Well I ordered four of their 700VA types for my ThermalTrak Leach clone.
1) Good value for money.
2) Audibly quiet.
3) Electrical noise - unknown. Only managed to test it into a dummy 200W resistive load. Regulation is good.
4) Inrush current - seems to be the usual for toroids of this size. Made no measurements but the workbench lights flickered on power on.
5) Bifilar - dunno. It appears to be secondary over primary. Secondary appears to be 14awg wire.
6) Side note: It appears to be larger and heavier than my Parasound's 785VA transformer.
I can send close up pics if you want.
1) Good value for money.
2) Audibly quiet.
3) Electrical noise - unknown. Only managed to test it into a dummy 200W resistive load. Regulation is good.
4) Inrush current - seems to be the usual for toroids of this size. Made no measurements but the workbench lights flickered on power on.
5) Bifilar - dunno. It appears to be secondary over primary. Secondary appears to be 14awg wire.
6) Side note: It appears to be larger and heavier than my Parasound's 785VA transformer.
I can send close up pics if you want.
A friend has bought two pair from them for his KSA-50 clone. The trannys seem to be just fine but the company that sells them is very poor at communicating. They will answer you but it can take days for a simple question to be answered and then the answer may not make much sense as it happend to my friend several times. He ended up asking the same question multiple times before the reply made any sense. Clearly this company needs someone that can understand and speak english if they are to deal with people on a regular basis!!
The second pair of trannys came without any labeling of any sort and this too is unacceptable. The first pair which was advertised on e-bay as 500 VA turnbed out to be labeled 400 VA(they say 500 VA on 60 hz and 400 on 50 hz), but these first trannys were still boderline for use on the KSA clone. So I asked him to get a second pair that are larger..... we'll see how these work out.
Mark
The second pair of trannys came without any labeling of any sort and this too is unacceptable. The first pair which was advertised on e-bay as 500 VA turnbed out to be labeled 400 VA(they say 500 VA on 60 hz and 400 on 50 hz), but these first trannys were still boderline for use on the KSA clone. So I asked him to get a second pair that are larger..... we'll see how these work out.
Mark
Well I just got my 500 VA in. Wired it up how I thought it was supposed to be wired, but it pops a 2.5 amp fuse. Tried every other way possible to wire the primaries (nothing connected to secondaries) and it always pops a fuse.
I think either A) On power-on, a big transformer will always pop a fast-acting fuse, or B) This thing is wired funny or there's some kind of internal short.
In any case, I'm almost to the point where I'm going to wire it to my power cord without a fuse, plug it in, and see if it trips the 20 amp circuit breaker in my house.
I think either A) On power-on, a big transformer will always pop a fast-acting fuse, or B) This thing is wired funny or there's some kind of internal short.
In any case, I'm almost to the point where I'm going to wire it to my power cord without a fuse, plug it in, and see if it trips the 20 amp circuit breaker in my house.
With all due respect, your experience/approach is exactly the reason you should start up the power supply for the first time with a light bulb in series. Search the threads, there is plenty of information.
BTW, my experience with Antek has been positive.
Do a google search for: Toroid Inrush
You will find out why you are chewing up fast blow fuses like halloween candy.
As WithTarragon says, just start it up with a 100W light bulb in series.
BTW, a 20A breaker on a 14AWG household branch circuit is asking for touble.
Your home insurance can be rejected in the event of a fire, even if this was not the actual cause of the fire.
You will find out why you are chewing up fast blow fuses like halloween candy.
As WithTarragon says, just start it up with a 100W light bulb in series.
BTW, a 20A breaker on a 14AWG household branch circuit is asking for touble.
Your home insurance can be rejected in the event of a fire, even if this was not the actual cause of the fire.
well i figured i'd play it safe and proceed one step at a time during my amp build. i started with identifying the transformer coils, then powering them up one at a time, then in parallel and checking output voltages. all with a fuse on my power so that in case something goes wrong, the fuse pops first before anything else could do some real damage.
i guess my question was what fuse rating is normal during startup of a 500 va transformer even with the secondaries not connected to anything.
i'll try the lightbulb idea. my guess is the phase of the input coils may have been wired wrong, or it just sucks up a lot of amps for a split second on turn-on. (probably the latter)
i'll try a slightly larger fuse once i work this out. maybe slo-blow.
i guess my question was what fuse rating is normal during startup of a 500 va transformer even with the secondaries not connected to anything.
i'll try the lightbulb idea. my guess is the phase of the input coils may have been wired wrong, or it just sucks up a lot of amps for a split second on turn-on. (probably the latter)
i'll try a slightly larger fuse once i work this out. maybe slo-blow.
OK, I've done the Google search for you:
Based on this, your 500VA Toroid can draw up to 320A when first switched on.
Hence the use of soft start circuits for these types of transformers.
Based on this, your 500VA Toroid can draw up to 320A when first switched on.
Hence the use of soft start circuits for these types of transformers.
I just surfed the net to get a picture about todays toroid transformer specs.
There seems to be only a few manufacturers that have:
- decent datasheets
- decent designed transformers.
AnTek seems to be one of the few still left uncorrupted by bad busnes ideas.
Far to many (also earlier decent manufacturers) have toroids that are made like this:
- less copper, more iron, higher op. temp, lousier in almost all respects.
- cheap high loss iron and lower temp grade wire.
For instance a 25year old toroid of a certain manufacturer was rated like this:
160VA, 50Hz, max temp rise full load 46degC, copper loss 12.8W, iron loss 1.1W, wire
max temp 180degC, 1.6kg, Rdc primary, Rdc secundary, measuring conditions a.s.o.
The same manufacturer offers now:
160VA, nom. voltages without reference to regulation, 50-60Hz, copperlosses 24W, wire max. temp 130degC, 1.8kg, produced in India....
- to cover up how much worse those transformers really are they offer not much data
other than the above.
Am glad at least AnTek seems not (yet) go this path. I hope at least those who understand transformers will appreciate that and bring also othere decent manufacturers to our knowledge.
There seems to be only a few manufacturers that have:
- decent datasheets
- decent designed transformers.
AnTek seems to be one of the few still left uncorrupted by bad busnes ideas.
Far to many (also earlier decent manufacturers) have toroids that are made like this:
- less copper, more iron, higher op. temp, lousier in almost all respects.
- cheap high loss iron and lower temp grade wire.
For instance a 25year old toroid of a certain manufacturer was rated like this:
160VA, 50Hz, max temp rise full load 46degC, copper loss 12.8W, iron loss 1.1W, wire
max temp 180degC, 1.6kg, Rdc primary, Rdc secundary, measuring conditions a.s.o.
The same manufacturer offers now:
160VA, nom. voltages without reference to regulation, 50-60Hz, copperlosses 24W, wire max. temp 130degC, 1.8kg, produced in India....
- to cover up how much worse those transformers really are they offer not much data
other than the above.
Am glad at least AnTek seems not (yet) go this path. I hope at least those who understand transformers will appreciate that and bring also othere decent manufacturers to our knowledge.
Plitron is propable ok and they are certainly not cheap.
Looking at the sparse "specification" of the general purpose toroid I would not like to put my money on them. There is really NOT enough info on the datasheet to make any conclusions about theyr performance in an intentended application. I do not like to buy a "cat in the bag" and to decide about a purchase just by looking at the pricetag.
Looking at the sparse "specification" of the general purpose toroid I would not like to put my money on them. There is really NOT enough info on the datasheet to make any conclusions about theyr performance in an intentended application. I do not like to buy a "cat in the bag" and to decide about a purchase just by looking at the pricetag.
I've used (and abused one!) half a dozen Antek xformers in chip amps and never had any difficulty. They don't make any noise and run fairly cool. It's true their customer response is not the best, but I've always gotten what I ordered and it has always worked well. Excellent value product.
Peace,
Tom E
Peace,
Tom E
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