Voltage Regulators

[Tequila]

Does anyone have any experience with the Hughes Autoformer in comparison to the IBA sold in Mexico?

The specs say it raises low voltage 10%, but it doe snot say anything about bringing down too high a voltage.

Does anyone know how they compare?

The mexican one corrects 85-147 volts to 102-132

[Tequila]

BTW. Instructions on wiring the IBA 4000 can be found here:

Instructions

[Tequila]

BTW here are wiring instructors for the IBA 4000

Instructions

You can order a milk crate off Amazon. The ones 13 x 13 x 10 or 11 high work. As long as the internal size is 12 x12 which those are (16 quart)

[Tequila]

I've seen the Sola do a 20% boost--but never the 30%. It does boost right down to 85 volts, according to the skimpy manual, and that would be approximately 110 volts of output, given a 30% boost.

The numbers above are calculations and real life is some what different. I have a real life measurement when input voltage was 97. Output was 107. That is why I tweaked the boost set points up. I won't have a chance to test that for a few months.

Voltage dropped to 85 volts a few days ago and mine boosted to 102V. This was a bit low and my surge guard would not let it through. Its threshold is 103. I had a built in surgeguard before I bought the sola so I left it installed as a secondary protection.

[pianotuna]

Hi Mex,

Yes I'm using the unit you so kindly made up for me.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

I wish my SOLA military unit did not eat so much hay when it wasn't plowing 😞

60-157 volts usable power. The penalty is an extra 140 kWh per month for a 3 Kw unit.

Don are you using one of my de-spiking units? 8 20mm MOVs and 8 1.5 Kw TVS diodes? It would take a Carrington Event times ten to even begin to dent the suppression of that unit. Bi-directional. Will absorb hundreds of joules for (guess) 15-20 minutes. 50 amps continuous through the Motorola MR2535 avalanche diode. Then a few megajoules through the gas tube discharge devices.

[pianotuna]

The Sola Basic 4000 VA does three layers of boost, and one of buck. It is about 1/3 the price of the Hughes, but you do have to add an input plug and an output plug. I went a bit farther so that I could monitor the input voltage as well as output.

I use the extra female input outlet to add surge protection to the system (Thanks Mex), as well as monitoring voltages.

first boost is at 110 volts and is 10%
second boost is at 110 volts and is 20%
third boost is at 90 volts and is 30%

Buck is 135 volts and is -10%

Suppose input voltage is 104. Output will rise to about 114. This is a much superior result compared to the PI units that would cut off the power. If we look at the SG at 102 then output is still a healthy 112 volts.

With these OEM settings, boost would occur before the air conditioner had finished 'spinning up'. Later, I added the microair unit and boost no longer happened (shot myself in the foot?).

My boost voltages were 'dead on' from the factory. I've since adjusted them up by 2 or 3 volts. I've not had a chance to try the roof air with these higher set points, but I'm hopeful that I'll be back to boost during A.C. spin up.

I use mine often, even in winter. The boost in winter lets me get the full wattage output from heaters.

There is also something called an 'ecowise' which apparently keeps voltage dead on 120, no matter what the input voltage is. Had I known of that unit, I would have purchased it.

I do get some ems from the Magnum hybrid inverter. When on 30 amp shore power, I use the Magnum to limit input to 24 amps, and on 15, I limit to 12 amps.

I've seen the Sola do a 20% boost--but never the 30%. It does boost right down to 85 volts, according to the skimpy manual, and that would be approximately 110 volts of output, given a 30% boost.

The numbers above are calculations and real life is some what different. I have a real life measurement when input voltage was 97. Output was 107. That is why I tweaked the boost set points up. I won't have a chance to test that for a few months.

Here is the 'path':

shore power-->surge-->Sola Basic-->Magnum-->RV

[time2roll]

2% or 10% boost is all the Hughes does.

[Old-Biscuit]

Hughes Autoformer is a voltage boost unit.

They do have a new unit with Surge Protection (checks for missing ground & neutral and reverse polarity)