Micro computer regulator

[Devo]

I brought this thing home from work a year ago as it says it will regulate ac voltage & at the time I thought I might be able to run it open on a windmill.

Is this any good for anything with wind generation or to anyone on this board? I am tired of walking around it , I don't know if it still works as it's been in the shed over a year & it is moist out there,

I will post a picture of the unit & the "tag" on it in a few minutes

Devo

 

[Devo]

[stephent]

Looks like a "line conditioner" to me...

Input 120vac  to 480/600 vac..

output 120/208/240 at a whole bunch of amps.

But just about it's only use (and that's highly questionable) would be making a modified sine wave inverter look more like a true sinewave output.

More then likely using it for "conditioning" a double stepped inverter output into a sine wave would make it burp and belch and quit, and put out a trouble light/buzzer.

And running an input from a wind genny would certainly make it squeel and howl and shutdown.

But it's plumb full of usable parts and pieces to make what you are looking for.

There's a bunch of "amp" capabilities in it for sure...just have to rearrange them into a different order/schematic.

Sola is a very good brand and make sturdy equipment.

These things take fairly solid waveforms and make sure they are a VERY good sinewave.

They remove transients, surges, noise and other crud from the sinewave and kind of "purify" it.

It will have a (more then likely) constant voltage transformer inside it that could be used by itself (without supporting electronics) as a 1 to 1 "modified sinewave" to almost good sinewave maker---but it WILL run hot even at a very reduced power rate.

Looked like the thing was rated at 10K watts or so--label photo wasn't real clear there..so running it about 2K or less should be ok if hooked up right.

Maybe....those "mod sinewave's" are rough on transformers. And some inverters sure don't "like" inductive loads and won't output at all into one.

Wouldn't just chunk it--cuz it's full of very usable stuff--heatsinks--transistors/possibly FET's, etc--big filter caps, etc..

I use a smaller version made by TrippLite here for my computers, accessories.

[Ungrounded Lightning Rod]

Is that full of electronics or is it just a big transformer and a big capacitor (or set of capacitors?)  Assuming the latter:

Sola makes a number of line conditioning devices that are actually transformers with a flux leak between the primary and secondary, and a resonant circuit (an extra coil hooked to a capacitor) on the secondary side of the flux leak.  They're really good for cleaning up the waveform and regulating the voltage IF (BIG IF) the frequency is right and the phase is stable and IF the load isn't bigger than the rating and doesn't switch a lot.  (If the frequency is wrong they don't work properly and if they get a phase hit they can actually make things worse rather than better.  This, along with improved power supplies in newer electronic equipment, is why you don't see these things any more.)

If it is one of those, and if your inverter's frequency is accurate and your inverter can drive it without getting sick, it will turn a modified sine into a pretty good sine for you - at the cost of turning a few percent of the rated load's power into heat (regardless of whether it is actually loaded).  If you can afford to burn the power 24/7 and need the waveform cleaned up, it will do it.  Otherwise it's mainly good as a source of salvaged transformer iron, wire, and caps.

(You might be able to take out the flux leak, dump the caps, and rewind three of 'em into a three-phase transformer to change the voltage of a miswound mill.)