Phase Converter help

WARRIORWELDING

WARRIORWELDING

Owner opperator Of WarriorWelding LLC.
Joined
Jan 6, 2008
Location
Chillin, Hwy 64 Mocksville NC
Hey electrical wizards I need a Rotary Phase converter. I have a new to me piece of equipment that is 3 phase. My shop has only single Phase and the owner landlord doesn't want to pony up for a service up grade.

I need to feed a 7.5 hp motor that runs a large hydraulic unit.

I have priced a single phase unit with the correct chasis which will also require other electrical items in the control group to run.

I would mine being able to run other equipment I might add in the future.

BRAND SUGGESTIONS??
WHERE TOO BUY??

ANYBODY GOT ONE THEY WANNA SELL?????

Needed ASAP will buy used or pull the trigger on a new one this week.

What say yee of the more edumacated NCer's than I????????
 
I've got a 20hp American Rotary brand and have had zero problems with it. It starts my 10hp compressor no problem, which is a really heavy load.
 
There's several on the market. Some good, some bad. Being that it's just a hydraulic unit, you could possibly get away with a static converter for the time being. In the future, you could possibly add an idler motor to make up for the loss in power. A static unit would provide about 70% of the capacity of that motor. If you're not in need of all 7.5hp, it could be a cost-saving option. A 10 or 15hp idler motor in the future would bring you up to about 90% capacity. If you want to do it quick and know it's right, though, just go with a quality rotary unit. Kay Industries is one of the leading manufacturers and they're very easy to work with. Contact them with your needs and they can set you up with a unit that should do what you want.
 
American and Kay, good info my searches hasn't found these yet. I looked at static vs. the rotary. The load type was interesting when choosing either. Never new it mattered. Not fully grasping why either. But I want something capable of growth and hard start load types also.

I really thought about buying the largest my current circuit would allow.

Any reason why a larger than required converter want work???
 
WARRIORWELDING said:
Any reason why a larger than required converter want work???
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No reason, it will work just fine and will even make you faster because your wallet is lighter. You're better off going oversize than close to capacity.
 
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What did you wind up with? And it seems most converters have a minimum load, too. For what that's worth. I'm going to be looking into another converter for CNC capabilities sometime in the future.
 
Junkyard Dog said:
I have a Kay industries rotary and it has been great. You mentioned running other/future equipment, are you gonna wire it to a 3 pH panel?
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Most likely a sort of stand alone base. My new piece of equipment has a 15 foot cord. And runs 110 for control group. I will mount it in close proximity of the single phase outlet I have that runs Damn near everything I have. If I hired someone and wanted to run multiple equipment already I would be screwed. I hope this is not my long term home. The landlord refuses to up grade anything on his dime. I am also not interested in pumping money and materials into his facility.
In short I plan on the "kiss" principle until made to do otherwise.
 
catfishblues said:
What did you wind up with? And it seems most converters have a minimum load, too. For what that's worth. I'm going to be looking into another converter for CNC capabilities sometime in the future.
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Ordering the American brand. Turns out it was already in my researched name brands. Hugely informative web sight easy to navigate. They have models they specifically recommend for load types and variances. A few CNC specific.
 
As one who is all about efficiency I must ask how long your running said piece of equipment. The conversion loss is large . One of the big reasons for 3 phase equipment is how efficiency they run and no need for capacitors. On this same topic though most single phase 240v power is derived from a single high voltage conducter and through a set of mismatched coils in the utility transformer is broken is to 2 separate 110v lines providing balanced power. I've always wondered if something similar could be done to add a 3rd leg.
 
@peewee If I had 3 phase I would use it.

But since I don't I got this in and hooked up.
14701966764491433060839.jpg
Could not be happier with this product. Web sight, salesman, shipping, packaging and product all top notch. Even the instructions were idiot proof and printed on some heavy duty shop proof stock.
 
And the reason why I'm currently happier than a pig in poo!
1470196855063-216017436.jpg

Found one I could afford, not too small, not too big. She weighs 6k and can slice 1/4 inch steel 6 feet long. I'm a happy camper.
 
Awesome! I've always wanted a shear, but everytime I start looking for a 4ft by 1/4", my aspirations creep up, and in my mind I somehow end up at needing 1/2" capacity, 12ft long, so it's too expensive and I drop the idea, haha.
 
Yea, I wanted 8 but the good Lord provided 6.
 
Awesome! I've always wanted a shear, but everytime I start looking for a 4ft by 1/4", my aspirations creep up, and in my mind I somehow end up at needing 1/2" capacity, 12ft long, so it's too expensive and I drop the idea, haha.
 
I'd be interested to see what your input amps are in comparison to the motor fla. Truly just curious. That is a clean looking install. I've installed I bunch on new services to give customers 3 phase but have never done a phase converter. Mainly bc we were looking at feeding 100amp equipment and the customer had money to burn.
 
Don't own a clamp on meter, but your more than welcome to check it out. The web sight has a bunch of good info and brags about very balanced output. The little black box is loaded, so to speak. It has all the capacitors, circuit board, and my breaker to protect the 3 phase load side.
 
I see you already made a purchase, but for those looking at this in the future, why didn't you just get a VFD? RPC is pretty old school tech, it's like swapping on TBI because you want fuel injection.

VFDs are pretty cheap these days that take in 230v and spit out 3ph power
 
Metto said:
I see you already made a purchase, but for those looking at this in the future, why didn't you just get a VFD? RPC is pretty old school tech, it's like swapping on TBI because you want fuel injection.

VFDs are pretty cheap these days that take in 230v and spit out 3ph power
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Vfd? Engrish please?
 
As long as the phases are balanced then a vfd is superior. I think that it wasn't suggested because (in the past at least) a vfd is much more expensive. As long as you have 220v single phase and the motor is able to run on low voltage which most likely it will then a vfd can be had pretty cheaply. If it's a fixed displacement pump, you can also vary flow rate using the vfd.
 
I could be wrong, but I don't think a VFD will play well with electronic/computer loads should a CNC machine be in your future. For motor only loads, they're pretty sweet, but also not as rugged as your average rotary converter. With a good Woods/Baldor/Reliance etc. VFD, you can expect probably 7-10 years of use before capacitors start to go out or SCRs start to let go. With the average Chinese unit I see being used today, I'd expect 2-5 years. Any more and you're probably getting lucky. However, they're cheap enough to pretty much be considered disposable. On the other hand ,a rotary is just a motor for the most part. If it's a quality unit, I don't think it would be out of line to expect 20 years of use out of it with just basic maintenance. Sure, the control caps can go bad, but they're a lot easier to diagnose and cheaper to replace than those in a VFD. Also, you can run multiple loads off a rotary. You really need a VFD for each load, as it also acts as the on/off switch.

In my shop, I've got a rotary on my big knee mill. I've got a 2hp 20" disk sander that I'd like to put on a VFD, though, in order to have FWD/REV, speed control, and dynamic braking. The disk will spin for literally 10 minutes after shutting off.
 
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