PINNED ZXD2400 Old + New 0-60V 0-50A Power Supply & Charger

[ex-Gooserider]

Promised photos of how I did Andersons on my early model ZXD I also cut out the three leg thing in the front panel, so that I could get rid of the restrictive intake screen and replace it with a wire guard. I didn't care for the way they laid out the original banana jacks, so I rearranged them...

front view

top view

close up

The cable is AWG 10 superflex going down to the bananas

ex-Gooserider

[Burgerman]

You took a thing of beauty or at least neatly stylishly engineered and made it "redneck" build.

[c500user]

I don't know about the new models, but my early ZXD with the original "fancy case" mod (installed by me) has three banana jacks, +, -, and ground. Per my meter with the supply off, + to ground is open loop, - to ground is about 5.8Mohm, and ground to case is 0, so it seems pretty well isolated...

ex-Gooserider

Thanks!
I hope shirley can confirm this is also the case for the new models.
If the new models has the extra ground connection as an option, that would be nice too, but if not I can live without it.

[Burgerman]

Do you have ground/earth in aus?

In the US with 2 pin AC that wont work. Which wen you think about it means the output and the case must be floating.

Theres no AC neutral in some places and the connector can be reversed. So it has to be floating or you would upset a lot of people!

[shirley_hkg]

Correct. ZXD must be grounded. The ground power pole at front and that of the AC end are indifferent. Same with all versions.

Might add one if space allowed, eg rear end.

[Burgerman]

Correct. ZXD must be grounded.

Well it will work fine if its not got a ground/earth connected to the wall. But it wont be as safe and the case will also be free floating.

Incidentally the double one can give 3000 watts x2 so you better have a decent 6kw 240v wall supply. I can actually do that on a double wall socket here in the UK. But it maxs out the system. Of course its unlikely that you will want to set it for 60V DC at 50A twice at the same time though. So not really an issue.

[c500user]

I don't mean that kind of grounded.
Yes, it will be grounded for safety (3 pin plug).

Imagine you need -25VDC, 0VDC and +25VDC (example: many amplifiers and other audio circuits).
In a linear power supply that uses dual secondary windings (plus bridge rectifiers, capacitor bank, etc) the secondary windings (in our example 18VAC) are fully isolated from the primaries (240VAC) (and because NEUTRAL in a house system is tied to ground, also isolated from ground).
Because the secondaries are floating, you can assign one bank (18VAC * 1.4 - diode loss = about 25VDC difference between + and -) to be -25VDC and 0VDC. The second (also floating, so no reference voltage) can be 0VDC and 25VDC. In practice you will connect 0VDC to safety ground, which is the ground at your powerpoint.

If yoy do the same with switching power supplies, the problem is that in many switched power supplies the black (or - or whatever you want to call it) is connected to safety ground. So, when you connect the RED from one psu to the BLACK from the other (perfectly fine if they are floating) you are shorting one of the psus.

Example: I need two 46VDC rails to logically make a -46VDC, 0VDC, 46VDC test power supply for a class A power amplifier. Current draw will be constant (class A) at about 4A (at 46VDC, per rail), so about 400W. No need for a bigger circuit breaker than the 16A or whatever is installed in my workshop.

[Burgerman]

Outputs are floating regards AC inputs and case/ground. Everything.
So you can do whatever you wish with the outputs! Much like a couple of INDEPENDENT batteries.

How do I know? I use 2 of these to connect 2 of pl8 chargers (negs are connected in and out on a PL8), to charge a common 45V 13S battery all connected in series. As an 6S and a 7S. So these chargers negatives are roughly 25V (8S) different potentials to one another. So are the supplies...

And you end up with this, on ONE big BM3 battery.

(one series 13S battery, 2 supplys, 2 chargers.
Note, PL8s non floating, power supplies are 7S or 25 ish V apart. )

[c500user]

Sorry, John, but you are wrong. In transformer power supplies the outputs are really floating, just like with batteries. You can put them is series without an issue.
But, in many, many switching power supplies, the negative terminal has a direct connection to NEUTRAL.
Quite possible that the PL8 has floating outputs, but I was not asking about the PL8. I want to know about the ZXD.

[Burgerman]

But, in many, many switching power supplies, the negative terminal has a direct connection to NEUTRAL.
Quite possible that the PL8 has floating outputs, but I was not asking about the PL8. I want to know about the ZXD.

I am not wrong!
PL8 is the same negative on its input and output. Same actual black cable goes in one end and out of the other!

The ZXD power supplies outputs are floating. As in the AC IN has no bearing on the output at all. And you can (and I do) use them in series.

Think about it. If not and with a normal 2 pin USA style connection that is reversable, there is no "neutral" or live as it can be either way around! Then the POWER SUPPLY negative output would be at an unsafe 120V or 55V depending on how the house/transformer is wired. Or whichway you turned the AC connector in the wall... And that is not the case. And I would get smoke when charging a series 13S battery with 2 chargers and 2 supplies!

[c500user]

I don't know the PL8 as well as you do and have never used two is series, so I looked up the manual.
As you can see, to be able to use 2 power supplies for 2 PL8s that are connected in series, the power supplies need to be isolated (which is what I need too).
As you can see in the yellow box, they warn that DC power supplies are often not isolated, which is the same reason why I asked my question in the first place.

The fact that your ZXDs allow you to work with 2 PL8s in series confirms that the ZXD models you have are isolated. What I would like to have confirmed before ordering them is if the newest ZXD that shirley sells at the moment have floating outputs. Shirley, are you able to confirm? If so, please let me know the price for two units sent to Australia, either in HKD or EUR.

[Burgerman]

I know all that. I know that they are isolated. I halso read the PL8 manual repeatedly. And the new ZXDs, old ones, and everything in between use the exact same internals.

If they were not free floating, and isolated from AC that means that when you connect to any 110/120VAC that is reversable then the negative / neutral would be live! So they have to be fully isolated. Ground (ac wall) goes only to the case. It isnt connrcted to the negative internally.
Server supplies for e.g are not isolated grom ground. They have the neg output connected to chassis ground. And so to Earth in the plug. Two in series = smoke...

You are safe to buy.

[shirley_hkg]

What I would like to have confirmed before ordering them is if the newest ZXD that shirley sells at the moment have floating outputs. Shirley, are you able to confirm?

Burgerman has spoken out all I know. BTW , his newest version will reach him in early Dec.

Wait till he played with it .

And the new ones, old ones, and everything in between use the exact same internals.

[martin007]

I have a problem with ZXD2400.
It makes a "click, click, click", but it doesn't start.
Any idea what the problem might be?

[Burgerman]

No idea. Does it do that when only AC is connected?

[martin007]

False alarm.
Now, it works.

[shirley_hkg]

I have a problem with ZXD2400.
It makes a "click, click, click", but it doesn't start.
Any idea what the problem might be?

Not the first time I recall.

Have to find a way to secure the AC plug.

[Raro]

Not the first time I recall.

Have to find a way to secure the AC plug.
[/quote]

I can't find a link to one but the respirator I use has a DC connector that has a wire lock that prevents it from disconnecting.

[woodygb]

I have a problem with ZXD2400.
It makes a "click, click, click", but it doesn't start.
Any idea what the problem might be?

Not the first time I recall.

Have to find a way to secure the AC plug.

Like this?

[Burgerman]

I threw away the stock one, used a different one from ssomething else. Fits better.

[Raro]

Like this?

kettle plug.png

That's exactly what I was referring to. You can also put a fixed one as John says.

[ex-Gooserider]

You took a thing of beauty or at least neatly stylishly engineered and made it "redneck" build.

No - redneck is leaving the added plugs dangling... I screwed them down securely, and made it a more beautiful thing because it does what *I* want it to do!

ex-Gooserider

[ex-Gooserider]

I am not wrong!
PL8 is the same negative on its input and output. Same actual black cable goes in one end and out of the other!

The ZXD power supplies outputs are floating. As in the AC IN has no bearing on the output at all. And you can (and I do) use them in series.

Think about it. If not and with a normal 2 pin USA style connection that is reversable, there is no "neutral" or live as it can be either way around! Then the POWER SUPPLY negative output would be at an unsafe 120V or 55V depending on how the house/transformer is wired. Or whichway you turned the AC connector in the wall... And that is not the case. And I would get smoke when charging a series 13S battery with 2 chargers and 2 supplies!

MODERN (as in since the last 40+ years) US AC is only SOMEWHAT "reversible" - BY CODE, POLARIZED three prong outlets are required on permanent outlets, and while 2-wire extension cords are allowed, they must also be polarized, in that the "neutral" slot and plug blade must be wider than the "hot" slot and plug blade (I forget the dimensions, but a neutral blade won't fit into the hot slot.) The third wire is safety ground, and should NEVER carry current (unless something breaks) Neutral is the return, it ties to safety ground at designated points (primarily the service entrance) and 'should' be at zero volts with respect to safety ground.

Three wire plugs should still have the wide neutral blade, even though they can only be plugged in the 'right' way - this is to still keep the idiots that cut off the ground pin slightly safer...

Two wire plugs on most devices will have the wide neutral so can only be plugged in the 'right' way, which is basically intended to keep the "hot" and / or switched wire as far from the outside case as possible, and to ensure that the switch interrupts the hot wire, not the neutral...

A few devices (like some wall-warts) that are not switched, and that don't have any reason to prefer one side to be hot, can have both blades the hot width, and be reversed...

However most devices CAN'T be plugged in 'reversed' w/o force / breaking things...

On my older ZXD, with three banana jacks, + and - are isolated, but the ground jack connects to the fancy case, and so does the earth ground from the AC outlet...

ex-Gooserider

[Burgerman]

On my older ZXD, with three banana jacks, + and - are isolated, but the ground jack connects to the fancy case, and so does the earth ground from the AC outlet...

Thats exactly as it should be. The grounded case is designed in all AC metal devices to keep the case that you touch at 0V (earth/ground) in spite of any possible fault condition. Anything that tries to make the case live trips or blows a fuse.

The reason for vaving a ground (green) 4mm connection on the front of the case is so that you always have a grounded connection for testing, reference, leakage testing etc.

[shirley_hkg]

youtu.be/T8KwmK7jiho

BM, this is the same fency aluminum case as yours, except that it lacks Anderson SB 50.

I'm afraid that I might have to stick with the stock fan grill.

[Burgerman]

Grill?

[shirley_hkg]

Your's will have SB50

[Burgerman]

Those are restrictive. Means fan runs faster and so more noise?

[shirley_hkg]

Maybe not. Pore is bigger.

How about get rid of it ?

[Burgerman]

Dont know. Isnt there something like what they used in that picture? If not send as it is and I will swap later.