A Good Day

[cheesy]

I should buy a lottery ticket today.

Got up this morning for my trip to Mexico City. It was -6F. You do not want to know the wind chill. It was -23F.
Needed gas and there was no one at the pumps. Made it to O'hare airport with only catching 3 lights in 22 miles.
Got a parking spot very near the little train that hauls you to the terminals. Breezed through the check-in and security gauntlet and stole an hours nap in the Admirals Club.
While picking up my immigration papers at the gate, I got paged to recheck. I moved one step to the right and said, "Here I am." "May I see your ticket, please?" Hand the gate agent my ticket and he hands me back a ticket for 1st Class.
Got to Mexico City 20 minutes early. Breeze through immigration and customs without a single "Purpose of your visit?" Step out of the airport, it's 80F and my ride is right at the door.
Ride tells me that it is the 'Feast of Guadalupe' today and that the traffic is bad but we got to my hotel with no problems.

I am so not stressed today. Going to enjoy it while I can, cuz I'm sure Murphy will raise his ugly head tomorrow. Several times.

[SpudRider]

Going from minus 6 degrees to plus 80 degrees sounds good to me! :tup:

[Weldangrind]

Enjoy a margarita and call it a win.

[bogieboy]

Man you got out of town at just the right time... Supposed to get 4-6" of white stuff tonight/tomorrow... Although that means i get to play with my tractors so its all good for me...LOL

[cheesy]

Man you got out of town at just the right time... Supposed to get 4-6" of white stuff tonight/tomorrow... Although that means i get to play with my tractors so its all good for me...LOL

Ahh, one of the several Murphys I am expecting.

On the plus side of that, if and when I do get back on Saturday, I will get to bypass the customs and immigration lines because of the Global Entry program I belong to, and I get to drop the Wrangler into 4wd for the trip back to Chez Fromage.

[FastDoc]

I'm glad! And a little jealous :-) Enjoy your trip, I'm sure you'll be productive.

[katoranger]

And there is a FEAST.

[SpudRider]

X2! :lol:

[cheesy]

Murphy must have missed his flight out here. Other than the 3-4 hours spent in Mexico City traffic(which has to be seen to be believed), it was a golden day. :tup:

One hour at the first job and I got the customer to admit that they needed to reconfigure their power supply. 222VAC/3PH/5A ain't going to cut it on a system that requires 230VAC/3PH/18A. I was getting a 50VAC drop just trying to start the motor. Having the main box 150M away from the machine isn't helping, either.:ohno:

Second job, "Hmmm, Never seen this bugger do this before. :hmm:Well, I brought a replacement unit, let's just swap them out and we'll send it back to the factory." 30 minutes, tops. This was followed by a most excellent two hour lunch. Which was followed, later, by a two hour dinner.:clap:

I wonder if I should request a transfer?

Murphy will probably raise his ugly face tomorrow and cancel my flight home. I'm not really seeing a bad side to that, though

[FastDoc]

Remember this for the times when everything does not go so smooth!

[Weldangrind]

Was the 50VAC drop due to conductor size? If so, I'm guessing that current draw quickly exceeded the threshold.

[cheesy]

Was the 50VAC drop due to conductor size? If so, I'm guessing that current draw quickly exceeded the threshold.

I'm going to say that it was one of several factors. There is an under/overvoltage safety relay in the system that was doing its job by preventing the motor from starting. Their head electrician was having a fit that I was checking voltage and amp draw because he insisted that all was perfect and our machine was at fault. When their Chief Engineer saw the readings I was getting, his attitude really changed. I think his hienie on the line now. I was also questioning the use of a 20amp breaker with an 18amp motor. A momentary spike would trip it.


And Murphy raised his ugly head today like I knew he would. My flight was delayed two hours. Global Entry only had two out of ten kiosks functioning and neither would read my passport. So, I had to go to the end of the line and wait to get through customs. Got out to the Jeep and the left front tire was flat. There was 6" of new snow on the ground. Several people walked by and never offered to help(not that I needed it)until I was tightening up the lugs on the spare. Then one woman offered to call AAA for me. I appreciated the offer but declined.

By that time it was 8:45. Mrs. C had asked me to pick up sub sandwiches on the way home. My knee is hurting and the deli closes at 9. I said Nahhh, and drove home.

[bogieboy]

Cant win em all bro... LOL least ya got home safe...seems the idiots were out and about more than normal, maybe because of the snow, maybe because of christmas shopping....maybe its coming up on a full moon or something LOL (i dont believe in that sort of stuff LOL)

[cheesy]

Cant win em all bro... LOL least ya got home safe...seems the idiots were out and about more than normal, maybe because of the snow, maybe because of christmas shopping....maybe its coming up on a full moon or something LOL (i dont believe in that sort of stuff LOL)
Nope, Kent, you can't. Murphy planned well. One thing has come out of last night though. I am going to paint the jack and lug wrench blaze orange. Do you know how hard it is to find a black jack and lug wrench in a black Jeep when it is dark?:lol:

And, Kent, if you ever become a parent, you may find yourself rethinking the full moon thing.:)

[Weldangrind]

I was also questioning the use of a 20amp breaker with an 18amp motor. A momentary spike would trip it.

I was wondering the same thing. I have only minor experience with three-phase power, so I'm unfamiliar with the expected threshold tolerance. What kind of inrush current spike would you expect from an 18a motor? More than 15%?

May Murphy be cursed. May the fleas of a thousand camels infest his pyjamas.