Recycling or is it scavenging?

[allanchrister]

Don't know what it is but I cannot pass a recycling bin without having a look to see what could be useful for the shop or a project.  Am I unusual - my wife has started calling me Dumpster Diver - a little derogatory, don't you think.

Anyway, one of the delights I find is recycling electronics and electrical gear, particularly old computer stuff.  Printers give up rods, bearings, motors, and miscellaneous sheet steel, computers give up great magnets from hard drives, and my recent find was a part disassembled UPS.

It is his UPS I have a question about.  It is a 110V UPS, but it has this nice little transformer, which I have disconnected.  unfortunately, all the wires and switches were also disconnected, so I have no idea what the transformer transforms or what it can be used for.  I've tried checking the model number for a wiring chart, but no luck.  A pic should be below, and anyone who can help to see if I can use it, that would be greatly appreciated - otherwise, I'll dump it.

Allan

[timeone]

I love skips and like you cant walk pass without looking into them. I too have found some very useful items.

I think the interest in bins stems back to when i was about 6 yo and used to go to the local council tip i found some nice stuff there and once a painted picture whcih i sold for £10 that was in 1966/7 the local secondhand shop must of known it was worth more as who would hand a child of 6 ten quid.
A friend has a skip hire business and so when ever we go to visit me and my son are straight in the skips and sorting out what hes saved. its a crying shame to see so much waste
computers push bikes you name it
i once asked him the most unusaul thing that he found in a skip he replied An Urn complete with ashes. quite sad really

[allanchrister]

Sorry Guys, didn't realise my picture size was a problem.

Apart from the joys of dumpster diving, anyone have any knowledge about transformer shown?  I know it would be a 110V input, so I presume the lighter wires (red +, black - and blue ?) are for that, but would like to confirm before I test it.  Again, I presume the lighter wires are for out put, ( red +V?, yellow +V?, green ground or +V?, black -), but is there a standard wiring colour chart that would apply?

Smaller picture attached, I hope

[andyf]

Are you sure it isn't 230V in, 110V out?

Looking at the wires, brown and blue are usual for main live and neutral in Europe, so maybe that's the primary winding. Try a continuity test from brown to blue. In fact, try a continuity test from everything to everything else4, to see whether you have a single secondary with taps on it for different voltages, or two separate secondaries.

If it is a step-down (high to low voltage) you would normally expect the primary to have more turns of thinner wire than the secondary/ies.

If you think you can identify the primary and you have a source of low voltage AC (12V or so) and a voltmeter, you could try coupling the AC up to the primary and measure the voltage across the secondary to get an idea of what the ratio is between input and output. But be careful. If it is really intended to be a 110V to (say) 5V transformer, and you connect your 12V across the secondary, you will get 12 x 110/5  = 264V appearing across the primary 

Andy

[John Hill]

If it is a mains transformer the primary is usually wound on the core first, so blue and black on the intermost winding would be a fairly good indication that is it a mains transformer.

[allanchrister]

Thanks for all the guidance guys, but as it appears to be a mains transformer, and as I tested the various connections with a multimeter, and got absolutely no readings that I could interpret, I put the transformer back in the dumpster!!!  As someone on another forum said, better to lose a free transformer than pay for a funeral!!

Allan

[andyf]

That's probably a wise move, Allan. But a real scavenger like me would have dismantled it, unwound all the copper wire, rewound it on to a bobbin and stashed it away somewhere, never to be touched again

I do sometimes use old core laminations as thickish shims, though.

Andy

[jim]

Thanks for all the guidance guys, but as it appears to be a mains transformer, and as I tested the various connections with a multimeter, and got absolutely no readings that I could interpret, I put the transformer back in the dumpster!!!  As someone on another forum said, better to lose a free transformer than pay for a funeral!!

Allan

I've been there too!!!

[allanchrister]

I guess we're all the same.  I did dump a lot of it but did save some of the core laminations for shims and the copper wire bobbin.  Never can tell when they will come in useful.  Probably never, but who knows??  Scavenger and a pack rat....

[jim]

i once salvaged a transformer to replace a bust one in a small tv. it worked ok, but it was about twice the size!

the magnetic field generated by the new transformer made the picture do funny things!!!!!