andrews
pfm Member
thanks
Balanced mains transformer units
- Thread starter saab9000
- Start date
thanks
Whizzy
pfm Member
Consumption at no load will be negligible.
martin clark
pinko bodger
A transformer, any transformer, does have a few small internal losses to work at all, but it is a tiny percentage of the full plated rating.
These losses are 'copper losses' - resistive heating from the AC current bare minimum to generate the essential 'magnetising current' - and 'iron loss' - hysteresis in the core. Which is why steel selection for the core , and lamination insulated once from another, is a key selection by the designer.
Those are the overheads, and in a decent size toroidal, at this sort of power level, these will be tiny: c 1% max. of full power rating would be typical, and a reasonable assumption *
So a 1kW rated transformer from any half-decent manufacturer, it'd be reasonable to assume you'll only be 'paying for' 10w draw or less as an overhead from adding the transformer as BMU. It will run cool, and that also means - negligibly -cheap.
(Transformers are amazing bits of kit for such a simple & old conception. They are also incredibly tolerant of transient overloads, +100% or more of rating for short durations is no problem at all.)
*
In the kinds of tiny 'E-I' style transformer in old heavy wallwarts - well over 50% or worse not unusual, owing to lossy & cost-cut nature; hence why they ran warm, cost more to run than they added in value, and have now gone-away forever on favour of SMPS.
Arkless Electronics
Trade: Amp design and repairs.
Obviously it's a very bad idea to leave gear on 24/7.... and obviously a BMU will do diddly squat... But FWIW a 1KW unit would prob consume say 5W ish itself in losses.
Arkless Electronics
Trade: Amp design and repairs.
Ah beaten to it!
Thanks for the very informative response.
Do Airlink do loans or trials of there units.
andrews
pfm Member
When I enquired, the answer was 'no', perhaps call Airlink?
I will call them tomorrow,they are quiet local to me.
andrews
pfm Member
OK - let us know the response.
Spoke to Airlink today,you was correct the don't loan units for audition,but i spoke to an engineer who was very helpful and knowledgeable.They have quiet a good selection and can do bespoke items as well.
Z-Axis make a balanced power supply called Symetrica - I've got one on demo at the moment and been pretty impressed, both with the build quality as well as the overall sound improvement, which I'd describe as having a bit more air and space than a Shunyata Triton I normally use.
andrews
pfm Member
I would suggset getting the filteted unit, unless you ahev one alraedy
davidsrsb
pfm Member
The safety issue must depend on whether the secondary is centre tapped to ground. If it is and a fuse blows or switch only opens one line, then the other is still live at 120 V and is hazardous.
A floating output is no different to an isolating transformer. The only hazard there is that touching one line will not trigger an earth leakage trip, nobody dies though.
A floating output is no different to an isolating transformer. The only hazard there is that touching one line will not trigger an earth leakage trip, nobody dies though.
Arkless Electronics
Trade: Amp design and repairs.
It's an isolating transformer with a centre tapped secondary which is usually connected to earth. There is no reason to use one whatsoever. A complete waste of time, money and effort.
andrews
pfm Member
To my ears the filtered sounded better, although there is a cost increase. As I wrote I was concerned that filtaration would be counter productive, but this was not the case with my power supply.
paulfromcamden
Baffled
Are there any mains products you would consider a sensible purchase? I sometimes see Furman conditioners in pro audio racks.