Cat temporary connection boxes for mobile gensets

Caterpillar has introduced a new family of Cat temporary connection boxes for mobile gensets.

The facility connection boxes provide an accessible docking station to quickly connect a rental genset to a building’s electrical system, delivering temporary power in a matter of seconds, Cat said.

Typical markets include healthcare, pharmaceutical, industrial, manufacturing and light commercial construction.

Cat dealers have the ability to provide and install rental gensets that may be quickly connected via these connection boxes in the event of a non-scheduled service need for the facility’s permanent genset.

Permanently mounted on the outside of a building, Cat temporary connection boxes feature a NEMA 3R weatherproof, wall-mounted enclosure with a door for cable access.

Four configurations are offered to meet a range of needs. There is the lug-to-lug tap box, which is designed for an application in which the end-user’s connections to their distribution system are simply connected via lugs into the box, where mobile genset cables are quickly landed to a second set of lugs. This configuration supports 200 to 3,000A.

Then there is an enclosed circuit breaker arrangement for uses that do not have a spare circuit breaker inside the building or need additional circuit isolation for both safety and system protection. Supporting 200 to 800A, a circuit breaker disconnect and circuit protection are already built into the box, ready to use.

Finally, there two quick-connect weatherproof camlock configurations with varied ampacity. The wall-mounted camlock tap box supports 400 to 2400A, and the freestanding camlock tap box supports 1,600 to 4,000A.

Various options suited to meet individual needs can be selected for ease of use with Cat XQ mobile gensets.

For safety, a phase reversal relay provides visual indication of correct phase rotation. A remote start signal connection is also available so that the temporary genset can be called on by the facility’s existing transfer switch. Also, a block heater shore power receptacle includes two 30A twist-lock receptacles wired to an internal disconnect to keep the mobile unit pre-warmed and ready for any outage.

“These boxes have been engineered to provide a simple connection for a mobile generator set or load bank, assuring the facility has a solid mechanism for maintaining and testing their permanent assets without interrupting their back-up power capabilities,” said Marc Godwin, Switchgear Business Development Manager for Caterpillar.

The new Cat temporary connection boxes are designed to help facility managers comply with recent updates to the US National Electric Code (NEC) standards for emergency and standby power systems.

The NEC requires facilities with an emergency genset permanently installed in a standby application to provide an alternate source of electrical power in the event that the normal electrical power source is disabled for maintenance or otherwise unavailable.

Cat temporary connection boxes are now available for customers across North and South America.

This story was originally published by sister magazine Diesel Progress.