I went back to the service call from hell. - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

220/221 · 01-31-2008, 11:52 PM

Someone asked about the brand name of the panel.

It was Trumbull

**Double-A** · 02-01-2008, 03:48 PM

Are you sure its not Trubble?

220/221 · 02-01-2008, 03:57 PM

It was trouble all right

No. I looked closely. Definetly Trumbull. The M was funky on one of the logos.

dkillianjr · 02-01-2008, 04:07 PM

I like the burn marks on the panel cover

Now this may be a dumb question, but what is that panel with all the transformers in it?

Dave

Magnettica · 02-01-2008, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dkillianjr

I like the burn marks on the panel cover

Now this may be a dumb question, but what is that panel with all the transformers in it?

Dave

Those transformers are for low voltage relay-controlled lighting circuits I believe.

dkillianjr · 02-01-2008, 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Magnettica

Those transformers are for low voltage relay-controlled lighting circuits I believe.

O ok, I have never seen anything like that before. Was low voltage lighting a fad at one time or something? Or is it popular in some places?

Dave

cmec · 02-01-2008, 06:31 PM

I tink trumbull was a divison of ge in trumbull co ohio near youngstown

james8199 · 02-01-2008, 08:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dkillianjr

O ok, I have never seen anything like that before. Was low voltage lighting a fad at one time or something? Or is it popular in some places?

Dave

I'm not exactly sure when this was popular, but I've ripped a few of these out locally to add regular hard-wired switching. The one I just did was a PITA, they used 3-wire to feed one light and the red conductor to feed another but nowhere in the same area at all. I had to find everything by process of elimination basically. they had romex feeding through jb's going to the opposite side of the house it was pretty messy. I lost my shiry on that one too

I gave him a flat rate thinking I would be in and out, needless to say that was not the case.

cmec · 02-01-2008, 09:01 PM

They were popular Back in the 1950 & 60 s I have worked on ge,touchplate and remcon they came and went along with radiant heat in the celing.

dkillianjr · 02-01-2008, 11:48 PM

Thanks guys, Aw that sounds like a mess James! Where are you guys from? I see your locations are Pgh and Western PA.

Dave

james8199 · 02-02-2008, 12:35 AM

west mifflin

cmec · 02-02-2008, 08:19 AM

Butler, but my camps in bedford co near maryland

dkillianjr · 02-02-2008, 11:56 AM

O ok, I am right in the North Hills area. I have some reletives out in Butler. James you are probley at kennywood everyday

Dave

james8199 · 02-02-2008, 08:16 PM

Actually I haven't been there in about ten years. I guess since it's right there the novelty kinda wears off.

TMG1 · 09-01-2008, 08:49 AM

yeah I've ripped out some of these before. and the LV crap is exactly that - crap.
I remember 1 of my customers wanted these things fixed and not replaced. said he had it for years and never tripped a breaker.
Had bigger burn marks though around the breakers. It also had bad neutral. The plumber figured that out when he went to change the water meter and the arc (load) blew him across the room when he was pulling the pipes apart. Wish I had a camera.
Thanx for the pixs. brings back memories!

bjgelect · 09-08-2008, 08:24 AM

Looks like the house probably belonged to an electrician at one time. In my family the GE LV system was used by my Dad and my uncle, while another uncle had the Remcon system. These systems can be nightmares to fix if they have been abortionized like the one pictured. The GE RR7 relays are highly reliable and almost never fail. The Remcons are pretty reliable but do fail occasionally. Remcon is owned by the Amprobe company and new relay replacements are solid state units. All Remcons had their transformers in the relay and the relay was usually mounted at the fixture in the box. The Remcon is a "cheaper" system than the GE, their switches were "flimzy" but nicer looking. Remcons were used in the 60s & 70s, GEs were used from the 50s to present are are of commercial quality where the Remcons were residential. Since the relays are of latching design they only operate momentarily. The only time you smoke a relay is when you have one switch trying to energize the "on" coil, and one switch energizing the "off" coil at the same time and held for several minutes for numerous occurances. These systems were usually only used in high end homes, or in electrician's homes, or in tinkerer's homes.

scourt11 · 11-26-2008, 03:07 PM

i have worked on many homes with touch pad relay system and they are crap . it was not a fab it was for the designer switches

MSSI · 12-09-2008, 06:53 PM

I have seen quite a few of these in hi end homes around here built in the 60's.
Love the way they stripped back 3" on the neutrals and soldered them all togeather..Every one I have seen seems to have way to many wires in it for the space provided..mainly because the installaers or repair guys over the years are slobs though. If everyone took a little care and laced up their wires all nice it wouldnt be such a nightmare to troubleshoot. I always try to consider the next guy while doing my work.