EEVblog Electronics Community Forum
Electronics => Projects, Designs, and Technical Stuff => Topic started by: klr5205 on February 27, 2017, 02:13:29 pm
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I'm surprised to be having difficulty with this...
My company has several step up transformers similar to this one https://www.amazon.com/Simran-AC-3000-Voltage-Converter-Transformer/dp/B004MPR44E/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1488204219&sr=8-10&keywords=simran%2Bvoltage%2Bconverter&th=1 (https://www.amazon.com/Simran-AC-3000-Voltage-Converter-Transformer/dp/B004MPR44E/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1488204219&sr=8-10&keywords=simran%2Bvoltage%2Bconverter&th=1)
... and I have been less than impressed with the quality. I'd like to research an alternative, but for some reason I've been having trouble finding anything that isn't a blatant rip off of this exact design. Aside from generic google searches I've looked at companies like Staco and BK Precision to see if they had any offerings with no luck so far, so I figured I'd ask the hive mind. The primary useage is to run European equipment in the US. (There is no voltage switch on the back and it doesn't use a removeable IEC plug)
So how about it? Has anyone heard of a decent step up / down transformer like the one in the link? Our current units are 5000W rated but less may be adequate.
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Fry's sells them in all different sizes in the Philmore brand. I can't say the quality will be anything other than "generic mass market" though.
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I would recommend buying a 4-winding transformer (the "Universal transformer") and hooking it up yourself to the correct rated cords and outlets. The commercially available small converters are autotransformers, so are not isolating, and who knows whether they use the cheapest available sockets.
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I would recommend buying a 4-winding transformer (the "Universal transformer") and hooking it up yourself to the correct rated cords and outlets. The commercially available small converters are autotransformers, so are not isolating, and who knows whether they use the cheapest available sockets.
In the longer term that's exactly what I plan on doing, however I was hoping to purchase something off the shelf to get us through the spring outage season. I will be traveling quite a bit over the next couple months and won't have time to properly design and document something until I return.
I've opened Simran converter linked in the original post. It does have a proper transformer in it, but that's about all it has going for it. To your point the outlets are cheap and sometimes intermittent and the soldering is bad to the point that we inspect every new one we purchase for broken wires / poor solder joints. Those quality issues and the fact that a GFCI breaker would be more appropriate or us are what have me looking around for a replacement.