# trilliant breakers



## njapprentice

does anyone have any suggestions for tracking down a 30 amp two pole breaker? trilliant breakers seem to be very hard to come by.


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## MDShunk

There seems to still be plenty of new old stock. I get them from my supply house new in a Square D box. Plenty expensive, though.


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## njapprentice

I cant seem to find any in my area, except for on ebay used for $180. its for a hot tub install and im considering suggesting a whole new box.

is your supply house in the south jersey area?


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## MDShunk

Breaker Brokers Inc has a SDT230 for 45 bucks. Call Dan at 1-800-553-2431


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## william1978

Google???? Google seems to be a popular word on here lately.


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## william1978

Welcome to the forum also.


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## njapprentice

google led me to ebay and like i said they r way to expensive there. but thanks for the phone number i will give a call today.


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## njapprentice

thanks for the welcome. while we are on the subject does anyone have any thoughts on leaving this old trilliant box in place versus an upgrade? there is nothing wrong with it mechanicly, but after this hot tub it will be at its capacity.


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## MDShunk

Last Trilliant breaker I used was for a pool panel/timer rig thing that had a GE logo on the box, but took Trilliant breakers. Should have taken a picture of that. It was all brown plastic, if that rings a bell for anyone. It was about an 8 circuit panel with a Grasslin-style time clock built into it. Only one like it I've ever seen, but then again, not so many pools up north here. Maybe one of the FL boys have seen them.


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## MDShunk

njapprentice said:


> thanks for the welcome. while we are on the subject does anyone have any thoughts on leaving this old trilliant box in place versus an upgrade? there is nothing wrong with it mechanicly, but after this hot tub it will be at its capacity.


You'd have to gauge their future plans. If you needed more than just the one SDT breaker, you'd certainly have to think long and hard about an upgrade (or at least a panel changeout). I'd likely shoot for the sale, but really wouldn't feel bad about using up the last space for the spa. That's what spaces are for. Too bad the breaker is 50 bucks.


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## njapprentice

i dont mind 50 bucks for the breaker thats a lot better than I have been able to find. As for shooting for the sale... I get the feeling it might be more aggrevation than it is worth. its very messy and not balanced well and its old. God only knows what i might find when i start to change things. But it is definatly worth considering. Work is work right!?!


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## cdnelectrician

Wow, plastic panels...I dunno if I like that Idea.

https://www.nachi.org/forum/attachm...0-plastic-square-d-service-panel-eci-020a.jpg

Is this the monster you are all talking about?


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## njapprentice

and by the way future plans are unknown at this point in time


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## Podagrower

I remember those pieces of garbage....

The cover screws strip out about the fourth time you take the cover off. More bad breakers right out of the box than anything I've ever seen (meaning they are in the trip position from the factory, but will not reset-unless you hit them with your kliens on the side). Almost impossible to add a new wire after you use the round KO for your service cable and the alligater style clamp for romex. 

They had some nice, inventive features, but not my favorite.


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## electricalperson

i never seen a trilliant panel. where were they most popular?


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## user4818

electricalperson said:


> i never seen a trilliant panel. where were they most popular?


Back in the 1870's.


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## MF Dagger

I had never even heard of them before this thread. It does give me the urge to go scrounge up relics in my garage and post some pictures for the heck of it.


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## MDShunk

electricalperson said:


> i never seen a trilliant panel. where were they most popular?


They never really caught on. Plastic panels are most of what gets used in Europe, but they were met with skepticism in North America. I guess it was a decent product ahead of its time in the marketplace. I might run across one a year if I'm lucky.


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## electricalperson

MDShunk said:


> They never really caught on. Plastic panels are most of what gets used in Europe, but they were met with skepticism in North America. I guess it was a decent product ahead of its time in the marketplace. I might run across one a year if I'm lucky.


 it must be a regional thing too. i hear guys talk about zinsco, pushmatic and now trilliant. i worked in tons of houses and commercial buildings and ive seen pushmatic once and never seen zinsco. the main crap company i see is FPE stab lok. i see tons and tons of westinghouse, bryant, T&B, old GE and things like that. a lot of the crap was probably replaced


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## RePhase277

Word on the street is, Trilliant panels are the inspiration for the word "trill", which the rappers use. In rap-speak it means "absolutely f*cking ********"...


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## electricalperson

how bad are these panels? just because they are plastic does thatmake them bad? i wouldnt mind having a plastic panel just as long as it worked properly.  might be a little safer and offer mroe corrosion resistance than metal


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## MDShunk

electricalperson said:


> how bad are these panels? just because they are plastic does thatmake them bad? i wouldnt mind having a plastic panel just as long as it worked properly. might be a little safer and offer mroe corrosion resistance than metal


They're not bad at all, in my opinion.


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## vinster888

besides the fact you cant get breakers for them without forking out tons of money. i have changed out many, and of course, saved/sold the breakers. anyone want to guess which one sold the most?


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## r_merc

*Wow*

I ran into my first Trilliant Panel yesturday. I took a few moments and checked it out. Not a bad design. Breakers held in place solidly. Better than a QO IMO. Totally finger safe. I can see the benefits of design. Talked with my supply house manager and he said the only downside to this panel when it came out was its price. As competative as we ECs like to be wouldn't go for a 'Higher End Product'. I'm sure SQ D has patents on it and wqhen it comes time they will reinroduce something like it. Then again We ECs get stuck in our ways and don't like change much (ie Arc Faults, GFI's, TRs etc.)
Rick


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## kbsparky

Trilliant was supposed to be the cat's meow, but they priced the stuff too high.

Those breakers were designer finished on the outside, with QO guts on the inside.

But they literally priced themselves out of the market, so Square D eventually dropped the line. If they had been priced more reasonably, I might have been one contractor to use them.

I thought that many of the features of those panels could be desired for safety and such, but the panel cover screws did manage to break quite easily. I never did buy one new, but have encountered several over the years.


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## MDShunk

I installed about a half dozen new Trilliant panels in Habitat For Humanity homes back in the early 90's. They were panels and breakers that were donated from someplace. I've got to tell you... they weren't junk. It's just a panel that never really caught on. Just like Carlon plastic boxes were looked at with suspicion in the 80's, but caught on, Trilliant panels never really caught on. Too bad. They had some neat features (cable clamps, finger safe), but some downsides too (panel cover attachment). I think they were just ahead of their time in the marketplace. They'd likely be well-received now. Not a good time to reintroduce them, but mark my words... something closely resembling the Trilliant will be out soon after the economy turns the corner. Guaranteed.


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## zappy

Never seen that brand before, thanks for the pic. I did a job in Fairfield, and the brand I ran across was a "Bulldog" breaker panel, I thought that was a cool name.


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## MDShunk

zappy said:


> Never seen that brand before, thanks for the pic. I did a job in Fairfield, and the brand I ran across was a "Bulldog" breaker panel, I thought that was a cool name.


Yeah, most people know them as Pushmatic. 

Bulldog also made some busway that sometimes also had the ITE logo on it. It was pretty good busway, and you'll someitmes still find it in factories that were in their heyday in the 50's and 60's. Bulldog also made a popular lighting track that was fed at 50 amps and each tap box had fuses it in. I think someone still makes a copy of that system today. Had little trolley fittings for it too if you wanted to feed something that moved. Pretty neat.


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## user4818

MDShunk said:


> Bulldog also made some busway that sometimes also had the ITE logo on it. It was pretty good busway, and you'll someitmes still find it in factories that were in their heyday in the 50's and 60's. Bulldog also made a popular lighting track that was fed at 50 amps and each tap box had fuses it in. I think someone still makes a copy of that system today. Had little trolley fittings for it too if you wanted to feed something that moved. Pretty neat.


There's pictures of that busway in the American Electrician's Handbook. As they don't ever seem to update that book with modern pictures, they're probably still in there. :laughing:


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## frenchelectrican

I did see quite few Trilliant breakers as well but not super widespead I did recall it was inducted in early 1980's and yeah the price was too high that time but it have alot nice feature in there but only if they keep the price little lower then it will take off.

I really don't have much issue with it beside the plastic screws for the cover that kinda getting annoy me a little it don't take much to screw up.

Merci,Marc


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