Phase Perfect Location

[John Pendery]

My electrician installed one of those lever disconnects that disconnects the power between the main panel and the Phase Perfect unit. The display totally turns off. It has no power.

Alan, when you turn your disconnect off does your phase perfect display read any fault code? In the picture above power to the unit had just been shut off completely. It read that code for about a minute before the display shut down.

The breaker I’m using is switch rated, but I still don’t like using it as a switch, so am debating to install a disconnect as you describe, or go the on/off light switch route where the jumper wire is factory installed as described in the manual.

[Alan Lightstone]

Alan, when you turn your disconnect off does your phase perfect display read any fault code? In the picture above power to the unit had just been shut off completely. It read that code for about a minute before the display shut down.

The breaker I’m using is switch rated, but I still don’t like using it as a switch, so am debating to install a disconnect as you describe, or go the on/off light switch route where the jumper wire is factory installed as described in the manual.

The display totally turns off. The unit has no power when the disconnect turns off all power to it.

[Tom Bain]

The display totally turns off. The unit has no power when the disconnect turns off all power to it.

This is also how I have mine wired. I use the mechanical lever disconnect when I leave the shop for the day, and utilize the remote switch when I'm in the shop to put the unit in "standby" mode. I don't use the breaker as a switch.

[John Pendery]

Alan, sounds like ours are built a bit different.

I spoke to a service tech this morning about the fault code that appears on my display upon shut down, and he said this is normal and functioning properly. Once power is shut off on mine, whether by the breaker or a disconnect, the display stays on for a bit before going blank.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback!

[John Pendery]

This is also how I have mine wired. I use the mechanical lever disconnect when I leave the shop for the day, and utilize the remote switch when I'm in the shop to put the unit in "standby" mode. I don't use the breaker as a switch.

This is how I’ll configure mine as well. I installed it minus the disconnect yesterday just to see if the noise bothered me enough to merit installing it in an upstairs closet. Turns out the noise doesn’t bother me as much as I was expecting.

Thanks guys

[Jim Becker]

John, it would not be unusual for a digital display to stay on for a short interval after power is removed...it's that way on many electronic devices, most likely attributed to how the low voltage power is created to power the displays. Heck, if I unplug my hair/beard trimmer, the light stays lit for 10-15 seconds!

[John Pendery]

Jim, for sure, I sometimes have to do a double take to make sure I actually unplugged certain little things! I was more curious what the fault code indicated, and if others noticed the same thing. I found it kind of funny that the service tech said they use that code more or less as a placeholder for meaning nothing. He told me how to make some adjustments on a board if I didn’t want it to display when powering off, but as long as I know it doesn’t indicate something is wrong I’m all good to leave it be.

[Bill Dufour]

I know on a VFD it takes a awhile for the capacitors to leak down and no longer light up the display. I assume a phase perfect has a lot of stored power in capacitors.
Bill D.

[Warren Lake]

I read here electric breaking wears out your capacitors.

I dont think you need phase perfect for most machines more so for maybe CNC and some others. They talk about operating costs and say they are less to run.

I was told my percent my manufactured phase was down so the motor runs hotter and doesnt have full power. My 3 Hp SCM planer still had more power than the 3 HP general planer even with a 25 percent faster feed rate so whatever motor HP lost on that it still blew away same Hp single phase plus the faster feed rate. I only have one machine with a working breaking system and will take it off. Dont need it on one and not on others.

A reality I dont understand and not looked into to learn a bit they balance voltage on rotos with capacitors of different values.

A roto works like a balast on more machines added So run two more efficient than one. Is that the same on a phase perfect?

[John Pendery]

I would think so too, Bill.

Warren, I read the same here on a past phase perfect thread, and the folks at phase technologies I spoke to while figuring out my order confirmed as much. My guess is you can get away with not replacing them, but I will likely do so every couple/three years to keep everything running optimally.

I’m also uncertain if a phase perfect works like a rotary converter in that it would run better with multiple machines running, but my gut tells me maybe not. My old shop was in an industrial part of town with three phase readily available. Moved to a more rural area and used a rotary phase converter we use in our barn to get up and running. Now that I’m running from the phase perfect everything seems to start up faster and run very smoothly, but perhaps it’s my imagination. I can tell you it puts out very balanced voltage. I have 250 volts coming into my shop from utility and the phase perfect manufactured leg stays within one or two volts according to the display. I think my rotary converted was balanced within about 5%. I think the only thing you need to worry about is keeping the high manufactured leg away from sensitive controls, but that isn’t unique to phase perfect. I’m very pleased with it so far, but rotary converters work great as well for a lot of equipment as you know.

[Alan Lightstone]

I know on a VFD it takes a awhile for the capacitors to leak down and no longer light up the display. I assume a phase perfect has a lot of stored power in capacitors.
Bill D.

It may depend on the model / year of manufacture. I looked yesterday at my 10HP Phase Perfect, and when I throw the mechanical disconnect switch the display turns off instantly.