zappy

I never wired a gas station before. I got a call and they said they had a power outage and now there parking lights our out and some canopy lights. He said he turned the breakers off and on, and he flipped on the override for the photocell. So anybody have any idea what it might be or any advice on what to look for. Thank you.

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wirenut1110

If there's only one photo-cell, I'd guess a bad contactor coil. Should be pretty simple to t-shoot.

PS. Some places use a time clock and a photo-cell combo. Could be a bad timer motor, or after the outage it lost time?

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Jim

MDShunk

If it was an extended outage, it could have the time clock time messed up and they might just come on really late. He might be down a phase too, and not realize it yet except for lack of parking lot lights.

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zappy

I got back and the override switch for the canopy lights and parking lot lights had power, which was closing the contactor. Contactor was sending power thru. He said the lights are just on the photocell and the override switch. Not on the timer. Is it possible the power outage sent a surge and just ruined some lights and nothing else??

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MDShunk

Sure, anything's possible. What did you have, voltage wise, at the handhole or on top of the canopy? One doesn't normally think about burned up underground conductors or burned up fixtures after an outage, but certainly surges related to a catastrophic outage are not unheard of.

Did you check the line and load side of the contactor? Reason I ask is because your control circuit that was pulling in the contactor is quite likely another circuit entirely that's not even related to supplying power to the lighting, but just happens to be used to pull in the contactor.

__________________
One reason not to give DIY advice:
Catch a man a fish and you can sell it to him.
Teach a man to fish and you’ve ruined a good business opportunity.

electricalperson

if there hid they might need to restrike. depends how long the power was off

NevadaBoy

So it sounds like the contactor coil is still working properly? I've seen outages(possible fault/spike) wipe out 120v contactor coils.

I've wired several gas stations. It's not too uncommon to see the canopy lighting controls related to the fuel branch circuit controls. Specifically in relation to the emergency shut off.
It's a possibility there is other relays/contactors controlled through the ESO circuit for the fuel island. That would mean the possibility of another coil going bad and the lights not turning on?
I think you need to track the wires from the breakers to the contactor and from the contactor to the conduit feeding the canopy.