APC UPS Transformer 430-7103

The brain dead morons at APC clearly have decided to be complete idiots and not help anyone with any effort to re-purpose the transformers from old UPS. As radio amateurs of course we would think in terms of power supplies etc. Anyway the mind boggles. Make your own mind up...

I had been given several transformer units from the rather old SU2200iNET UPS a friends company were still using and this is the exchange from their technical support after I sent them a simple enquiry...

"...
I have been given 4 transformers that came from two old APC units that were replaced. Transformers are fine but trying to find out details about them... marked 430-7103 Class 180(H) they are pretty big beasts (about 12cm x12cm x10cm cubes).
Windings are one side single black and white 10AWG other 4 wire (two pairs) 16 AWG. Seem on test to be fine but looking for some info. Can you advise? ..." 


So I expected some help as I am clearly trying to make use of an old product instead of filling landfill. I know the original UPS had already gone through 5 sets of batteries and really were no longer fit for purpose anyway.


"...
On 15/03/16 15:47, Mail2Case ITB CCC EMEA UK wrote:
Hi Dominic,
Good day. May we ask what exactly do you need?
Also, can you please confirm the exact part number and serial number of your UPS? (This information can be found at the back of your UPS on a white bar code sticker)
I will check all this information and advise on your reply.

Kind Regards,
Edward
Eduardo Refe Jr
Technical Support Representative
APC by Schneider Electric | IT Business Toll Free: +44 800 2799 254 (UK) | +353 1890 272877(Ireland)Site: www.apc.com
..."

I had asked them for details on the transformer windings as the UPS had been dismantled... obviously they cannot read either as I had already explained all this.... so back I go again in more detail this time ...

"...
To: esupport.emeauk@schneider-electric.com
Subject: Re: Ask APC: Transformer [ ]
Thanks for the reply...
What I need please is the details of the voltage windings and the
current ratings if possible. The transformers have 4 wires on on side
(two pairs) and one side (thicker wires) on the other. Pretty sure the
240V side is the 4 wire side and mains should be applied between the
black and white wires, the lower voltage side (uses a flat winding not
wire but is terminated by two 10AWG wires) is fine, it will be whatever
the voltage is. The blue and yellow wires (4 wire side) I *THINK* they
were used to provide some kind of boost/trim function but not 100% so
should just be capped off. I do not really want to rewind the primary
but will if I absolutely have to.
They came out of two UPS that had been decommissioned and were junked,
before being thrown into the trash the separate components were
separated... batteries, pcb, misc plastic and the transformers (which
came to me for nothing as I will reuse them in my own workshop). Pretty
sure they were from the 2200VA SMART iNET UPS (no note of serial numbers
but pretty sure the part number was SU2200INET, it is the one that takes
a couple of RBC7 batteries think you call it RBC11 when as one unit.
Physically looks like an 1400iNet stacked on top of a blank enclosure so
appeared like a tower/double height. A different UPS of the exact same
sort has the serial number ###########

Please I hope this is this enough information? ..."


I called up the source and asked for a serial number as seemed the 'support system' could not even do anything without it!

The response...

"...
On 15/03/16 16:48, Mail2Case ITB CCC EMEA UK wrote:
Hi Dominic,
To be honest. We do not provide those information from our end. This are internal information and due to proprietary reasons, we do not provide it to our customers. We also do not recommend opening and replacing/repairing internal components on our products.
I'm afraid that we will not be able to provide those information. And if the UPS's are faulty, we do not recommend repairing it. What we usually do from our end is we replace the whole UPS (In-case in warranty) if there are internal component faults.
Our UPS comes with 2-year standard warranty.

Kind Regards,
Edward
Eduardo Refe Jr
Technical Support Representative
APC by Schneider Electric | IT Business Toll Free: +44 800 2799 254 (UK) | +353 1890 272877(Ireland)Site: www.apc.com
..."

So not only will they NOT help they even suggest throw the old one away and buy a new one when I clearly stated I did not have the whole UPS just the old transformers!

My response to them...

"...
Thanks not terribly helpful.
The UPS was as mentioned decommissioned (dated 2003!) and taken apart and these are being re-purposed rather than sending as one lump into a landfill, so it would not have been a candidate for a 'repair' anyway. You company has a daffy policy if you are hiding behind it. Perhaps APC should consider helping this effort and not standing behind some crazy non-environmentally friendly policy, so I'll proceed without any assistance. I will not be inclined to recommend an APC UPS is used again.
..."

Hope someone finds this of some use I certainly didn't and I am stunned by their attitude. I will post details of the transformers on here once I have finished testing them.

OK initial findings:

Primary (dual windings) blue/yellow and black/white the two pairs of windings.
Secondary thick black and white.

Apply 230VAC to the black/white primary and obtained 15.05VAC on the secondary.
Pass the secondary voltage through a simple heat sinked square block 100A rated bridge rectifier and 35000uF smoothing capacitor across the output and obtained just a little over 13.13V DC with very little ripple. I will provide oscilloscope images later.

The transformer did not get hot to the touch even after about 2 hours providing 12VDC (rectified) at 26 amps using a bank of 12V 50W spots as a load. The current was measured at several points during the test. The 240AC feed was fused at 5 amps however, the current used was not measured.

As I have several identical 430-7103 units, I paired two up, so fed the primaries in parallel and the secondaries in series and no surprise 26.37V DC obtained using the same setup.

I believe these would make ideal 12V supplies or lower voltage variable bench supplies. Wire as a pair (which is how they are used in the APC UPS originally) they should easily provide the voltage headroom required for suitable regulation circuits and would easily provide voltages between 0 and 24V. Heatsinks will be required at higher current that might general heat. A voltage above 12V could be obtained using a buck boost DC-DC module rated appropriately with a single transformer.


I am sure the current handling capability of these will be well in excess of need.

I also have a couple of torroid transformers (do not look like they came from APC though, seemed to be using split primaries, expecting 110VAC on each winding, can connect in series to use with 230VAC and twin outputs (that appear to be identical). The output (two of them) were just over 28VAC, DC 24.85V and each managed >6A and >11A when connected in parellel.