Tanning Bed question again?

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mark henderson

mark henderson

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Location
Leander Texas
OK here is the deal. I went to help a friend(I know that is the problem)they bought a tanning bed to install in there home. I had not ever hooked one up before. So I go through the info we were able to pull up on line. This is a used bed so no Manuel's came with it.:mad: Well it said 230v Okay this is a residence 120/240 well it came prewired with an external buck booster. I hooked it up as well. The bed came on 2 times. Testing voltage now it has just over 250 volts. The manufacture said we burnt the control board. They said anything over 230 we cause this to burn up. Any one heard of this? So we ordered the new board it will come today. I will go out tomorrow so looking for some help on what to do to get the voltage down to 230v or will 240v work? (BTW it is a 30 amp) I assume the buck booster needs to come out but do I need some kind of step down transformer?
I really should have taken that darn buck booster out first. But hindsight....

I did a search already on tanning beds did not come up with any thing like what I have.
Thanks for the help.
Mark
 
charlie b

charlie b

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Lockport, IL
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My guess is that the buck/boost transformer is there to boost the voltage to the desired 230 volts, in the locations that only have single phase 208 volts available. If you have 240 volts already, you shouldn?t need the transformer. On the other hand, the transformer might be there to buck the voltage down from 240 to 230, for those locations that only have single phase 240 volts.

You say it was ?pre-wired.? But can you tell if it was ?pre-wired? by the factory, or perhaps ?pre-wired? by (or behalf of) the previous owner, so that it just might be ?pre-wired backwards? for your friend?s installation?

But the manual should tell you which of these guesses, if either, is the truth. So you really should try to get the manual. Perhaps the manufacturer, the one who told you it would burn up over 230 volts, the one who is selling you a new control board, might also provide you with a manual?
 
mark henderson

mark henderson

Senior Member
Location
Leander Texas
charlie b said:
You say it was ?pre-wired.? But can you tell if it was ?pre-wired? by the factory, or perhaps ?pre-wired? by (or behalf of) the previous owner, so that it just might be ?pre-wired backwards? for your friend?s installation?
Click to expand...

It was very evident of a field wire.

charlie b said:
But the manual should tell you which of these guesses, if either, is the truth. So you really should try to get the manual. Perhaps the manufacturer, the one who told you it would burn up over 230 volts, the one who is selling you a new control board, might also provide you with a manual?
Click to expand...

I hope he got the rest of the manuel. That would be a great help.
Mark
 
S

sparky59

Senior Member
I have hooked up several tanning beds and the 240v worked just fine. The bed may have came from a commercial building with 208v that needed the boost.
 
growler

growler

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Location
Atlanta,GA
Was this bed made in the US or in Europe ( lots come from Germany ). I did a tanning salon with German made beds and needed the buck/boost transformers ( all field wired ).

If the beds are European made I would get as close as possible to the 230 volts. Check inside the cover of the buck/boost because you may be able to drop from 240 to 230 just by retapping the leads. Be sure to check the voltage before hooking it up to the bed.
 
K

kjfelec

Member
Location
Massachusetts
Ihave done two tanning salons and both times I had to make sure that the bed voltage was within the manufacturers tolerance. The tolerance was very small, i think between 5-8 volts(i have to check on that). I remeber when I called the Reps he was very specific about this.

Kelley
 
mark henderson

mark henderson

Senior Member
Location
Leander Texas
Thank you all for the input I am heading out there now I might be back on at the homeowners house. I might have some questions on the buck/boost. Seeing as I am a residential electrician I dont have a lot of experince with these other than For low volt landscape lighting.

THANK YOU
Mark:smile:
 
P

percheron47

Member
Just finished up a tanning salon with 12 beds. They all were used units that came with buck/boost transformers. The original building was using a 208Y/120 vac supply. The building we installed them in had a 240/120 delta supply. We retapped the transformers to set the voltage at 230vac for the beds (bucked the incoming 240vac).

You'll find buck/boost transformers typically used in industrial applications to provide a supply voltage with tighter than normal spec's or to overcome voltage drop problems with the line. The calculations for this type of application is fairly involved as the current load in the lines is, of course, varying with the voltage drop.
 
mark henderson

mark henderson

Senior Member
Location
Leander Texas
Ok need some help here please.
I got the bed opened up cant find the kva for it. I actuually have 258v coming in from the POCO. I need to get down to 230v. I am trying to find a cut sheet for a GE 9t51b0130 transformer any help?
Mark

Let me add that the only name plate reads this
u=220 v 60 hz p=3740
i=17 a pf 0= >0.9 phase 1
 
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Dennis Alwon

Dennis Alwon

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Location
Chapel Hill, NC
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Retired Electrical Contractor
Mark-- I am no expert at this either. I wish I was more help but I am not sure what you need at this point. Is the transformer rated at least 3.7 kw and is there a diagram on the transformer for 240 to 220 volt
 
mark henderson

mark henderson

Senior Member
Location
Leander Texas
I wish I was an expert.:mad: The xfr is 120/240. That is a problem I am trying to figure witch buck/boost we need to buy the one on there now came from a commercial app.. I belive they were going from 208 to 230. I might just have to look this up in th books at the shop monday. Just wanted to get it figured out today.

Mark

edit: the xfr is 1 kva. Whole thing is a puzzle at this point
 
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