Help! Power issues

[jasonbark1949]

I have installed a 9 rank slider chest with electrical keynote pull down magnets in the rear of our church (Antiphonal Organ). The Chancel Organ is 70 feet away (1983 Moller Artiste 7 rank unified to death) When I play the slider chest from the console, all of the keynote magnets play. As soon as I turn on the blower to the slider chest
they stop playing. (to much resistance to the keynote magnets?) I took a rectifier to the slider and with the blower running played each keynote magnets, they all work perfectly and with all of the sliders on the Antiphonal Organ sounds great (better than the Moller)
How do I remedy this? Do I install a rectifier on the slider chest to boost the power coming from the chancel? Will the power effect the Moller? (I have to have the Moller for another year.) Any suggestions?
Thanks,
George

[Terpodion]

Sounds like a classic case of voltage drop over distance to me. Where I you, I'd install either a Peterson Intellapower or an Aston rectifier. I don't know if you do business with Peterson and I forget if they sell to the general public but the Intellapowers are very good and reasonably priced. I get Astrons from an outfit called DX Engineering and they are very good also.

But getting back to the problem itself; it may be 70 feet from the main organ but once you think about how the cable snakes around the various obstacles, it may be double that. I forget what the ratio is for voltage drop is but DC does not travel well. This is why AC won out in that war between Tesla and Edison in the past century. Edison did not want electricity to travel well. He wanted to set up DC power plants all over the place and make a fortune... well, a bigger fortune.

Also: I should have mentioned that I am assuming that these are direct, electro-mechanical pallet pull-down magnets and not some kind of electro-pneumatic units. If the latter, then you have other problems because electro-pheumatic action requires very little current to operate. Have you checked the current with a meter?

[VaPipeorgantuner]

I have installed a 9 rank slider chest with electrical keynote pull down magnets in the rear of our church (Antiphonal Organ). The Chancel Organ is 70 feet away (1983 Moller Artiste 7 rank unified to death) When I play the slider chest from the console, all of the keynote magnets play. As soon as I turn on the blower to the slider chest
they stop playing. (to much resistance to the keynote magnets?) I took a rectifier to the slider and with the blower running played each keynote magnets, they all work perfectly and with all of the sliders on the Antiphonal Organ sounds great (better than the Moller)
How do I remedy this? Do I install a rectifier on the slider chest to boost the power coming from the chancel? Will the power effect the Moller? (I have to have the Moller for another year.) Any suggestions?
Thanks,
George

If I were installing this set-up, I would use a solid-state driver AND a power supply AT the antiphonal chest. Typically, electric pull-down magnets use a (give-or-take) 20-ohm coil to generate the pulling power needed to overcome both the pallet spring resistance AND the wind pressure pushing against the closed pallet. Over a run of 70 feet on 26 gauge wire, there is SIGNIFICANT voltage drop...the magnets pull about 1/2 amp per magnet at a nominal 12 volts d.c.. while the physical distance may be 70 feet, the WIRING distance is probably well in excess of that length.

Using a solid-state driver for the remote chest can be wired as to isolate the current demands from the main console.

Rick in VA

[Havoc]

I forget what the ratio is for voltage drop is but DC does not travel well. This is why AC won out in that war between Tesla and Edison in the past century. Edison did not want electricity to travel well. He wanted to set up DC power plants all over the place and make a fortune... well, a bigger fortune.

AC travels just as far as DC. But you can easily transform AC with transformers, that's why AC won the house. But DC is better because less loss on long lines (no capacitive losses) so now with solid state convertors we're going back to DC for power transmission.

Only measuring will get you an answer what the problem is.

[Guest]

Voltage drop going on, no doubt not helped by possibly dirty contacts too.
The magnets are working with the wind off because it takes less volts to open them that it does to open them against the pressure of the wind and the venturi effect as the wind escapes into the toehole.

I would stay away from Astron rectifiers, the quality has gone downhill on these and they don't last- more than a handful of builders have said this to me when I was looking for a rectifier.
I went with a:
Powermax 110 Volt to 12 Volt DC Power Supply Converter Charger for Rv Pm3-55 (55 Amp)

• 13.2 Vdc range
• 13.6 Vdc range
• 14.4 Vdc range
• UL and CUL Approved
• Reverse Battery Protection

AC TO DC CONVERTER / CHARGER Beefy unit that's painfully simple to install with built in mounting flanges and an AC power cord to plug into standard 110/120v outlet. DC output is via junction set screw style terminal block: -positive (red) -negative (black) Simply strip your heavy gauge battery charge wires and insert into the junction and tighten firmly. DONE! Great for RV's or anywhere you need 12v DC power with high amperage. Use on your test bench to keep battery banks topped off or in your automotive shop to send 12vDC power to the vehicle. 3 Stage Charger Built in Smart Chargers Current limiting design automatically shuts down power during overload or short-circuit conditions

I'm quite happy with it and it has lots of good reviews.

The closer this can be to the chest magnets the better.