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ATS Input Power
randvegeta
Member, Host Rep
in General
Looking at our Eaton STS manual, and apparently the 2 source inputs are supposed to be synchronised or the STS may age prematurely (apparently).
Does anyone know if this is the same for an ATS? Can an ATS take 2 completely different source inputs? With a slightly different voltage AND phase? The STS will accept different phase, but they will not switch between different voltages apparently.
Comments
We don't have such problems with the ATS switches we use. The 2 source inputs are completely different because one is direct while the other one is under an "always on" double conversion UPS. So we have about 220 vs 230 volts and a different phase.
How is your ATS built, fully analog with separate reading and electromagnets or a fancy fully electronic one?
Realistically it probably does not matter, sounds more like a sync issue if it tries to move power back (or act wrongly) than hardware degradation (unlike eg. UPS systems which on trash power degrade insanely fast).
I prefer analog as it is failsafe to return (just pull the lever and don't touch the metal lol) and has to trip if the primary power fails (magnet just stops working and bam).
They do not have fancy features though and get.. old. Same as gensets by now old is sometimes better though, and mixed (ATS analog, ATS digital - genset diesel, genset lpg - fiber, wireless etc.) is king anyway.
You have so many problems with so many things that I am surprised you have not been blown to smithereens.
How much variation in voltage are we talking? We've just installed Eaton ATS's into our London facility for some single PSU boxes and the operating voltages are 200/208/220/230/240.
http://lit.powerware.com/ll_download.asp?file=EATS16-EATS16N-installation-user-manual_EN.pdf
Huh?
In Lithuania we have 2 sources from competely separate providers. One is 220v and the other is 240v. The STS does not like to switch between the 2 at all. The ATS switches fine.
In HK we have multiple UPS running on different phases. The voltage is the same and power can switch between sources fine, but there is a "site wiring fault" warning. Looking up the manual shows this happens when the line inputs are not in sync.
There are a bunch of little switches which are supposed to indicate the input voltage, but it applies to both sources, so I suspect that if the voltage difference is too high, it's designed not to work at all.