Time for a new Warpinverter build

Author	Message
rogerdw Guru Joined: 22/10/2019 Location: Australia Posts: 955	Posted: 04:16am 14 Mar 2021         Warpspeed said   Probably the worst type of load for transformer heating would be airconditioning. That could run constantly for many hours on the very hottest of of days. I asked my mate, the guy that wound my own Warpverter transformers about heating. He said at 5Kw it would take about three hours at full load to reach final maximum temperature for the largest transformer, and that would be about 40 Celsius over ambient sitting in free air without a fan. I cannot recall anyone here ever having serious transformer overheating problems. Transformers of this size will absorb a lot of heat just through the sheer mass of copper and steel for a surprisingly long time.  They also take a long time to cool down. So for the occasional very heavy load, such as large power tools, an air compressor or welder for example, the load could be huge for several minutes at a time, with rest periods in between. We don't use our aircon at all really, which is just as well as it is a huge thing  ...  but it would be nice to occasionally. And I wouldn't mind fitting one to my workshop as that is where I spend a lot of time, just for the really hot and the really cold days. I don't see our loads as particularly heavy, just lots of varied and consistant ones. I never got the impression any where in all these threads that I needed to be too worried about transformer loads  ...  especially once I realised the difference between HF inverters and these older style transformer type. Seems that most transformer types can be overloaded heavily for short bursts, which suits me fine. Nothing worse than knowing your system has a definite, sharp and finite limit which if you overstep the mark will blow to bits instead of providing a bit of warning in the way of temperature rise. It will certainly be easier once it has a few miles under its belt to know where it's at and if certain loads affect it more than others.