Michael Boyle inquires,

 

“I have a power district that is just over 40 feet long. This power district is divided into five sub-districts protected by four circuit breakers and an auto-reverser. For convenience I want to place the booster and a control panel with the AR and circuit breakers at the middle of the district. If I do this there will be three track busses that run in parallel to the right of the panel before they get to the protected sub-districts. The alternative would be to run a single track bus to the right splitting it and inserting a breaker at each sub-district. This alternative, of course, means that the breakers are not conveniently located at the control panel. What are the potential negatives associated with my preferred arrangement?”

 

Functionally they are both fine.

 

There are a couple of things to consider:

 

1. If the centralized approach is used, you’ll have three pairs of wires extending to the right.  Assuming more or less equal spacing of the three districts you will use 1x + 2x + 3x = 6x wire to reach the distribution point for each of those sub districts.
2. If a single bus extends from the booster to the right, you will use only 3x of wire.  That also leads to cleaner wiring underneath the layout.
3. What is the benefit to you of the centralized location? How, in your eyes (after all, you’ll be maintaining this) does centralized vs. distributed design work to your advantage?  What do you see as the advantage of having all the components centrally located?  I’m curious, as this topic doesn’t come up much.         

 

Not arguing here, just trying to ask questions that will help you find the best answer for you and your layout.

 

Best regards,

 

Steve

 

Steve Haas

Snoqualmie, WA