equipment to a set of standards. In the USA the burden is on the employer. Equipment manufacturers can sell equipment with no guarding or lockout points if they wanted to, but the employer using the equipment would have to implement those devices.

OSHA lockout/tagout regulations are there to require lockout points and layout requirements for safely locking out equipment. They are there to govern the employers though.

NFPA 70E is safety requirements for working on electrical equipment. There is a section talking about disconnects having interlocked doors, but again this does not necessarily apply to the panel of the equipment if the disconnect is seperate.

I'm currently gently prodding my employer as they use a lot of multiple disconnects. I've done a lot of gathering of evidence and technically, at least in Texas, you can use multiple disconnects for multiple power sources on the same equipment as long as the disconnect can be locked in the off posistion, cannot be locked on, has an interlocked door, and meets labeling requirements.

This is not the way that I feel this should be done though. The best suggestion I have seen it to use a cable operated handle that can operate multiple disconnects or breakers. I would interlock with the main enclosure door. This is assuming this is a relatively small application. For a large modular multi-door (4+ doors) application I would provide a lockout point from a separate breaker panel, load center, or switch gear.

Long story short, yes you technically can even if its not a good idea. It is far from recommended, it is not in a published standard, and if someone is injured there may be lawyers involved asking "To what standard was your equipment designed to and considered safe?"
 
Last edited:
Pretty standard fare - I use 2 x MCCBs rather than isolators as the Schneider MCCB handles are a heck of a lot easier to mount than the isolator handles.
 
I too would say that you need to have the disconnects interlocked with the door but whether or not you can do what you are suggesting will depend on where you are and their local laws and regulations. I feel that here is a lot of opinion floating around here that is not necessarily factual.

NEC states that you must have a disconnect. The door of that disconnect must be mechanically interlocked. This disconnect does not necessarily have to be in the panel. The disconnect can be seperate from the panel according to the NEC.

The NEC does not govern equipment though, except for 1 article that is rather short and unsubstantial. NFPA 79 is the electrical standard for industrial equipment and, at least in my state, is technically optional. In other countries manufacturers must produce safe equipment to a set of standards. In the USA the burden is on the employer. Equipment manufacturers can sell equipment with no guarding or lockout points if they wanted to, but the employer using the equipment would have to implement those devices.

OSHA lockout/tagout regulations are there to require lockout points and layout requirements for safely locking out equipment. They are there to govern the employers though.

NFPA 70E is safety requirements for working on electrical equipment. There is a section talking about disconnects having interlocked doors, but again this does not necessarily apply to the panel of the equipment if the disconnect is seperate.

I'm currently gently prodding my employer as they use a lot of multiple disconnects. I've done a lot of gathering of evidence and technically, at least in Texas, you can use multiple disconnects for multiple power sources on the same equipment as long as the disconnect can be locked in the off posistion, cannot be locked on, has an interlocked door, and meets labeling requirements.

This is not the way that I feel this should be done though. The best suggestion I have seen it to use a cable operated handle that can operate multiple disconnects or breakers. I would interlock with the main enclosure door. This is assuming this is a relatively small application. For a large modular multi-door (4+ doors) application I would provide a lockout point from a separate breaker panel, load center, or switch gear.

Long story short, yes you technically can even if its not a good idea. It is far from recommended, it is not in a published standard, and if someone is injured there may be lawyers involved asking "To what standard was your equipment designed to and considered safe?"

Thanks for the info.

I was pretty sure that I could put 2 discos in 1 cabinet with 2 through door handles. Or even have the discos remote from the cabinet (I'm not a fan of this). I just wanted to double check that it was allowed (per NEC) even if the two handles are/may be a pain in the butt.
This cabinet with the drives is going to be for facility control of test cells. Drives are running motors/fans on large radiators. Def. not a "machine" per NFPA 79 def.



Do you have any info on a cable operated handle that can handle two disconnects? The electric one is fancy, but I'm trying to not spend huge money for this. I'm starting to think I could put drive #2 in a smaller enclosure bolted to enclosure #1 and use passthroughs fro signal wires. This may end up being cheaper anyway since I could then use 2 smaller enclosures. Will look more into this on Monday.
 
Hi I have kind of similar situation. We have a control panel with 480V 3Phase 50 amp and we also need to provide 120V 10 Amp. We currently have a 140G-G2C3-C50 disconnect the it provides for aux contacts with they are 6 A. Do you see any issue is we label the panel Power from a different source and we take the 120 V line to a circuit breaker in the panel and then feed the Aux of the disconnect and a contact of a relay which coil be energize by the aux of the disconnect. Would I still be under the code ? I also thought about a 4 pole disconnect and use the 4 leg for the 120V .

Thanks
 

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