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Simple AC to DC Questions

S

Swimmer

Jan 1, 1970
0
I have a very old antenna rotator that I would like to power using a
car battery. I am planning on using it with a 12-volt wind turbine
and would like to use the power supplied by the wind turbine operate
it. It was produced by The Alliance MFG. CO., model U98 11N5 V. 60,
0.6 Amp, 65 Watt. If you can think of any simple way of converting
this to DC (or if it is even possible) let me know.
 
J

John Popelish

Jan 1, 1970
0
Swimmer said:
I have a very old antenna rotator that I would like to power using a
car battery. I am planning on using it with a 12-volt wind turbine
and would like to use the power supplied by the wind turbine operate
it. It was produced by The Alliance MFG. CO., model U98 11N5 V. 60,
0.6 Amp, 65 Watt. If you can think of any simple way of converting
this to DC (or if it is even possible) let me know.

All AC powered rotators I have seen use AC motors (one in the control
box and one on the rotator) that move in rough synchronism. Probably
the easiest way to power these from DC is to add an inverter that
creates 115 VAC from your DC source. A 100 watt inverter for 12 volt
automotive use is pretty cheap.

http://www.jcwhitney.com/webapp/wcs...10101&storeId=10101&langId=-1&TID=100&afsrc=1
 
S

Seth Koster

Jan 1, 1970
0
I have a very old antenna rotator that I would like to power using a
car battery. I am planning on using it with a 12-volt wind turbine
and would like to use the power supplied by the wind turbine operate
it. It was produced by The Alliance MFG. CO., model U98 11N5 V. 60,
0.6 Amp, 65 Watt. If you can think of any simple way of converting
this to DC (or if it is even possible) let me know.

Normal AC can be rectified with three basic circuits, the half wave
rectifier, the full wave rectifier and the bridge rectifier.
The half wave just puts a diode in the circuit, allowing only one
half the AC waveform to flow while the negative half is cut off. The
full wave uses two diodes and the center tap of a transformer to
convert both halfwaves from each end of the transformer to positive
while completing the path to the center tap (ground). The bridge
uses four diodes to rectify without using a center tap (probably whant
you want?). In any of these cases you'll get pulsating DC and will
want to filter it using capacitance and/or inductance. Check out a
google search on any of these and you should find a schematic (all
very easy). A commercial unit will do this for you and probably a
lot more (consider limiting overvoltage, shielding, etc.), but will
probably cost a lot more than if you build the circuit up yourself.
Polyphase AC uses other rectification configurations, so check your
appliance out.
 
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