Here are two emails I received from Jae Lockhart who is in the plastics business. You can tell from the emails that he had his trials and tribulations, but success in the end. He is running a larger motor, a 20 hp.

 

 

Hi Doug. I really had some fun with my transformer. I changed the wiring of the 20 hp motor to lower voltage and fired up the transformer. The motor started up with 200mf wired in straight and with a 55, 55, 45, 10,10, 10 on the switches, 6 -270 mf starters, it runs great with 325 mf. THEN THE FIRE. My coils that I turned on caught on fire Smoke everywhere man. We put out the fire and took the transformer apart, after taking all the coils off we found that it still worked, not only that I found that there was 320V off of the H1 coil ( you mentioned that once before of Y style transformers). We connected it back up and the whole thing runs like a charm. If a guy can find these Y style 460/230V 3 phase transformers 30 kva, you can run a 20 hp 3 phase motor like nothing at all with no modification at all. I didn't even have to remove the center coil, which leave us with a back up coil if anything goes wrong. The amps I have are 29 amps on one leg 38.5 amps on another and 38.5 on the third created leg/ with 55 amps on the single phase breaker system. This motor starts up with no problems with 6 /270 mf start caps and sounds great (We used very large main breaker switch's) This motor doesn't start stop allot, once it's on it runs for days and days. Thanks Doug for everything you showed me on your DVDs and I going to send you pictures of our system so you can see what I made. Thanks again your a smart man.

 

Hi Doug. Yes, sure you can use my e-mails if you like, if guys are going to use big stuff like I did then I would suggest finding a 30kva at lease and find a Y style 480/240 3 phase transformer ( no modification need for this style) just use the taps the manufacturer have (remove the center by cutting off the x2 tap and use the outside coils) link the tops (x1 and x3) with a heavy wire and use h1 for your 320V. Its so easy and works real slick. I'm going to be honest ( the fire was because I used insulated close line cable ) not a good plan. Note: always use proper wire don't try and be to creative. The transformer I found at a scrap yard was $200.00, the fire was free and amazing! One thing that I would also suggest is to use the largest breaker switches one can find at the scrap yards they are there by the hundreds and they charge like $20.00 a piece (they make great shut off switches and take all the amps you could ever make. We have had this 20hp 3 phase running for two days now and it's made us lots of money in our plastic business. All my friends want me to build them one now. Thanks Doug.

 

 

Just wanted to thank you for the information on how to build the transformer for my 5 hp. lathe. I used a 15 kva square D transformer it starts the lathe as fast as a light bulb can turn on, your tapes I believe were well worth the money spent. Thanks again Mark. Ebay name - tc88cuin.

eBay member, bashibazouk, sent me this; used with permission

 

I purchased the Unique 3 Phase plans/DVD package on Ebay in November of 2006. The transaction was smooth and the booklet and DVDs arrived quickly. The videos provide not only basic theory but also demonstrations of the concepts in real time. I was able to purchase a 7.5 HP Speedaire compressor at municipal auction for a fraction of what a new one would have cost. I found a used transformer from a local supply house and converted it using the plans. It was a positive learning experience and the compressor works great! I would wholeheartedly recommend the package as a practical solution to the three phase conversion problem for average home shop! Sincerely, Josh Brehm Winterville, NC

Here is a testimony from a person in Ireland.

 

They have a different electrical supply system over there, and the use of the high voltage is almost mandatory. His eBay name is xlrengineering.

 

hi Doug, Just to give you an update. I had my friend build a 15kva autotransformer with 0 - 240 - 415- 460 - 600v taps. This morning i did some experiments with an unloaded 3hp motor on the bench and i was very impressed. not only does the motor run very smoothly but it starts up in the blink of an eye. Next i moved to my 3hp hydrovane compressor which i had been running on a static converter. Most modern European motors of 4hp and under can actually be rewired for 415v or 240v operation by means of link bars in the terminal box but it is not the same type of winding configuration as yours. Instead the motor runs in star (wye) on 415v or delta on 240v. I had the motor wired for 240v delta and had it running reasonable well but it would struggle to start on a cold morning when the oil was thick. I had 400uf of starting capacitance and 120uf of running capacitance. I rewired it for 415v and connected up the transformer. The motor started so fast and with so much torque that the entire unit , compressor , tank etc tilted up on 2 legs for a second! Its now running on 100uf start and 40uf run drawing less current and starts in a flash. My transformer manufacturer friend actually makes autotransformer's for phase converter manufacturers here and has never been asked to do a high voltage winding. they all want just 0-240-415v so i dont think too many people know about your method. I am going to pickup a scrap motor in a few weeks and start winding my own transformer so as i can have extra taps. I can take a few photos of the setup when its finished if you'd like.

 

 That was the first letter, here’s the follow up.

 

hi Doug, Yeh it was a big scare. I bought it about 2 years ago from a factory close down and they showed it running and it did give a jump on startup but never the likes of what it did yesterday. The starting power is quite amazing far better than a rotary. It was running a ok on the 240v static but cold starts were a problem when the oil was thick and the air dense. On the transformer method it just zips into life no hesitation at all. I bought a potential relay from the US ebay and it works great. I had never heard of those relays despite having messed about with converters for a while. Enquires at electrical wholesalers over here just got me blank faces! As an idea it might be worth yourself selling the most suitable relays via your website? certainly be help full for those outside the US.

A letter from a customer in Australia

 

Hi Doug,

I thought I would give you my positive feed back on the transformer I built from your Three instructional  DVD’s  I purchased in April.

 

I used a lamination stack from an old 50HP 415V, 50hz, 2 Pole, 2,800RPM with dimensions of 11¾” O.D x 6⅞” I.D, 8¼”Length, 131 pounds in weight. In Australia we don’t use wire gauge for size, we state the size in “cross sectional area squared”. For example: a domestic home power circuit is usually wired in 2.5mm² wire and connected to a 20Amp circuit breaker at 240V.

I wound the primary, paralleling 3 x 2.5mm² x 80 turns on both sides, and applying 250V 50hz the idle current was 0.5 Amp (my voltage where I live is 250V) usually house voltage is 240V. I then continued the windings using 3 x 2.5mm² in parallel with even amounts of coils on both sides till I reached 415V output, because I was using old rolls of wire when I needed to make a join, I made a tap. After the 415V tap I wound in singular 6mm² for 11 turns each side, then I wound all remaining coils in singular 4mm² which at the last tap is 633V and there was physically no more room to wind any more turns.

 

2.5mm² = 4,934 Circular Mils

4mm²    = 7,894      “          “

6mm²    = 11,840    “          “

I have 16 taps 0v, 125v, 250v, 293v, 336v 345v, 358v, 371v, 388v, 401v, 415v, 432v, 448v, 531v, 615v, 633v.

I used about 2,000ft of 2.5mm² and 60ft of 6mm² and 380ft 4mm²

 

I had all the materials so far to build the transformer but I don’t have many capacitors and to buy anything like them in Australia you would be very lucky, so I am hoping to make these purchases from the U.S, also in Australia most of our domestic lighting circuits are 8 or 10 Amp 240V so our switches are very light duty for switching capacitors and 20Amp switches are quite expensive.

 

I have already run some 3 phase 415V motors and am very pleased with the results I am getting from this project. It is a lot of time and work(I did all the winding by myself) but very rewarding to see large motors starting and running so well (using a 415V potential relay) when I thought previously this would be impossible with out purchasing a commercially made unit which I will say are very rare to find any body using one. In Australia we use 240 phase volts and 415 line volts. In rural areas it is possible to run a 480V single phase from the center tap of the customers Transformer but I have never seen this done and you would need a transformer wound with a center tap. I connected a 5kW Idler Motor to the transformer and then connected it to a 5 H.P. Pedestal Grinder which has  2 x 18” Dia x 2” Wide Wheels and had it running off and on for a bout 45 minutes and could only detect a small amount of warmth in the iron of the transformer. I can get my fingers in under part of the primary winding  and I could not detect any temperature rise in the winding.

 

I have not been able to do any balancing with capacitors in real time because my switches have been failing and I have my capacitors connected for 800V and only have about 90uf of capacity, but I am very pleased with the results I am experiencing so far.

 

I should tell you the reason for wanting 415V 3 phase. I have a home workshop and live on a small rural property and only have Single phase. I moved here 10 years ago and have put single phase motors on most of my machines but I have not been able to run my milling machine for 10 years and I have a very old twin spindle drilling machine, which gets most of it’s different speeds from it’s multi poles motors which I have also not fun for 10 years. Another thing I would like to run is my 415V/240V welding machine on 415V.

 

Doug, I am hoping you can tell me a good place to purchase a variety of capacitors, remembering the higher the voltage the better and I loved hearing about multi meters for $2.99 and clamp meters for $13.99 and switches that would switch capacitors.

 

Please find photo’s attached.

 

P.S. Thank you for sharing your concept with me, that has enabled me to get to and go beyond that large and first Australian step of 415 Volts.

I really can’t see why you could not sell your DVD’s in Australia. I am sure there would be people with either home workshop’s  or rural farms that would like to have a go at making their own transformer to run 3 phase motors.

Please feel free to use anything I have stated to use as a testimonial.

 

 

Jim Kennedy  (jimkennedy02) ebay name

Check out these Testimonials!  People that have bought my materials, and built their own converters.  

 

If you need to run a really large motor you are better off with the transformer method, rather then try to get a bigger and bigger rotary idler.

 

Remember the transformer is 99.9 % transparent, when operating a load motor.

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