April 23, 2010

Stepping UP and stepping out... transformer

Another good question came from a customer today...
He has a 120volt 3000va UPS, but needs to power a 208volt piece of equipment.

While step DOWN transformers and booster transformers are commonly made by UPS manufacturers... Oddly, a pure step UP unit is not made.  Theoretically, you could break up the transformer and rewire it, but that's pretty messy.
 
So, the real solution....
Use an electrical distribution type transformer.  This device would plug into your UPS unit and then output 208volt power. 


However, the BUTs...
Its very easy to overload a 120volt UPS + step up system... Remember if your 208v load uses 5amps (1040va) at 208v, that means your 120volt UPS will be using nearly 9amps.   In other words, adding that step Up transformer, nearly cuts in half of the capacity of your 120volt UPS.