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Induction brass annealer redux

What about if there's no case in the work coil? I think you have a bad power supply (if the wiring is right) but you should go through everything again
 
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Why does your ammeter turn off then? If the 48V PSU shuts down the 12V PSU should still be working and the ammeter lit.

Again it looks like your PSU is shutting down rather than limiting. See here under "protection":


You can test the PSU separately by using a simply high power resistor. (Just the Meanwell with
nothing else in the equation except the PSU and the resistor.)


With the PSU set at 48V (untrimmed) the above resistor will pull 6A from the PSU. The resistor will get hot very quickly (you're asking it to dissipate 288W versus its rated 200W) but it should be ok for long enough to determine if the PSU is poked.
 
First off, the ammeter isn't powered correctly. My brain can't figure it out. Do I solder the 12v power into the small holes to the far left side of the board or just use pins?

ammeter.jpg
 
Before you worry about wiring the ammeter correctly, run the annealer without it.
I ran the unit with the ammeter completely disconnected and it behaves the same way. When I say the power supply trips I mean it no longer supplies voltage/current and the LED indicator on it goes from green to red.
 
You need to test the PSU independently of your annealer. Start with no load. Probe voltage across outputs with voltmeter.

(Check wiring of primaries and safety earth. Is the fan within the PSU running?)
 
What about if there's no case in the work coil? I think you have a bad power supply (if the wiring is right) but you should go through everything again
With nothing in the coil it'll run a long time, I currently have the ammeter disconnected. I ran it empty for 20 seconds with the cooler running, the coil warmed up but not beyond my being able to touch it. It instantly cooled after the power is removed from the coil.
 
Well it will only go into shutdown in an over voltage condition or over temperature condition or it's broken. You can read the voltage with a simple voltmeter across the output terminals and drop a case in the coil to see what happens. If it stays within voltage and it's cool then I'd say there's a fault with the PSU.
 
Well it will only go into shutdown in an over voltage condition or over temperature condition or it's broken. You can read the voltage with a simple voltmeter across the output terminals and drop a case in the coil to see what happens. If it stays within voltage and it's cool then I'd say there's a fault with the PSU.
I got a new cord for the PSU and connected it directly (no switch). No change in behavior.

I checked the output voltage with a multimeter, it matches the volt/ammeter.
 
So when you put a case in the coil it’s doesn’t go into an over voltage condition as read by a voltmeter across its output terminals?
 
So when you put a case in the coil it’s doesn’t go into an over voltage condition as read by a voltmeter across its output terminals?
I just checked, no, the voltage goes up 2 volts right when I close the contactor then it quickly drops to the original setting.

With no case in the coil, voltage set to 44, I get 7.2 amps. With a case in the coil, voltage the same, I get 9.4 amps. With a case in the coil the amperage will slowly rise however the power supply trips after being at 9.5 amps for a few seconds.
 
I'm not familiar with the power supply you are using. However there generally are two modes of overcurrent protection. In one case the power supply just shuts off and supplies no voltage or current. The other case is it limits the current to a safe value dropping the voltage all the way till zero in order for that to happen.

Sounds like what's happening is when you put a case in the coil the current exceeds what the power supply thinks it's safe and shuts down. So your power supplies is acting like the first case protection mode.
 
I'm not familiar with the power supply you are using. However there generally are two modes of overcurrent protection. In one case the power supply just shuts off and supplies no voltage or current. The other case is it limits the current to a safe value dropping the voltage all the way till zero in order for that to happen.

Sounds like what's happening is when you put a case in the coil the current exceeds what the power supply thinks it's safe and shuts down. So your power supplies is acting like the first case protection mode.
I agree. I wrote Jameco Electronics about the issue, I hope they’ll exchange it. I’m hoping for shorter run times and some of that glow so many people are able to achieve.
 
I provided a link to the spec sheet for the supply including its protection mechanisms. You tested the voltage condition and I very much doubt there's a temperature fault. So it's clearly not behaving correctly. Hopefully Jameco will exchange it.
My volt/ammeter is different than the one in the original parts list, that one wasn't available. Mine doesn't use a separate 12 volt power supply.

Yes but note in your image

ammeter-jpg.1335662


V+ comes from the PSU driving the load (the annealer). Just make sure the volt/ammeter can handle a 48V supply. (In all other respects it is wired as other meters of this type. The return from the load is passed across the shunt. The ammeter measures the voltage drop across the shunt (thin wires shunt to com and Ain) and from that deduces the current given the resistance of the shunt is known.) V+ still needs to come from somewhere. The diagram on the right has it coming from the load PSU. The boxes on the left - which aren't checked - reference either an 8-18V V+ range or a 3.5-30V V+ range. Note also the message "please use isolated power to supply the meter". I don't think this is the source of your PSU issue but check the ammeter specs to ensure it can handle 48V as it's power source V+ (quite separately it may measure a wider range than its applicable supply range).
 
With no case in the coil, voltage set to 44, I get 7.2 amps. With a case in the coil, voltage the same, I get 9.4 amps. With a case in the coil the amperage will slowly rise however the power supply trips after being at 9.5 amps for a few seconds.
If the power supply can go to 7.2 amps there is no reason not go to full load. It's something wrong in the ZVS, coil, case.

What is the material, caliber of the case?
Check for partial "short" in the coil.
Check the polarity to ZVS. Use both ZVSs that you have.

Check the Power Supply with some load - use a bunch of 100 watts bulbs (it's cheaper)

Exclude the amp meter
 
The PSU is going into shutdown protection way before it hits current limiting. It's meant to current limit - and not shut down - at 125% of its rated power. He doesn't get anywhere near close to this. It is only meant to shut down (which it is doing) in a voltage overload or over temperature condition. He's tested for the former. I doubt the latter exists.
 

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