PShots fired!
Yeah, it's the mechanic in me. Plus I'm averse to dropping over $500 on anything at a time, but seem to be super willing to drop 2kish over a period of half a year for something that is significantly inferior to a machine.
But...can't put a price in knowledge. Learned a lot by fucking around with a cheapie. And more likely than not I'll end up rebuilding the base and converting the original to a laser engraver.
Power to the People! (just not all at once). Similar to the function of a hall-effect sensor?
Honestly, I don't quite know how it works on the inside. I wouldn't be surprised to open it up and see a 555 and a FET in there.
These little modules are super common in large commercial units that lack microprocessor controls. Like, for instance, in a makeup air unit, which conditions outside air and pumps that air into a building, typically in buildings like kitchens or labs that lose a lot of air through exhaust fan use. The air "makes up" for the air lost to exhaust and keeps the walls and windows from imploding on themselves.
In this situation, someone my want to use a single "Start/Stop" digital command to start a fan AND open a set of damper blades. Maybe it's a simple controls setup, where that start/stop command is coming from a current relay that is wrapped around a leg of a three phase exhaust fan. Or from a relay output on a VFD.
WELL...you don't want that fan operating until those damper blades are open. But with only a single command available, you need to find a way to stage the damper blades to open FIRST, and then for the fan to come online.
Truthfully, the better option in this case would be to use a limit switch on the damper actuator in series with the coil of the fan relay, but one of these could do the trick too. Put it in series with the fan relay coil, set the timer to, say, 90 seconds for a 90-second-stroke actuator, and the fan will energize roughly 90 seconds after the unit gets a "start" command.
I <3 relays.
The breaker in my garage was just barely enough to run my CNC, but if someone opened the garage door in the middle of a job the CNC would go down and I would lose whatever I was working on. Eventually I want to get thicker wire run so I can swap for a beefier breaker, but until then I hooked the CNC up to a UPS backup. It isn't enough to run the machine for a long time, but it's enough to hold it up in case of the line going down so I don't lose my work.
When I run my curing oven the lights still flicker, so maybe I should get that checked out by a professional.
Whatcha running there, a 15 amp breaker?
That would be pretty typical of older residential wiring. Pretty common to see 14awg Romex going to a line of 15amp breakers. I've got the same sort of setup in my house.
12awg Romex can be run up to 20 amps if you don't need to derate it. I ran a little extra circuit in my garage with 12awg Romex for a similar reason.
Still though, whatcha running, a three phase spindle + VFD? Might even be fixed with a newer garage door opener, especially if it's happening like THE MOMENT the garage door starts to open.
Locked rotor amps can easily be 5-10x rated load amps. Some newer models feature a soft start that helps mitigate that current spike that is characteristic of motors that tend to start when voltage is applied across the line.
Then again, I don't know how much electricians cost. Outside of the commercial sphere, at least. More than I do, that's for sure *grumbles about the plumbers in my union that voted for a pay raise last year that wont keep up with inflation*.
