The Expanse is being turned into an RPG | 220v Contactor Relay

HOWEVER: these are NOT 180 degrees out of phase. It is more like 120 degrees. I am taking it that America also has 3 phase supplies, rather than 2.

They’ve lifted 200kg so far, and it looks like a pretty cool addition to a shop already packed with other builds, like their MOT spot welder and a propane tank sandblaster.

Keep in mind that extension cords running from a generator can power anything that plugs into a wall socket, but not hard-wired appliances such as a furnace, sump pump or central air conditioner. If you want to run any of those during an outage, you will need to have a licensed electrician install a manual transfer switch (it looks like a mini circuit breaker) next to your main electrical panel. A heavy-duty cord from the generator plugs into the switch and allows you to power select circuits in your home. Prices vary depending on your market. In Neale’s case, she paid about $1,200 for the switch and installation, more than for the generator, which cost about $550.

(No portable generator can power an entire house; for that you’ll need a different category of generator, called a home standby or whole-house generator, which will cost $2,500 to $4,500, plus installation, something that can run in the thousands, depending on where you live.)

I seem to remember one test video I saw online, possibly BigClive, finding that the actual rating on the faux-Fotek SSR that he was dissecting was rated at around 10A, in a 25A labeled SSR. I believe it was also a MOSFET instead of the SCR or TRIAC that it was supposed to have, as well.

The number on this photo is a little misleading. 337 mpg! I think I shot it after having the car for about ten minutes, nearly all of it without using the petrol engine. Still, it’s a nice little tease for any friends riding along.

• Pick your features: Models come with either a recoil handle (similar to a lawn mower) or electric push-button start, and one or more outlets to plug in extension cords. Some include covered outlets, illuminated control panels or automatic shutdown in case oil runs low. Portables can weigh from 100 to 250 pounds, so you’ll want to buy a wheel kit. With the wheels installed, a generator can be rolled like a wheelbarrow into place.

I was trying to make a point: the design uses an zero crossing detector so it cannot dim, therefore there is no point in complaining that a relay would not be useful for dimming.

I did find the small body and grip a little problematic when shooting with a long or heavy lens, though: I spent quite a bit of time with the excellent Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 mounted on the camera, and did experience some wrist fatigue by the end of the day. Since the camera is capable of very fast live autofocus during video recording, I often found myself wanting to zoom during the recording, something that would be anathema on a conventional video-capable SLR. Doing so required that I carry more of the weight of the lens/camera assembly on my right hand, so my left could operate the zoom ring more smoothly. The result was a lot of weight for my right wrist to carry, and the small grip made it more difficult than otherwise. When shooting normally with smaller lenses, though, I never found the grip uncomfortable.

If you insure that your HV and LV systems are completely separate, and joined only by UL registered galvanically isolating components, only then can you be prepared to say that the logic portion of your system is safe. And doing that maybe won’t make fewer things capable of going wrong, but at least fewer things capable of spectacularly dangerous failure.

But at the very same time, if the rectifier dissipates enough energy for this to be a concern, then it is probably a poorly designed power supply to start with. As most power supplies will be designed for the voltage range of 110 to 250 volts AC. And as it will draw the most current down at 110 volts, then this is where the manufacturer has their specifications chiseled in stone, as if we want 1100 watts, then we need at least 10 amps when we have 110 volts AC on the input. This means that we “effectively” have 5 amps to dissipate per diode.

It’s not that simple according to National Electrical Code (NEC) NFPA 70 for several reasons. Here are some additional factors to be considered: