Author Topic: Contactor sparking with multi kW equipment is just normal accepted practice?  (Read 631 times)

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Offline zenerbjtTopic starter

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Dear Engineers,
I was being shown round a battery driven equipment of several kW  power by a member of staff.
The equipment has multiple electric drive inverters and BLDCs.
Battery voltage is 14S LiPO , but sometimes 24S LiPO. The guy seemed worried. Then he said something which really concerned me. He said that when a newly charged battery is connected to the equipment, then if the battery is not very quickly and firmly  slammed into the connector, then there is much sparking and the connector is so badly damaged that the connector has to be replaced, and that this takes much time, and is an awkward job. He told me that usually only special people are allowed to connect the battery, because it takes a “special touch” that most don’t have…….and otherwise, serious  connector damage results.

So I take it that there is no inrush limitation on this circuit.
The inrush is obviousy into the bus capacitor banks.

To me this sounds very bad, as the connector could become high  resistance and the equipment could possibly fail.
Can you describe…..i mean….maybe, just maybe, it is standard procedure, with high power items like this, to just save money and not use an inrush limiter?..... and just agree to replace the connector after every say five mating cycles?……I mean…is this the kind of thing which goes on with these kind of equipments?
« Last Edit: August 31, 2020, 04:44:58 pm by zenerbjt »
 

Online tggzzz

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You and treez have at least two things in common.

First you both work with PSUs and have significant problems with them.

Second you start a thread, !et it run, then (arguably when the first thread contains awkward truths) start a different but closely related thread.
« Last Edit: August 31, 2020, 05:40:09 pm by tggzzz »
There are lies, damned lies, statistics - and ADC/DAC specs.
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Having fun doing more, with less
 
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Offline Gyro

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Best Regards, Chris
 
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