Using alternate wire from board to contactor?


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Old 10-01-15, 06:45 PM
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Using alternate wire from board to contactor?

The yellow 24v wire going from my control board to my contactor shorted out to ground. Even disconnected from the board and contactor, it is still completing a circuit to ground.
I bypassed it by using a white wire (there are 5 wires bundled together --- blue is the other contactor wire) to connect to the board and the contactor. A/C is working fine now.
I am wondering if this was a bad idea. I can't see anything else this bundle of wires is connected to (like a LPS or HPS). I just wanted to confirm that this is okay. It's a Carrier 80.
The wire shorted out after a storm and power outage last week. Like I said, cooling fine now. Just hope I didn't bypass some safety feature.
 
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Old 10-01-15, 07:14 PM
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Welcome to the forums.

So what you have is a five wire cable from your air handler to your condensor. The yellow wire is shorted to ground. You are now using the white and blue to power the condensor.

That is ok but I'm uncomfortable when I have a shorted wire in a cable. That tells me that somewhere the cable is touching ground. The problem usually starts with one shorted wire but can progress to more shorted wires.

Try to find the short. Follow the cable and see if it's broken or hitting metal somewhere.

The blue and white wires connect to the wiring area of the condensor..... correct ?
There would be wire nuts connecting your cable to the internal two condensor wires.
 
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Old 10-01-15, 10:14 PM
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Thanks. I've checked for frayed or damaged wires near the circuit board and the contactor. There was one place where the wire coating was split (looks like it was cut), but the wires inside were not exposed. I put some electrical tape around it.
The rest of the wire and cableing wraps around some kind of coolant line stretching through the house (attic) and through the wall. I'm not sure how any of that cableing would get damaged after a storm/power surge. The house is only 5 years old ... but it is Arizona.
 
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Old 10-01-15, 10:23 PM
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Since you said it's shorted to ground..... it must be bare and touching something metal (grounded) somewhere.
 
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Old 10-02-15, 10:27 AM
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I'm grateful for your quick response. I suppose it's possible it's grounding against something. The only alternative I can think of is to replace the entire line, which goes through the outside wall and the crawlspace (60-70 feet of line).
 
 

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