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Competition for Phase Perfect ?

Milacron

Milacron

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Dec 15, 2000
Location
SC, USA
Spencer in NH said:
I know for a fact that PP sells to distribution, and it gets re-labelled.
Click to expand...
And "legs" added and repainted and other features the original PP doesn't seem to have ? But now that you mention it, I suspect that is what is going on....apparently American Rotary entered into an agreement of some sort to order custom PP units just for their sales. Or maybe they are just buying the "guts" from PP and they are manuf the box ?

I have been very happy dealing with them.
Click to expand...
"dealing with them ?" Does that imply that you too had problems with yours that were resolved ? I say this only because I never cease to be amazed at the number of folks who report here of a failure of some sort soon after their PP is installed, but they are happy with the PP folks quick resolution of the problem. But the fact that there seem to be so many problems in the first place is worrisome to me.
 
Not directly relevant, but I have to put an RPC in my new industrial shop as an interim measure until PG&E comes through. I had called PP originally to quote me a 30HP converter, $6800. I was looking at the balance in price between utility and generated, PP was more expensive. I looked at local outfits to get an RPC, a 20HP TEMco is only $1100 and they are 45 minutes from my shop. I recall PP being $4200 or so for a 20HP. I have to wonder why (other than "exclusivity") they are so non-competitive? The guts in a PP are less costly than the 3PH motor used in an RPC, far less copper alone.
 
I bought my 10HP PP from AR a couple years ago. Looks the same as that one in the picture except it doesn't have that big AR sticker. I had a bit of communications with both companies and both were easy to deal with. I haven't had any problems with my PP this far. I thought the 10hp model was reasonably priced considering all the parts in it, sheet metal work, engineering that had to go into it, plus profit they need to make. If anyone has the knowledge to get all those parts together and build their own for less, then go for it. I sure can't.
 
Milacron said:
I have been very happy dealing with them.
Click to expand...


"dealing with them ?" Does that imply that you too had problems with yours that were resolved ? I say this only because I never cease to be amazed at the number of folks who report here of a failure of some sort soon after their PP is installed, but they are happy with the PP folks quick resolution of the problem. But the fact that there seem to be so many problems in the first place is worrisome to me.
Click to expand...


Good question.... :toetap:


---------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox
 
I am curious though, what are all the problems people say they've had with the PP?
I just did a search on here and didn't come up with an answer. Is it the same part causing trouble for everyone or what else?
 
OK... To amplify:

Bought a PP 10 hp unit to run my Sharp 2412. Everything started off fine. Good ordering, delivery, hookup and operational experience. A few months later, I started to do some work where I had the RPM at max much of the time. Occasionally, the PP would kick out on spindle decel. Called PP, quickly got the tech support guru. He immediatey diagnosed the issue and gave me the fix. It seems that there is a noise-sensing circuit in the unit that is a tad sensitive, and was tripping on CNCs like mine. I was assured that I did not need the "belt and suspenders", and was instructed to open the lid and change the state of one DIP switch, which I did in about four minutes. Problem gone, and it's been flawless ever since. I would buy another in a heartbeat, and when my shop grows likely will get their 30-HP unit.

I am a EE, so I knew what I was looking at under the hood. It was done right, both design and execution.

Hope this helps. I'm on the iPhone or would have rattled on more.
 
Anyone else notice the big weight difference in the 10HP model? The one I have is the DPC-A10, I definitely believe its at least the 123lbs listed on the specs as I lifted it a few times.

Looking at PP's website, the new model called the PP-330, which is 10hp also, would be 75lbs. I just wonder where the weight reduction is, the box definitely looks different now. But 50lbs is a lot of weight, does the inside still look similar?
 
Looks like Phase Technologies has introduced a new series (PT Series) which has additional features over the original series (DPC Series).

These new features include:

1) optional housings, and

2) optional paralleled operation with an identical model for twice the capacity.
 
I have a 10 HP and not a lick of trouble. It was by far the best solution for three phase power in my location, very easy hook up. Ron
 
American Rotary and Phase Perfect

I purchased a PT-355 (20Hp model) last summer from American Rotary. American Rotary is just a distributor for Phase Perfect. While Phase Perfect wouldn't deal on the price, American Rotary would. The converter was drop shipped from Phase Perfect, so basically I had to deal with the middle man to get a little lower price.

I did talk to Phase Perfect about the PT-355 vs the DPC-20 that American has on their website. American Rotary just hasn't updated their website in a while. The 20 Hp digital phase converter they are selling is the PT-355. The PT-355 is simply an updated DPC-20 that as a minimum allows for their use in parallel if needs be. The 40 Hp PT-3110 that Phase Perfect advertises is simply two PT-355's in parallel.

No problems so far with my PP. I love the lower sound level of this converter vs 7.5 Hp rotary that I use for my manual machines. When I run the rotary, it is the loudest sound in the shop. The PP gets lost in the background when I run it.

You'll have to read through the Phase Perfect propaganda to see why it may be adventageous to run PP vs rotary. My main electric cost isn't running my machines, it is running the heat/AC, so converter efficiency isn't gaining me much yet. Maybe when I'm running closer to full time it will begin to pay off. While quietness isn't "priceless" it is worth something to me.

No regrets on my Phase Perfect purchase.

Eric
 
ronf said:
I have a 10 HP and not a lick of trouble. It was by far the best solution for three phase power in my location, very easy hook up. Ron
Click to expand...
Without time frame that is meaningless. For all we know you've owned it a week.
 
I think the 10hp model has about 100w loss at stand by, which is pretty good I think. The RPC I used for a few months was wasting a lot more than that as heat, non stop. Fine in winter, not so great in summer. I couldn't touch the thing it was so hot.
 
Milacron said:
And "legs" added and repainted and other features the original PP doesn't seem to have ? But now that you mention it, I suspect that is what is going on....apparently American Rotary entered into an agreement of some sort to order custom PP units just for their sales. Or maybe they are just buying the "guts" from PP and they are manuf the box ?
Click to expand...

The "legs" and the blue color (powder coat) is PP's DPC NEMA 3 box. It's not a new configuration -- I bought one exactly like that direct from PP three years ago. (The NEMA 1 box is gray I think, and has no legs.)

The eBay item is a bit confusing, because the listing says it's a model PT-330, but the picture and specs (and presumably the actual product they sell) is actually the DPC-10. The PT series is the newer generation released about a year ago I think, and DPC series the one in production for the last 5 years or so. I notice that PP themselves no longer list the DPC on their website, only the newer PT. American Rotary may be selling their own existing inventory, or maybe PP still makes the DPC but doesn't advertise anymore.
 
Milacron: I've had it for three years, it doesn't get used every day so the hours of use is hard to total. I run a 19" Leblond with a 7.5 HP motor so I'm not taxing the unit at all but still it has been reliable for me. The only thing I don't like about it is the radio interference it produces if someone could tell me how to put a noise filter on it I would like to try it. Ron
 
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