Control Panel Wiring Simulator: Wire a DOL Starter Free Online

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A control panel wiring simulator that works in your browser

A DOL starter is the simplest way to start a three-phase motor, and it is the first thing most electricians and automation engineers learn to wire. The free Panel Lab lets you wire one in your browser, on a 415 V, 50 Hz panel, without touching live equipment. The video above shows the sequence in seventeen seconds. Here it is step by step.

Step 1: lock out and tag out

You do not start by wiring. You start by making the panel safe. In the lab you lock out and tag out the supply first, exactly as you would before opening a real panel. This builds the habit that matters most in electrical work: nothing is touched until it has been isolated.

Step 2: prove dead

Isolating is not the same as knowing it is dead. The next step is to use the virtual multimeter to check that the circuit really has no voltage. You test, you read the result and only then do you carry on. This is the idea of proving dead, and it is the step beginners most often skip.

Step 3: wire the control circuit

With the panel safe, you wire the control circuit of the DOL starter. This is the part that decides how the motor starts and stops: the start and stop buttons, the contactor coil and the overload contact working together. You connect the parts on the 3D panel and the lab keeps track of what you have done.

Step 4: run the factory acceptance test

Finally you test the panel against a factory acceptance test. This is how real panels are signed off before they leave the builder, and the lab uses the same idea. You find out whether your wiring works, not just whether it looks neat.

Why practise this in a simulator

Wiring mistakes in a real panel can be expensive or dangerous. A simulator lets you make the mistake, see what went wrong and try again, with nothing at risk. It is also the only way to practise on a phone while you travel. It does not replace training on real equipment, but it gets the order of the work into your head before you get there.

Open the Panel Lab and wire your first DOL starter. It is free to start.

What to try next

Once the DOL starter works, try fault finding: break something on purpose and use the multimeter to find it. Then look at how the same motor is controlled from a PLC, which you can practise in the free PLC lab.

See what other learners have finished on the learner wins page.