Big arse torid transformer ideas? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: XOIIO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2016, 02:07:40 am
content: I finally got around to taking apart the 20 amp ups I have, which is pretty much useless to me, and it had dead batteries which are off in the ether of lost stuff somewhere, and as I suspected from the big bolts on the top and bottom, this baby has a toroidal transformer.A toroidal transformer which weighs over 17 pounds.I need some project ideas for this baby, it's going to beat the crap out of the regular style transformers I've gotten from 15 amp ups's. Some sort of super crazy desktop power supply with this exposed, kind of like photonicinductions big arse power supply would be cool. No luck finding info on it, but here's a picture of the label if someone wants to give it a crack.At least it will make one hell of a paperweight until I come up with a use for it. Looks good too.

author: station240
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 21, 2016, 03:16:54 am
content: Hope you made a note of where the mains side of the connections go to.You'd still need to measure the low voltage side to figure out what all the different taps do.Given the size of this unit, I'm going to assume it's 48V battery input. If so this means the yellow/brown high current secondary taps are lower, eg 36V.One possible project is an amplifier, say a 5.1 system for use with home theatre/PC.Could also build a big variable power supply, though that would be a major project to design, build and debug.

author: XOIIO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2016, 03:38:46 am
content: Quote from: station240 on March 21, 2016, 03:16:54 amYeah, big ass variable is an idea I had but it would be a load of work, and expensive components.The yellow/brown wires are at 30 volts, I used the lead from a 1/4 watt resistor and it was vaporized in about a milisecond, I need to clear off some desk space and test it out on some stronger stuff. Mains was pretty easy since they are the only black/white wires, and also the longest. They also have a little bit of filtering passives under the heatshrink.I think it had 36v batteries in it. It's actually the same size as my other rack mount battery backups which use 12 volts.It has at least one thermocouple, the thin white wires, not sure about the green ones, and haven't tested the other low voltage ones yet.10 awg is rated at 30 amps though and they have two wires for the main output, so maybe, just maybe it can whack out 60 amps, not sure, but if so, hoooly shite. I wish I had a clamp meter.

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2016, 03:52:39 am
content: Not hard to measure the parameters: voltage, current, frequency...Obviously enough, it'll be pretty close to what its original range was.Tim

author: XOIIO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2016, 04:02:10 am
content: Quote from: T3sl4co1l on March 21, 2016, 03:52:39 amYeah, I was just hoping to find a datasheet on it so that I could get the max current rating since I'm pretty sure it would blow the 10 amp fuse in my meter.

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2016, 05:45:13 am
content: Quote from: station240 on March 21, 2016, 03:16:54 amNot necessarily, if ya don't mind paying $30 for a IC you can buy an opamp with 8A output current and built in adjustable current limit. OPA has one.Slap two pots on that and a massive heatsink/fan on the opamp and you have a nice high current psu.

author: XOIIO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2016, 05:54:53 am
content: Quote from: Psi on March 21, 2016, 05:45:13 amWell, I would want to be able to use the full amperage that would be available. That being said this should have some pretty high current mosfets, if not I do have others kicking around, but building a variable current/voltage supply from scratch would be a bit tricky still.

author: XOIIO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2016, 06:08:28 am
content: Ok wow, so if I put anything decently thick in there, it trips the 15 amp breaker on my power bard pretty darn quickly, I was using an one of those aluminum pie pans, and decided to see how it performed on that.Let's just say that with my auto darkening glasses and a smaller tip, I would easily be able to cut out custom heat shields and the like. It absolutely demolishes it, you don't even feel the pan, it just blasts through it. I need to find my tripod and take a video loledit: no clue where my tripod is, so just took a video, and damn the thing got piping hot pretty fast, I figured it would be cool as a cucumber, but I guess I'm pulling a pretty good amount of amperage out of it.The aluminum was built up on the screwdriver tip, and when I tried to remove the ring terminal after cleaning most off, the metal just pulled clean out of the handle, I guess it warmed it up just enough.Then, trying to put it back in, I jabbed a hole through the desk, apparently it's pretty thin material.At least it's somewhat of a disposable desk. I'll post the video here when it's done, I don't think I'll be hammering the transformer this hard again, unless I bathe it in oil.

author: XOIIO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2016, 06:32:23 am
content: https://youtu.be/i9H2cQSA4GsI definitely want to find a proper use for this, but I think for quite some time it will just sit as a very heavy spare part, unless something comes up where I need a ridiculous amount of current at 30 volts.

author: chickenHeadKnob
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2016, 09:25:45 am
content: @XOIIOCan you show us a picture of how the designer of the UPS solved the inrush current problem these transformers have? You may want to isolate and reuse that along with the transformer.

author: XOIIO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2016, 09:27:10 am
content: Quote from: chickenHeadKnob on March 21, 2016, 09:25:45 amSure, the board is fairly packed in though, it's an APC one so I have no doubt that they did a great job. I'll just wait till it's daytime so I have a bit more light, as you can tell my phone camera sucks

author: XOIIO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2016, 11:39:27 pm
content: Quick thought I had, on the subject of submerging this in oil, is there any type that would be specifically good, or could I just use some discount motor oil from an auto shop? I do have a stick welder so if I got a slag hammer, and had some steel cut to size, i could weld together a case with handles and terminals on the top, mount the toroid vertically inside, and then fill it up with a decent amount of oil to soak up the heat from the transformer and wiring.

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2016, 12:03:57 am
content: Why would you want to do that? It looks perfectly capable of 1-2kVA as-is.Tim

author: XOIIO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2016, 12:29:31 am
content: Quote from: T3sl4co1l on March 22, 2016, 12:03:57 amWell, it got pretty damn toasty when I was... well, arc cutting through that pie plate, I figure that sticking it in oil would give it a bit more tolerance to high current loads.Could also use one of the lower volt taps, rectify and regulate it, then hook up to the thermocouple with an attiny and set a warning beep of at x temperature.

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2016, 01:53:03 am
content: Well, I can all but guarantee you were shorting it out in the 5-10kVA range there...If that's the only thing you want it for, well, who cares I suppose... lay off the sparks when it starts stinking and smoking.Oil convection won't really help much because the windings insulate the core; a proper design has a pipe underneath the windings to circulate fluid.Tim