Hello,
Been lurking for quite some time and would like to share a possible new source for torrid transformer.
I have an enclosed motorcycle trailer with 1KW of panels on the roof and a iTracer 60A mppt solar charger, 2x 250AH 12V deep cycle AGM batteries, and a PJ 8K 24v inverter. The trailer is used as my portable man-cave, pit-stop, portable repair shop. I used to use a noisy/crappy generator to run the trailer for my track days and various motorcycle/atv activities and when you get a call from a friend stuck on the side of the road at midnight. About 2 years ago the generator released its guts to the world in a most spectacular manner. This was a no-name 2K watt model. The generator was able to run my AC (inverter type)/refrigerator and everything else I could throw at it. Perfect time for a change and I wanted something totally quite. Spec’ed out panels that would fit and found out I could get 1KW on the roof perfectly. Installed what you see above and from a power generating/storage aspect it worked fine, do want to add another battery bank so I have 48V. I then read all the things good and bad about PJ and decided to go that way. Mind you the unit worked right out of the box however there is a caveat, I was ripped off by PJ and eBay. I bid on an 8K unit, got it for around 200$ and was excited! Received the unit and it seemed light in weight. I emailed PJ and they said no that is their 8K unit.
Installed the unit and hooked everything up and ran all the stuff the generator did with no fuss… or did it. I left the loading ramp/back door open and cranked up the AC, as normal it slow started and ended up around ~950 watts current usage trying to cool the outdoors, great load test ;-). The batteries were full and the sun was overhead so have as much capacity as possible. Figured I would let it run an hour to see how it would behave. I left for about 30 minutes, came back everything is still running but noticed the inverter fans were on full tilt and the case temperature was so hot I could hardly touch it. Guess I caught it just before the over temp shutdown. I knew these things are under rated going into this. That is why I bought an 8K, should be way over the top for my needs. Something is not right, open up the unit and there is one small torrid where the label had been blanked out with a black sharpie or some heavy black marker pen. After carefully peeling the sticker off, from the back side I see the label shows 3000. I am now WTF and send an email via eBay to the seller. His only comment was you opened the unit and the warranty is voided. He would not address the fact this was a 3K unit in an 8K chassis. This is where the catch 22 comes in, eBay admits it looks like it was a bait and switch maneuver on the part of the seller, they also agreed that the seller is right. Ok I own it… but at least I know why it could not run a 1KW load for 30 minutes without it getting scorching hot. I now need to think about the heat load this thing is going to add ;-( With that said I have been looking for an inexpensive solution for the bigger torrid in the states (you guys in AU have all the toys, Inspires laying around for cheap) for a while since shipping an Inspire 2KW would break the bank. I got lucky and found a 2500VA transformer on eBay for 45$ plus 35$ for shipping. In the description it mentioned it came from an APC AP9621 transformer. After a bit of research there are several different models that seem to have the same transformer. I see that both eBay here and in AU have these units for fairly cheap since they weigh 100lbs shipping is going to be the stick in the spokes.
Picture included. This thing is huge!! The thing weighs 80lbs, is 12” across and 3” thick with all the stock windings. Can’t imagine what type of continuous current that 3 of these stacked as has been done with the inspires by some intrepid (oztules) soul. Just the iron will be around 200lbs.
This is a step down transformer. In stock form the input is 208 and the output is 120. Since all the stuff in my trailer is 120 means I don’t have to rewind the secondary, just add some honking primary. The primary (208VAC) was 2 in hand wound together that terminated to 2 10 Gauge wires. The core is big enough so there was space between all the wires, no overlap. The secondary wiring is a little different (don’t think I am going to cut into it) as there are 6 14 Gauge wires that seem (as per my VOM) to tie into the same point to the other side of the secondary. Applied power to the primary and all the wires had the same potential on them, just tie them together and be done with it. Unwound the primary and did the 10 turn test and got 10.59 volts. Will be going the welding cable route and was thinking 12MM, will that be too big? I have also ordered the e-core to reduce the idle current as I would like to leave the inverter on all the time for the refrig. That is all for today. Will update next weekend after I get it installed. Pictures will be included then.
I look for any suggestion and or advise.
Best Regards,
MT
