Table Specs???

[nick54]

Can I get someone to explain the screen printed table on top of my pp50. I have a vague idea about some of the info but some of it may as well be written in Greek. Please give a basic explaination of the information listed as it applies to real world use of the cutter.
Thanks

[performance]

The table is simply the electrical specifications of the machine, that include duty cycle, amps input, amps out put, OCV and voltage requirements.

[nick54]

Really ??? This is an explanation as to what and how the information applies to real world use?? Doesn't really add much to my already vague understanding.

[performance]

Really ??? This is an explanation as to what and how the information applies to real world use?? Doesn't really add much to my already vague understanding.

Nick, I am not sure what you are trying to shoot for here... But this information is simply the machines electrical specifications. It doesn't have anything to do with how to use it. Unless you are an electrician, or an electronics engineer, the information isn't a lot of good. This is put there for defining the machines electrical needs and technical parameters, and helping a licensed electrician to wire the receptacle properly, especially in a very restrictive code situation. It has nothing to do with taking something and cutting it. The only thing that has anything to do with using it, on the panel is the duty cycle of 60%. We have plenty of information on our forum about duty cycle and limitation. It's simply the percentage of time you can use the unit constantly, without stopping out of a 10 minute time period. In other words, at 50 amps you can use the cutter for 6 minutes out of 10. When that time period is up, you have to rest. Now that is specified at a temperature and environmental condition that is optimal. Distance from other machines, and walls etc, can affect duty cycle. Intermittent, but hard use etc all are sort of hard to put a time limit on, but the unit is given a 60% duty at max amps. Lower amps would have a higher duty cycle. ....So, there is no Duty Cycle timer on the machine, but rather a temperature sensor that monitors the heat on the heat sink. When that reaches a predefined limit, it will interrupt the machine. Or if there is an over/under current situation going on it will interrupt from a different circuit...but suffice it to say, that the heat can build up from different reasons, and though something is specified at a particular duty cycle, it may or may not actually coincide with the thermal sensor's heat limiter.

[nick54]

I appoligize for not providing more details concerning my question. This is exactly what I am doing - trying to figure out if my 40amp breaker with a 6-50r recepticle will adequetly power the machine throughout its operating range? The uncertanty in part comes from the fact that I do not understand some of the abbriviations in the table. Unfortunately I am not home and can't refer to them specifically. It may be best to just call in an speak with someone about this.

[undercut]

Mark is right, if you know are the electrically inclined type, the gobbledy gook will make sense. If you already know the electrical specs of your device, you can reverse engineer what each number means but that doesn't help you as that is what you want to find out.

The website is a pretty good resource. I pulled up the following for the power plasma 50:

MAX INRUSH AMPS@RATED VOLTAGE 220 V @ 39 A/240 V @ 37 A
MAX RUNNING AMPS @ RATED VOLTAGE 220 V @ 31 A/240 V @ 29 A

Note that the number of amps is dependent on whether your plug voltage is 220V or 240V. If you have a 220V outlet, 40A should be OK as long as you don't have something else on that same circuit that pulls quite a few amps and operating at the same time. If you live in an area that has 240v, it will give you a couple of amps of extra headroom. Typically, breakers aren't fast acting so brief surges should be OK without tripping (but of course, a bigger buffer is always better than riding on the edge).

Hope this helps!

[nick54]

Thanks for you explanation, this is the kind of stuff I wanted to know. I called and spoke with a tech support person and he explained the difference between max inrush and max running amps. I was a bit confused by the concept of dialing up 50amps on the machine with a 40amp breaker and this being acceptable.

Mark is right, if you know are the electrically inclined type, the gobbledy gook will make sense. If you already know the electrical specs of your device, you can reverse engineer what each number means but that doesn't help you as that is what you want to find out.

The website is a pretty good resource. I pulled up the following for the power plasma 50:

MAX INRUSH AMPS@RATED VOLTAGE 220 V @ 39 A/240 V @ 37 A
MAX RUNNING AMPS @ RATED VOLTAGE 220 V @ 31 A/240 V @ 29 A

Note that the number of amps is dependent on whether your plug voltage is 220V or 240V. If you have a 220V outlet, 40A should be OK as long as you don't have something else on that same circuit that pulls quite a few amps and operating at the same time. If you live in an area that has 240v, it will give you a couple of amps of extra headroom. Typically, breakers aren't fast acting so brief surges should be OK without tripping (but of course, a bigger buffer is always better than riding on the edge).

Hope this helps!

[undercut]

Thanks for you explanation, this is the kind of stuff I wanted to know. I called and spoke with a tech support person and he explained the difference between max inrush and max running amps. I was a bit confused by the concept of dialing up 50amps on the machine with a 40amp breaker and this being acceptable.

Neat thing about welders / plasma cutters is that they take a relatively high voltage of 220v and relatively low amps and transforms them to a relatively low voltage and relatively high amps. Confuses the heck out of people though - especially with welders when you can pull 40A out of the wall yet weld with 180A at the torch! The difference is that the voltage went from 220v down to, say, 18V.

I've seen some posts from people looking for 180A breakers and such .... not uncommon at all.

[bswinn]

Oh that made me chuckle out loud. It reminded me of the first welder I bought. Family members were really curious how I convinced the local power company to give me a 200A service to my house and how large a 200A breaker was. That launched an hour long conversation about power, power delivery, and transformers. I work in the power engineering industry so I blew a lot of minds that day.