With the 380 volt service now switched on for the new transmitter, the first priority today was to activate the emergency stop buttons that I wired a few days ago. This involved installing a step-down transformer next to the 1,200-amp breaker to provide the 110 volts required for the shunt trip coil to allow remote emergency tripping of this breaker. The normally open contacts (rated at 600 volts) of the emergency switches are connected in parallel so that either one can apply 220 volts from one phase of the breaker to one side of 220 volt primary of this transformer. The other side of the primary is connected to neutral. The shunt trip coil is wired to the 110 volt output winding. Using this method, the transformer is only energized when needed.
The step-down transformer has been installed on the right side of the 1.200-amp breaker.
The next priority, before 380 volts could be applied to the transmitter, was to install the surge suppressor on the side of the disconnect switch cabinet. I used the lathe to make special grommets for feeding the wires through the back of the suppressor and through the side of the disconnect switch cabinet.
The surge suppressor is connected to each phase on the output side of the disconnect switch located next to the transmitter. The ground i’s connected directly to station ground via a 4″ wide copper strip (right side of photo).
The closed surge suppressor attached to the side of the disconnect switch cabinet
I did not quite complete the surge suppressor installation this afternoon as Virginia and I were invited to the Bistro at the Marina to have dinner with Donna, TWR Bonaire’s bookkeeper, and her older friend from church, Lois. Virginia let me know via email that the reservation was moved earlier to 5:45 pm instead of 6 pm, so she drove to the transmitter site to pick me up early.
On Wednesdays, all Bistro’s hamburgers are on sale for ‘only’ $8. We ordered their Burgundy hamburgers that normally cost $14. The hamburgers were covered with some kind of gravy with mushrooms, plus tomatoes, onions and lettuce. It also came with fried potato wedges. We ate at an outside table with a pleasant ‘cool’ [for here] breeze. Afterwards, Donna convinced us to get ice cream for dessert at a place called Shanthy. We were the only customers during the 30 minutes, or so, that we were there.
After we got home, I discovered that the proofreadings of our McGuiReport, submitted earlier this week, were done. All the suggested ‘corrections’ were made and I began ‘tidying up’ the ‘white’ spaces in the text wrapped around the photos to make it look better. This process took much longer than anticipated. By the time I created the PDF files and submitted them for TWR Cary to print, it was around midnight and I was very ‘bleary-eyed’ from all the detailed editing on my laptop.