Phase Converter For A Battery Charger?

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Ravenvalor

Ravenvalor

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Piedmont region of NC
I have a customer who accidentally bought a new smart battery charger that needs 3-phase for his forklift. The old charger has a single phase 208-volt, #8 circuit going to it and he was hoping to just swap the chargers out. The customer has 3-phase in the building but it would be about a 100' run of #8 since the new charger pulls 29.9-amps. I was just wondering if someone on this forum could tell me, do phase converters work well on battery chargers?

Thanks for the help.
 
The old circuit wire size would probably be borderline, if not too small anyway if you used the converter. If the conduit is not shared with any other circuits, and is from a three phase panel, it would be cheaper to pull one wire out, and two in its place.
 
Ravenvalor said:
I have a customer who accidentally bought a new smart battery charger that needs 3-phase for his forklift. The old charger has a single phase 208-volt, #8 circuit going to it and he was hoping to just swap the chargers out. The customer has 3-phase in the building but it would be about a 100' run of #8 since the new charger pulls 29.9-amps. I was just wondering if someone on this forum could tell me, do phase converters work well on battery chargers?

Thanks for the help.
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If the new charger pulls 29.9A 208V three phase, and you had a _perfect_ phase converter, meaning one that consumed single phase power and converted it with 100% efficiency to three phase power, I would expect the single phase current to about 1.732x the three phase current.

This is not an exact conversion, since there are probably different power factors on the 3 phase and single phase side, but it should give you an idea of the magnitude of current being considered.

IMHO while a phase converter _might_ work, I believe it is out of the question for this particular installation. The existing #8 circuit is too small.

I would double check the wiring diagram of the battery charger. It might be capable of operating with single phase input out of the box or with small configuration changes, much like a VFD which can operate on single phase input.

-Jon
 
LarryFine said:
Many chargers can be converted between 1ph and 3ph. Check for that first.
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some may have reduced rating at single phase.

A basic three phase rectifier can operate with a missing input leg, at reduced capacity, other unit controls may or may not like to see the missing leg and may indicate a problem or even lock out certain or even all operating functions.
 
Thanks for all of the great answers and questions.

To answer one of your questions. I cannot pull another #8 through the existing raceway because it is MC cable and it is going to a single phase panel.

Will this particular charger operate on single phase with some adjustments? Not absolutely sure but will check with the manufacturer and let you know.
 
Ravenvalor said:
Thanks for all of the great answers and questions.

To answer one of your questions. I cannot pull another #8 through the existing raceway because it is MC cable and it is going to a single phase panel.

Will this particular charger operate on single phase with some adjustments? Not absolutely sure but will check with the manufacturer and let you know.
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I did call the manufacturer and was advised that this particular charger runs on 3-phase only. Thanks for the great help. :)

FYI the specs on the charger are:

BRAND: ENERSYS
MODEL: E13-1N-4G
SERIAL: RTJ00075463
PHASE: 3
AMPS AT 208-VOLTS: 29.6
 
A lot of the newer ones are not field convertible. I’ve had to send several back because the owner ordered the wrong voltage. The old fashioned ones you could just move some jumpers and buss bars, and change the fuses.
 
Ravenvalor said:
I have a customer who accidentally bought a new smart battery charger that needs 3-phase for his forklift. The old charger has a single phase 208-volt, #8 circuit going to it and he was hoping to just swap the chargers out. The customer has 3-phase in the building but it would be about a 100' run of #8 since the new charger pulls 29.9-amps. I was just wondering if someone on this forum could tell me, do phase converters work well on battery chargers?

Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...
If he needs 29.9A at 3 phase, he needs 59.6A at single phase. So you would need to pull new wires anyway, ergo pulling one more #8 would be cheaper.
 
kwired said:
some may have reduced rating at single phase.

A basic three phase rectifier can operate with a missing input leg, at reduced capacity, other unit controls may or may not like to see the missing leg and may indicate a problem or even lock out certain or even all operating functions.
Click to expand...
DC bus ripple will be worse with single phase into a rectifier designed for 3 phase.
 
Jraef said:
If he needs 29.9A at 3 phase, he needs 59.6A at single phase. So you would need to pull new wires anyway, ergo pulling one more #8 would be cheaper.
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Op said it was MC cable, so that’s out, so it’s either a new wire, or getting the correct charger, and it looks like it’s a bigger charger, so the customer is probably wanting faster charges, so it looks like a new wire run anyway!
 
Not sure whether or not he wants a faster charger or one that will protect the battery from overcharging. He called it a smart charger and then left for the day to work away from his shop.
 
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