Where do you source 35 Amp 220VAC circuit breakers that are NOT in typical box stores?

[Arlen _G_ Holder]

Where do you source circuit breakers that are NOT in typical box stores? o Carling AA3-B0-24-635-5D1-C (do you have a decoder for that number?)

PG&E has currently cut the power to us in California where this is the 31st sustained power outage in three years (of more than a day each, generally), so my generator has been doing triple duty as the backup source of power.

Over time, this 35 amp ganged circuit breaker partially broke inside.

It has "Carling Switch" molded on one side:

And this barely readable paper label on the other side:

The best I can make out from that data are these specs: Carling Switch Inc. AA2-B0-24-635-5D1-C FL AMP 35 MAX VOLTS 227 (? hard to tell) HERTZ 50/60 DELAY 04 (? hard to tell) TRIP AMPS 43 (? hard to tell) Mexico 9513 (probably the 13th week in 1995, likely original)

I called Generac's 24/7 live hotline, but they can't give me any more information than the owners manual, parts diagram, and references 888-GENERAC (888-436-3722) extension 4, extension 2 1-262-544-4811 extension 1, extension 2, extension 4, extension 2

This is the relevant page out of that Generac Owners Manual they sent me:

o #5, Generac Part Number #74969, 35 Amp Circuit Breaker

Generac suggests these two outfits, who seem to charge astronomical prices: o $137.07

o $233.45 [phone] x1

Hence, the basic question of how you source basic electrical parts.

Where do you source circuit breakers that are NOT in typical box stores? o Carling AA3-B0-24-635-5D1-C (do you have a decoder for that number?)

[Fox's Mercantile]

On 10/27/19 4:08 PM, Arlen _G_ Holder wrote: [ usual shit deleted ]

This is why you don't buy Generac equipment.

I used to be a service manage at a sales and service tool store.

People would bring in a Generac for repair. They would NOT give us service information or sell us parts.

We put them on the "f*ck you" list.

I bought a Honda 4500 watt generator 30 years ago. The only service it's required is the battery, the air filter and the oil.

As a friend of mine's brother-in-law succinctly put it, "Pay shit, get shit."

[Fox's Mercantile]

Captain Video decoder wheel:

Page 37

[Anonymous]

Have you tried any of Carlings distributors in CA ?

Part # decoder is on page 5 of says they have 3 in stock in AZ

[Fred McKenzie]

Arlen-

Take the old breaker into an Ace Hardware Store. You want something that has the same mounting and terminals, rated for 35 Amps and at least

240 Volts.

The 43 "TRIP" Amps would be nice, but is not the most important parameter. Hopefully you do not normally run the generator close to its limit.

I would not be surprised if Ace had the exact breaker for around $25.

Fred

[Bob Engelhardt]

Please ... go to HD, get a Square D breaker and rig it up. Duct tape if you have to <G>

[Ralph Mowery]

The government should make it a law the companies have to sell to individuals the repair parts and service manuals if they have them.

Years ago I was with a friend at a boat warehouse picking up some parts. A man wanted to buy a simple part,but they would not sell it to him as he was not a dealer. We bought the part for the man and sold it to him at our cost when he met us outside the warehouse. Most places would have doubled the price to him.

What really hirts is if a big company buys lots of items at high dollars and the manufactor goes out of busniness and they will not give or sell you a manual on the equipment when you buy it.

[Clare Snyder]

Mouser or Newark - in stock for under $30

[Bod F]

I think Team Amazon is teaching all those "wholesale only" assholes a painful lesson.

[Clare Snyder]

Make that Mouser. Newark price is WAY higherr and no longer in stock. Mouser has 10 in the warehouse

[Clare Snyder]

If you are in ANY business, technically you can buy wholesale. I can't buy anything that requires a gas fitter's licence or a refrigeration licence (actually I can from a few wholesalers) but if I show my businesscard I can buy pretty much anything else I might need through my company. Automotive, small engine, electrical, plumbing, electronics, building supplies - just about anything partly duer to the structure / nature of my business and the way it is stated on my card.

[Arlen _G_ Holder]

Thanks Clare for that purposefully helpful lookup, where I may have made an inadvertent typo at some point, as it's AA2 (2 pole), not AA3 (3 pole): o AA2-B0-24-635-5D1-C

Mouser doesn't stock this part, but they do have a decent datasheet:

I will need to call Mouser during business hours for price & availability: o [phone], [phone]

Unfortunately, Newark also says "Not Normally Stocked":

But at least they list a price, where, the going "fair" rate is about $100 o $ 92.45 onlinecomponents.com o $ 95.53 newark.com o $137.07 jackssmallengines.com o $233.45 ordertree.com

The question is mainly HOW do you guys get hard-to-find electrical parts.

BTW, the smoke is everywhere easily smelled, strongly in the air, with that classic wood burning smell, where the most recent time this happened was the Paradise Fire, where the smoke traveled hundreds of miles to blanket the Silicon Valley as this smoke is just now starting to do today with the picking up of the wind in the past few hours.

[Clare Snyder]

What "I" would do, in all likelihood, is CONVERT it to a standard more easily available part. Like a QOB. Just have to work out a mounting method.

[Arlen _G_ Holder]

Thanks for that purposefully helpful advice on considering this breaker: o Square D QOB235 2 Pole Circuit Breaker

It would be nice if the circuit breaker fits reasonably well in the front:

Where, in the rear, it's less important how things bolt together:

Where the Carling uses four 10-32 terminal bolts (lug type).

I thank you for not trolling, since it takes zero energy for the trolls to troll while you went to the trouble to find a decent fit, where what I'll do is trace out a paper cutout on the generator and take it with me to Home Depot or Ace to see if the $30 "Square D QOB235 2 Pole Circuit Breaker" can be retrofitted into that front panel hole.

Thanks for spending energy to bring items of value to the Usenet potluck.

[gfretwell]

That is a very normal form factor for industrial equipment.

[Arlen _G_ Holder]

This thread is about how to source hard-to-find electrical parts.

Given results below, the summary is things "can" be sourced. o But there must be a better way to source hard-to-find parts. For those times you want the part in your hand today.

While converting to a different part, particularly from a part that clearly failed prior to its 10,000 cycle rating, often works, and, I've often Rube Goldberg'd myself, given this is an electrical component attached to the mains, and given it has to be "to code", and given that it can kick in when I'm not home, my FIRST CHOICE (for the minor price difference of $30 for a different part & $100 for the right part anyway), is to try to source the correct part that has bolt holes in it, rather than an alternative that doesn't fit the weathertight outdoor generator enclosure attached to a huge source of propane:

Anyway, this thread is really not about the part per se, but how to SOURCE hard-to-find electrical parts, which is more of a TECHNIQUE than anything else.

On technique, I learned a lot about phone calls in the past few hours...

a. Part: Carling AA2-B0-24-635-5D1-C 35-amp circuit breaker b. Carling:

Carling suggests the long list of distributors (alphabetically) d. Bridge: 408-335-6700 (you need to pick a person & leave a msg) e. Avnet: 408-435-3500 (4-5 weeks lead time, $86.42) f. Bates: 408-400-9586 (the number has been disconnected) g. Digikey: 800-344-4539 (global sales only, min quantity is 20 parts) h. Master: 408-970-8090 (not in stock locally, two weeks, $92.45) i. Mouser: 817-804-3888 (not in stock, can send quote) j. Newark: 800-463-9275 (not in stock, minimum order is 2) k. Sager: 408-544-9500 (not in stock locally, can be ordered, $71.48) l. TTI: 510-668-0830 (not in stock, can only order in bulk) That's for the (mostly) local Carling so-called "distributors".

Now we get to local electrical parts suppliers... m. AlexanderElec: 831-457-3911 (left message) n. BayPower: 408-998-2980 (they don't stock, and can't order) o. CupertinoElec: 408-808-8000 (don't deal with individuals) p. Eckerman: 831-252-0987 (doesn't have any resource I don't have) q. EdgesElec: 408-293-5818 (don't stock, don't order) r. NicoElec: 408-446-4141 (left message) s. Pfeiffer: 408-436-8523 (they don't do residential) t. SprigElec: 408-298-3134 (transferred to sales, left message)

Where we already knew, from Generac, of these online sites: u. onlinecomponents.com $ 92.45 (stock situation unknown) v. jackssmallengines.com $137.07 (stock situation unknown) w. ordertree.com $233.45 (stock situation unknown)

And, of course, there is always the Internet: x. Amazon

y. FusesUnlimited z. Walmart

Given those results, the summary is things "can" be sourced. o But there must be a better way to source hard-to-find parts. For those times you want the part in your hand today.

[gfretwell]

If you can live with a 30 or a 40, Grainger has them for $32. They might be able to order the 35 but you are out a few weeks I imagine. What do you have in the transfer equipment at the panel? If you have a

35 protecting it at the panel for overloads, a 40 will adequately protect the feeder for short circuit.

[gfretwell]

Look at "Panel, 6-32 mounting type"

<

[Clare Snyder]

If you want an uncommon part in your hand today, Rots of Ruck my friend. The only way around it is to "rube" a common part to fit or pay the exhorbitant prices charged by those who MAY have the part in stock because they "service" that particular device that needs the part.

The FACT that it is a "common industrial part" does not help the common man source one in an emergency.

That brings up another point though - were you not aware MONTHS ago that the genset was not functioning properly? I seem to remember you making a half-assed attempt at getting information about it WAYYYY back. The time to find out it needed that breaker , and sourcing it at leisure was THEN.

[Arlen _G_ Holder]

Hi Clare,

You have a good memory, but, not quite good enough :) (I say that in good humor, as you do have a good memory, as do I on such things.)

Fact is, it's not that simple, where the problem is always in DEBUGGING.

Last time, I thought the problem was the relays, which, you'll see in this picture, were each labeled and then swapped (since the two 100Amp transfer panels are duplicates), and yet, they failed the same both ways.

We also didn't know if the problem was in the actual transfer solenoid, which, I must add, for one, I had to manually flip it, even this time, but with some things broken, I'm not sure if that's a first order or second order effect.

Thirdly, there were two fuses missing, where I replaced those two fuses in the interim.

And, fourthly, while I'm sure there is a testing sequence, you never really get to test these things under real world circumstances until power goes out.

Luckily, out here, in California, we don't have to wait long for THAT to happen, now do we?

In short, it wasn't until I did all that and the power went out, that I realized it was something else, which is when I finally took the breaker out and realized it was half broken (it doesn't LOOK bad from the outside, but it's bad in the inside).

Who knew? Not me. Until recently.

And, I only found out today, after three days running on propane, that the battery was at 6volts, where who knows WHY the battery isn't charging when the generator is running...

Luckily, Rube Goldberg borrowed a car, to jump the generator, and then another battery to use to run the generator, and then with the power in the house, I'm charging the original battery that has been on the generator for the past 3 days due to the PG&E mismanagement outage.