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[Andrew Henderson]

I purchased some feeder cable secondhand, and the guy threw in this distro because he had no use for it. It looks either home-built or electrician-built. I've inspected it and tested the connections, and everything is connected correctly to the best of my knowledge. Clean connections, metering continuity to all conductors of all circuits checked out, etc.I hooked it up at home and everything works fine. I'm trying to figure out whether this thing is practically usable, first concern being safety.

There are a couple of red flags in my mind. Any others for you all?
1) Cavities! The front sides on either side of the panel are exposed, as is the punchout for the fifth camlock connector. I'd add another rack panel below the Edison panels as well, since they're sort of "cheated" diagonally to fill a gap.
2) L14-20 connectors on the side of the case are connected to 30A breakers! They're using 10 gauge wire, but they're the wrong connectors, obviously. So I'd swap those breakers to 20A or swap the connectors to L14-30
3) It looks good and may be electrician-built, but I have no way of finding out who originally built it and whether they would stand behind their work for liability reasons
4) It's just housed in an open, wooden rack. Does it need to be in a metal enclosure?

[Ray Aberle]

Are those two pole 20A breakers for the Edison outlets?


to be candid, I wouldn't trust it. Not for any particular concern over the build quality, but just the lack of any certifications would make me wary. If something goes wrong, who stands behind it? And with an unknown past... double trouble.

-Ray

[Frank DeWitt]

Every outlet, breaker panel and building it will be connected to was assembled by someone you don't know and except for a single inspection many years ago is un-certafied. If you make the cords to plug into it, they are un certified.  I would check it very carefully. Make sure the outlets are in good have and have a good grip and use it.

[Stephen Kirby]

The biggest thing that jumps out at me is that there are wires and connections that are not contained within a flame proof enclosure.  I'm no electrician but my understanding is that if anything that could spark did so, it needs to be in something that won't catch fire.  An open ventilated wooden box kind of doesn't meet that, IMHO

[Erik Jerde]

The biggest thing that jumps out at me is that there are wires and connections that are not contained within a flame proof enclosure.  I'm no electrician but my understanding is that if anything that could spark did so, it needs to be in something that won't catch fire.  An open ventilated wooden box kind of doesn't meet that, IMHO

Yep, this.  That's one big jbox there and it doesn't meet the requirements for a jbox.  There's ways to fix that if you want to put in the money and time.

[John Sulek]

There are a couple of red flags in my mind. Any others for you all?

- the open spaces in the breaker panel
- the lack of a main breaker for the panel
- is the duplex panel fully enclosed on the back?
- the lack of a certification sticker is going to be an issue in some venues
- is there any sort of back box on the twistlock outlets?

[Erik Jerde]

- the open spaces in the breaker panel
- the lack of a main breaker for the panel
- is the duplex panel fully enclosed on the back?
- the lack of a certification sticker is going to be an issue in some venues
- is there any sort of back box on the twistlock outlets?

I thought of the main breaker thing but I realized I've worked with plenty of manufactured distros that don't have main disconnects.  Even ones outfitted with cam locks.

[TJ (Tom) Cornish]

There's ways to fix that if you want to put in the money and time.

Maybe it can be made to be safe, but NEC2017 mandates that all distros be listed, which means no homebrew, and no AmpShop/Dimmerrack.

NEC2017 520.53 "Construction. Portable stage switchboards shall be listed and shall comply with 520.53(A) through (E)..."

[Andrew Henderson]

Thanks for the input, guys. If we did end up ever using this, I would definitely inspect every connection again and put it in a metal housing. Are you guys running into inspections any more than in previous years? I've only run into one inspector ever in 8 years of doing this, and he just wanted to make sure we had a fire extinguisher. For those of you with Lex, Motion Labs, and the other standards, do those companies stand behind the product in a lawsuit where someone is injured or killed due to fault with the product?


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[Tim McCulloch]

Thanks for the input, guys. If we did end up ever using this, I would definitely inspect every connection again and put it in a metal housing. Are you guys running into inspections any more than in previous years? I've only run into one inspector ever in 8 years of doing this, and he just wanted to make sure we had a fire extinguisher. For those of you with Lex, Motion Labs, and the other standards, do those companies stand behind the product in a lawsuit where someone is injured or killed due to fault with the product?


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Manufacturers of products are subject to civil liability if they design, build, sell or distribute defective products or misrepresent their products as being suited for a particular use when, in fact, the product is not suitable.  Liability laws come at the Federal level and the states have liability laws that vary considerably from state to state.

But.... if there was a death, personal injury or property loss allegedly due to *this* distro, you and everyone who ever saw it would be named as a defendant in the lawsuit; it's up to the judge to decide who should come to trial and that by itself can be expensive.  It was cheaper for JBL to settle ($100,000 IIRC) in the case of The Station nightclub fire than it was to hire lawyers and expert witnesses to demonstrate that the use of polyurethane foam in loudspeaker surrounds did not contribute to the deaths and injuries in the pryo-ignited fire - and be dismissed as a defendant.

Am I saying to ditch this thing?  Nope.  If you are a Qualified Person you can open it up and determine if it is suitable for your intended use.  If your venues or clients do not require "Listed" assemblies you are free to use it presuming it is found suitable by the Qualified Person.

Inspections?  The last inspection of our electrical distribution (from Line connection to Load connection) was probably in Texas about 10 years ago.  The County inspector didn't like that we had 2 amp rack cables that were made up from 10/4 SJOW and were directly on the dirt arena floor.  He said nothing about our electrician-built distro or lack of a UL sticker on it.  I pointed out the county's Cam-Loc connections were not Code compliant in more than 1 way and he decided we could just get the amp rack cables off the floor and be in compliance.  He left to go inspect the food vendors outside...  At another festival I've had inspectors look at grounding and feeders (cable type and protection) but I don't think they've ever looked at our distros.  That's anecdotal experience and in no way should be taken as advice or direction, Andrew...

Portable switchboards (what the Code calls our distros) have some specific individual requirements in addition to the general requirements of panel boards and switchboards.  One of the primary requirements for switchboards and panel boards is they be fully enclosed in non-combustible enclosure and if that enclosure is metallic the enclosure must be bonded to EGC.  So the open holes need to go, the sides, top, bottom and back of the distro needs to be enclosed.  That's based on what I can see in your pics and there are other things that will need correction.

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