Re: Power factor (was genset trailer)

[Lee Hart <leeahart@earthlink.net>]

Steve Clunn wrote:
> Thank you Lee, for explaining what I was seeing here. I stopped
> experimenting with this when I thought it was wasting 1/2 the power.
> What about combining both non-electrolytic "run" capacitor charger
> with an isolation step-down transformer type charger with both in
> parallel... If both were putting out the same amps, would the lead and lag = out?

Since at least one is isolated (the isolation step-down transformer
charger), you can connect the chargers in parallel.

And yes, the transformer and capacitor chargers will partially cancel
out each other's reactance. Not perfectly, unless you went to some
trouble to have an identical reactance for each.

The capacitor charger's current will have a strong leading power factor
as discussed previously. The transformer charger's current will be
mainly in-phase (because a good transformer has minimal inductance), and
will draw most of its current at the peak of the AC line (a
characteristic of the bridge rectifier). So, you will be pleasantly
surprised to find that the actual AC current will be less than the sum
of these two AC currents.

For example, a transformer charger that draws 10 amps from the AC line,
in parallel with a capacitor charger that also draws 10 amps, will only
draw 15 amps when both operated at once. The batteries, however, will
charge at the full 20 amps (10 amps from each charger). Or 30 amps if it
is a 2:1 step-down transformer!
-- 
Lee A. Hart                Ring the bells that still can ring
814 8th Ave. N.            Forget your perfect offering
Sartell, MN 56377 USA      There is a crack in everything
leeahart_at_earthlink.net  That's how the light gets in - Leonard Cohen