SOLA Power Supply Problems

[Gamble 0]

In the past we have used several SOLA 480 3ph to 24 VDC power supplies. I have been having problems with these supplies failing in the field. We've had three 40 A supplies fail, and one 20 A supply. The first failure was 5 years ago, and then we have had the rest occur all under a year. SOLA claimed to fix the problem 5 years ago, and they are saying the same thing now. Now we are looking at some other options for our DC supplies. Does anybody else have a similar experience? Any suggestions on other power supplies? We are now looking at Carlo Gavazzi and Puls.

[ssommers 20]

I use either Phoenix Contact or Allen-Bradley DC power supplies for heavy DC loads. I've started using SOLA in the past 3 years, but only for lightweight, non-critical applications with no problems so far.

[paulengr 44]

I've used Puls with no problems. AB too although a lot of AB stuff is just rebranded Sola. I've had numerous problems with Sola Continuously Varying neutral Transformers ("CVT"'s). They are quite good as panel heaters. It's basically a transformer run very inefficiently continuously in saturation mode. Somehow it is supposed to "stabilize" something but mostly it just destroys equipment because they either fail internally or cause equipment damage because the neutral/ground reference becomes a serious problem with them. I have seen no benefit whatsoever with them except lots of troubleshooting problems and lots of equipment damage due to overheating. I'd much rather use a smaller transformer and solid state functions to do the same thing. Tripp Lite makes a "power conditioner" for about $50-150 depending on size although you sort of have to hack up a plug to use it since they don't sell an "industrial" version. It's one step from a true UPS. In voltage sags or brownout conditions, the power conditioner will prop up the line voltage and keep things stable, something the CVT claims to do but doesn't actually seem to do in practice based on field measurements while simulating this sort of thing. I've also had very good luck with Islatrols cleaning up harmonic noise and MOV crowbars to prevent transient damage. You can buy both as a unit from AB as the 4983-DC unit for a very reasonable price.

[Gamble 0]

I believe about a year ago Sola and AB has a falling out, and now AB supplies are manufactured by some other entity. I think PULS used to do a lot of the rebranding stuff, but they are getting out of that business too.

[Duffanator 1]

We use a lot of Sola power supplies here with mixed results. We use mainly 10 amp and 20 amp power supplies for our equipment and most of the time they work good but once in a while you get one that works for a few days and then just stops working. No explosion, no burnt components, just no 24 volts DC output. We do have a harsh environment here and they seem to hold up better than most power supplies in wet damp environments but they are also more expensive than most. We are currently trying ABB power supplies, so far they are working well but they haven't been in the plant as long so we will see.