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Load Bank
- Thread starter grywitt
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Looking at all the pretty colored wires I would rip it all out and leave this:
I didn't see any pics for wattage or resistance in the pics but you can disconnect one and measure to get the OHMs value. THe count them up and use the number to divide into the total of the unit's rating to get the wattage per resistor (approx).
Add some fans of your choosing and call it a day. If you want a load bank you can salvage electric baseboard heaters to build one from scratch. Just a giant resistor with fins to produce heat. And they don't care at what frequency you run them.
I didn't see any pics for wattage or resistance in the pics but you can disconnect one and measure to get the OHMs value. THe count them up and use the number to divide into the total of the unit's rating to get the wattage per resistor (approx).
Add some fans of your choosing and call it a day. If you want a load bank you can salvage electric baseboard heaters to build one from scratch. Just a giant resistor with fins to produce heat. And they don't care at what frequency you run them.
Right. I actually did that already. I took a 10kw heat kit for a furnace and ran a fan across it and it worked really well but the load bank looks nice and clean.
So after speaking with the guy from 400hz repair a little more and trying to sell him the load bank we established that mine is older since it has the 400hz fans. They changed to high voltage dc when covid made it impossible to get replacement fans. I am learning more.
Just a bunch of stuff I'm learning and seeing as I dig around in this thing. 2PBFeet had the idea of running the fans with a 400hz vfd. It only needs to be about a 6 amp vfd so 20 but that is a good idea since these are some really powerful fans and it will be hard to replace them.
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2Pbfeet
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I can't get over how clean the unit looks.
Good luck, I think that you have made a lot of progress!
All the best,
2Pbfeet
Good luck, I think that you have made a lot of progress!
All the best,
2Pbfeet
Jayhawk#44
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I was watching that one. Almost bid but I saw the range on the HZ gauge and figured it was an aircraft load bank.
I’m pretty hesitant on anything electronic out of Red Rocks as it just sits outside. Doesn’t rain much out here, but doesn’t take much to ruin stuff.
How was pickup at RR? They’ve been a PITA in the past. Like not being there when they were supposed to be.
Good luck!
Matt
I’m pretty hesitant on anything electronic out of Red Rocks as it just sits outside. Doesn’t rain much out here, but doesn’t take much to ruin stuff.
How was pickup at RR? They’ve been a PITA in the past. Like not being there when they were supposed to be.
Good luck!
Matt
Well I had just made that trip up to Pennsylvania to pick up that 803 power plant and had a little 831 in New Jersey not be available when I showed up to get it and wasn't feeling like 20 more hours of traveling and I needed to get back to work so I had it shipped. I paid more for the shipping than the load bank but it's here now. I wish I had noticed the hz gauge when I was bidding. Well maybe not since I probably wouldn't have bought it and I'm feeling like it might be an awesome purchase once I'm done with it. I'm sure I wouldn't have got it for the price I did if other people hadn't noticed it too so I'm glad. Last time and only time I went to Red Rock everything went fine. There was some moisture that got in the case. the fan guards rusted a bit and there is rust stains in the case but I think it was shallow and didn't get inside the unit. Thanks for the heads up about electronics in RR. I'm new and still learning. Now I just need to learn how to get the stuff out of the yard after I'm done playing with it. ha ha
Now I know the plug on the front is a dead give away also. Those plugs are expensive too. I'm learning a lot making all these mistakes though so I'm having fun.
Jayhawk#44
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I’ve never made a mistake on anything purchased of GP
Good luck!!!
Matt
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I realize now that all the relays in the load bank are DC. I knew the on off one was but thought the rest were AC. My concern now is the 400hz AC to DC transformer might not make clean enough DC at 60hz but I'm happy the relays are DC. That means I can test almost any AC voltage if my input range of my DC circuit will convert it. I'm attaching the specs for the load relays. The on / off relay I cant get a look at the part number ( Yet ). I can see enough to know its DC. I will scope the DC power in the load bank and see if I need to find a better DC source. If anyone has any comments or suggestions I'm glad to hear them
2Pbfeet
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60Hz AC to DC power supplies are a dime a dozen, many with wide AC input ranges. I would just figure out the voltage and power that you need and go from there.
All the best,
2Pbfeet
All the best,
2Pbfeet
Yes I have my eye on a couple already. One even has a range of 100-500 volts. I need to get my tape measure inside the load bank and see what I've got room for. It is pretty crowded in there already. Thats the one reason I would like to use what's already their if possible. I'm sure you are right though. I'll probably have to add a power supply. I do like that the more I look at this thing and figure out, the more out I'm pretty sure the fans and the DC are the only things making this 400hz. Now we know the relays aren't either. I also need to make sure my calculations for load on the DC circuit are correct so I don't undersize the power supply. The other thing that 28 volts did before was power a safety circuit and from the picture it looks like it pulled in a coil to power the airplane and that might have been the majority of its load. That would have been a decent size contactor the amperages are pretty high. Am I seeing this right? The load bank pretended to be the airplane. Inside the dotted line on that picture. I cant seen to get a better image I found this in images searching for airplane GPU stuff. Anyway I can bypass that part of the circuit now.
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2Pbfeet
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Where is the load bank supposed to be in that diagram?
That looks like 28V was used as part of the connector power control circuit to not apply power to the aircraft until the safety circuit closed, after voltage and phase order were correct.
All the best,
2Pbfeet
Thats correct. The load bank would be inside the dotted line. Pretending to be the aircraft. If you look at the plug on the front of my load bank it has that same six pin plug The square with E & F pin and the load bank.... Oh I see the flaw in those thoughts. The contactor isn't being drawn in by the load bank it's pretending to be that spot. OOOps. I feel silly now. You are right that is to make the GPU believe its safe to give power, and I new that and got myself confused.
The funny way things wok out.. So in the process of calling around trying to make sure I'm thorough and have a good working load bank when I get done modifying it. I was calling around trying to find out about the gauges on that load bank to see if I needed to change any besides the frequency meter. The people that make the gauges on the load bank are Hoyt meters. And the load bank I have that was produced by 400hzrepair is actually a Cannon L80. (rebranded of course). Well while talking to them about the meters and what else I might need to change I was offered a swap. My load bank for an L-69-80D..
I'm not going to lie I was pretty excited about modifying mine and having a custom load bank and I've already spent the money on some parts I think the smart move is a trade. They have a use for my load bank and I get one that does all the things I wanted my load bank to do. The one they are trading me isn't new but is being rebuilt with all new coils and relays as we speak. What do you guys think? Should I trade?
I'm not going to lie I was pretty excited about modifying mine and having a custom load bank and I've already spent the money on some parts I think the smart move is a trade. They have a use for my load bank and I get one that does all the things I wanted my load bank to do. The one they are trading me isn't new but is being rebuilt with all new coils and relays as we speak. What do you guys think? Should I trade?
2Pbfeet
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I would do it!
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Sure would seem like a good trade to me...
Right!! Dumb question right? So if anyone runs across another of those load banks I can cut them a deal on parts to modify it. ha ha. I have to wait approx. three weeks while they rebuild it so the suspense will kill me but I think is the right move. Thanks for all the input though.