Product Overview
The ASCO Series 300 Service Entrance (SE) version combines the transfer function with a service-entrance rated disconnect in a single listed enclosure, so the switch can be installed at the point where utility power enters the building instead of requiring a separate service disconnect ahead of it. This unit is rated 70 A, 208V, 3-pole, NEMA 1, open transition. Typical loads are a residential service panel, a small retail or office panelboard, a well pump, a sump pump or a light commercial kitchen β circuits where the entire load can be picked up at once and where a compact wall-mounted enclosure is an advantage. The NEMA 1 enclosure is intended for indoor installation in a dry, protected space such as a mechanical room or an electrical closet. Terminations and footprint. Same #14 AWG to 4/0 AWG lug on every pole and the same 35 in by 17.5 in by 11.6 in cabinet, 84 lb. 70 A is the rating that covers a whole dwelling on a 100 A service with a modest generator: the contactor is still small, but the poles now carry the total load rather than a single circuit. It is the most common size we ship for residential retrofit work in North America. Service arrangement. This is a 208Y/120 V three-phase four-wire switch β the service found in office buildings, retail strips, clinics and small data rooms, where one panelboard feeds 208 V three-phase loads and 120 V receptacle circuits off a solid neutral. The neutral is not switched, because it is bonded at the service and opening it would defeat ground-fault sensing. Neutral configuration. The neutral is switched β it opens and closes with the phase poles as one more pole. You need this when the generator is wired as a separately derived source with its own grounding electrode and its own main bonding jumper: leaving the neutral solid would tie the two grounding systems together through the neutral, put objectionable current on the grounding conductor and leave the generator frame at a potential above earth during a fault. It costs one more pole and one more set of contacts to maintain, but on a separately derived system it is not optional, and an inspector will look for it. Enclosure. The Type 1 cabinet is for indoor use in a dry, protected space β a mechanical room, an electrical closet, a plant room β where the only thing it has to keep out is incidental dust and the occasional touch. It is not rain-tight and not watertight: mounting one on an exterior wall, even under a soffit, invites water in through the door seam and the conduit knockouts, and the first sign is usually a rusted mechanism rather than a tripped breaker. If the switch has to live outdoors, the 3R version of the same rating is the one to order. Service-entrance rating. This is the SE version, which means the assembly is listed as service equipment in its own right: the utility disconnect and the transfer mechanism share one enclosure, and there is no separate main breaker or service disconnect ahead of it. Three things follow from that. The neutral bus is the service neutral and the main bonding jumper lands inside this enclosure, so the grounding electrode conductor terminates here rather than at a separate disconnect. The short-circuit current rating applies to the whole assembly, not just to the switch, and it has to be checked against the available fault current at the service point. And the utility will want to see the listing before they energise it β a standard transfer switch installed ahead of the service disconnect without an SE rating is a common inspection failure. What the extra cost buys is one enclosure, one set of terminations and one less place for a bonding error. Matching generator. At 208V with an 0.8 power factor this switch carries approximately 20 kW of load (70 A Γ 208V Γ β3 Γ 0.8 = 20 kW, three-phase). Size the standby generator so that its standby rating meets or exceeds that figure, and confirm the generator's two-wire automatic-start contacts are compatible with the transfer switch controller. Controller. This unit carries the ASCO Group G controller: a 128 Γ 64 graphical LCD with switch-position, source-availability, common-alarm and not-in-auto indication. Transfer and re-transfer delays, engine cool-down and the in-phase transfer timer are all set from the membrane keypad rather than from DIP switches, with ranges up to 60 min 59 s. The Group G controller supports both open transition and delayed transition, and accessory 11BE adds RS-485 communication at 9,600β115,200 bps, a seven-period programmable exerciser and a 300-event log. Three-pole configuration. The three phase conductors are switched with a solid neutral. This is the standard arrangement where the neutral is bonded at the service and must not be opened by the transfer switch. Supply. Supplied as a genuine ASCO Power Technologies (Schneider Electric) unit, brand new and factory original, packed for export from our Dongguan warehouse. Ask us for the outline drawing, wiring diagram and data sheet for this exact catalog number.