Electric Pump Comparison

Hi joebloe, how are things in Australia these days?

Thank you for your information, which is comforting as it shows that the CTC pump will work, someday.

The closest stepdown transformer we have been able to get so far is 230VAC to 110VAC, but what really concerns me, that’s ignoring the fact it doesn’t work of course, is the fact the motor gets so hot, so quickly that I am waiting for it to melt before my eyes. It is also a disappointment that it can only ever be used for 1hr. given it’s on a 1hr cycle according to CTC, and if so is it even worth having it at all?

It would be interesting to know if you too, are under restricted period of use, as presumably, the fact that you also require the use of a transformer,presupposes that you are, or did your solution eliminate this limitation. I would appreciate your feedback on this.

In the meantime my thanks for your advice. Rouss

I use a hand pump when my son is home at night & an older VacuTech when he’s not. I could turn the TV up to cover the sound but that would just wake him up. I own a CTC XL3000 in the tool box case but can’t get it to work correctly. It leaks oil and the pump stopped working after 1 set, even after I returned it to the company for adjustment and repair. I’m not knocking the company, their reputation is pretty solid. Could be I’m doing

something wrong in the oil & maintenance department. I loved what it did

when it worked that one time, with the stop & go sucking action but I’ve only been able to make it work twice. Once when I first got it & once when it was returned from the factory adjustment. I just wish I knew more about

electric motors & such. I loved the sensation. I also used the CTC cock cushions & thought they really worked well. Incidentally, I also own a Venus & use it once in awhile for a different feeling but I favor the electric vacuum pumps more. Maybe the new Vacutech is quieter. Can anyone who has experience of using the old & new models, tell me it the newer one is much quieter? It would be nice if there was a place like “the Vault” used to be in New York, where you could go & get a test drive b4 purchasing. These toys are awful expensive to just take a chance cause if ya don’t like it, it’s hard to return this type of toy. Usually you can’t. Still if ya want it, ya

gotta pay for it. We waste a heck of a lotta money, just taking babes out to movies & dinner for little or no return. It adds up. Financial advisors say we should pay ourselves first & this is kinda the same thing. You only live once, go for the gusto, bucko.

On the subject of suction gear, does anyone remember the old AccuJac Elec Pumps and are they still available?

Here is the reply I received from Chris at CTC with regard to our converter (step down transformer) problems.

“Yes, it is true never have had a problem yet that I can recall. I would tell most people to get a 500 watt converter. But the motor specs say 115 volt @ 60 Hz. 100 watts or 1.5 amps. But you would like to have some head room so it will not get hot. I would say to get a converter from a different company or a larger one. You could damage the motor if the convert is to small. I sell them all over the world? I am very sorry about the problem that you are having.”

I was advised when purchasing my converter that the power required should be equal or greater to the Voltage (115) multiplied by the Amps (1.5) = 173W or VA. I tried a 200VA converter and then bought a 300VA one, both of which only work for 10 minutes at a time.

It looks like I have no alternative but to try a 500VA converter. Does anyone have any thoughts on this before I fork out even more money?

I have found one online but it costs about £90. Anyone know of a source of a cheaper one?

Thanks
fortex

I am also from the u.k. and own a ctc.Unfortunately i’m having a few problems myself.After 10 minutes or so the tube loses suction for about 20 secs then kicks back in again.My converter is only 100w so i am presuming that is the problem.I’m hoping someone from the u.k. who has had one for a few months or so can throw some light on the sitiuation.The ctc itself looks well built so i’m pretty sure it’s a problem with the converters and not the pump.When i first e-mailed chris he said the voltage and hz it ran on so i can’t grumble and certainly won’t be sending it back,even though it’s made a large dent in my wallet!I’m sure there’s a solution,if i have to pay £90 or wire it to a car battery then so be it.This is my last throw of the dice in relation to PE gains so i’m hoping it can be sorted.

Can anyone help us understand why the motor is stopping after 10 minutes?

Will a 500W converter be any better than a 300W one?

I just want it sorted out, but I don’t feel that a solution is any closer.

fortex

Here is a detailed specification of the converter I am using:

Input voltage: 230W/50HZ
Input power: 330.97W
Output voltage: 110V
Output load curent 2727mA
Output power: 3000VA

I can’t understand why it does not work. Any ideas?

fortex

Well Fortex, I also received feedback today, multiple copies . It, or them, depending on how you look at it , is exactly as follows:

“Ian,

I just got thru reading the post from you at thunders forum. I did all I could to help you then you post things like that? The motor has a 1 hour duty cycle. That means it can only be used for one hour at a time.Like I said before that is all you would want to use it before it may become harmful to you.

The motor is rated at 115volts@.60HZ. Iwill go Into more detail for you OK. At the start the motor needs .92amps and has a stall of 1.29amps. At start up the motor needs only 57 watts and at stall it needs .86watts. So the converter rated at 100 watts should have worked. In the past I have told people to get a 500 watt converter. But I know they are more costly to buy a bigger converter. But in the future that is what I will tell people to avoid having all the problem I have had with you and the other guy at the forum.

I do know that it would cost about three time the amount that you paid to get anything in Europe if you could. You would pay the same for a manual pump over there that you paid for your electric system. I gave you the best customer service you could find anywhere. My company makes the best pump systems on the market. That is a fact.

I can get motors that will work in Europe 220volts, but I do not sell enough to do that plus the plugs are all different in other countries. So it is not worth it to me. Like I told you before I have sold them world wide without any problems until now? The problem is the cheap converters that you guys are buying, now I am the one that gets slammed for that. I just wish I would not have sold you the system at this point. My company has a good reputation and I would like to keep it that way. I just hope things have been worked out with the converter and that no damage has been done to your system. like it has been done to my company

Chris at C.T.C.”

Well I think I get the picture, and certainly it has cleared the air, no pun intended. So all you electrical wizards, here is the formula for your homework.

Despite the fact I am mild-mannered by nature, at least I hope so, I felt the need to reply, perhaps it would have been different if I had counted to ten, which I usually do. To follow next in the interest of transparancy.

Does Chris state that the pump only runs a one hour per duty cycle anywhere on his site or in the instructions?

Seems we have three people here that are having a problem.

Hey Chris, if you are out there or in here, speak up please.

” Unbelievable

Chris, you are clearly angry (as we are), but if you look at my initial posts I did say you had given all the help you could.

But as it becomes clearer that the problems with the CTC pump is not confined to myself and Fortex, but to a customer in Australia for example, it seems that successful use of your product is best achieved in the US only. I have had feedback from a company in the US who also make electric pumps and they are surprised, to put it mildly, that a suitable system is not made for the foreign market. Many users in the forum use their pumps for hours on end, to the extent of having a nap. Are they aware that they should use it for a certain amount of time?

As to the converters we bought, we sourced the best we could find from the largest company in the UK, and they have no other options for us. I would also say on this point, that having kept all the correspondence from you from the start and it was only for the purpose of making sure that I did not lose important imformation, at no stage until I had a problem, was I aware I needed a converter in the first place, nor that it would not be possible to run it for as long as I wanted, from any of the information I found on your web site.

As for price, to suggest that we in Europe would only be able to purchase a manual pump for $600= does not deserve a reply.

What did you want us to do? forget about it? put it in the bin? We were only interested in getting the pump to work for us, as it undoubtedly has for perhaps thousands of others, by asking for advice and support from those who might be able to help us find the solution.

I have never lost faith in the quality of the product given the overwhelming praise for it which attracted me to it in the first place, thinking I was just unlucky, not even when it became obvious that I was not alone, but I have now, with the receipt of this correspondence and seven copies of it is just appalling.

I am merely a customer buying a product which I expect to work, if the fact it doesn’t is bad for your business, you I suggest, should be doing something about it!”

(I thought I heard somewhere that the customer was always right, my mistake.)

So this the stage we are now at, sad to say. And to think that we spent so much time and effort, Fortex and I, through private messages, sharing information and feedback, in an attempt to find our own solution, before we had to call on the expertise of others to help us.

I have extracted the only information an the instruction sheet which refers to length of usage that I can see:

<Turn unit on and prepare to adjust the vacuum control valve to the desired level of vacuum. CTC recommends a gauge reading of 5 to 10. This is where most pumpers stay during the development session of 30-45 minutes. After a bit of experience you Can experiment with various suction levels and extended lenghts of time. Get ready to enlarge and enjoy!!!>

Would that we could!

Thanks Thunder for your consideration. Rouss

Chris,(from CTC) please understand that I am not dissing your product. I too, think you have given me all the help you could. I do not mean to slur your company or product but in all truthfulness, it is an expensive piece of equipment and I hate to waste money. I have not given up on it and as soon as I can find someone or someway to keep it working for more than a few minutes, I’m gonna hook myself up and pump myself into oblivion. We are not attacking you, just trying to find a solution. I’m a USA customer, not a Brit & don’t have conversion problems hindering me. I like the way the CTC worked when it worked, I’m just trying to find a way to get my groove on, & on & on again. The feeling was just too good to waste & I’m hoping I can get it going again. That first session when the machine worked got me addicted to the CTC but going cold turkey has not been fun. It frustrates those of us who realize the full potential of the machine and have heard others boast of it’s qualities when we are left out in the cold. I’m not mad at you or CTC, I’m mad that my machine won’t do what everybody else’s does & determined to find a way to make it work. So all I’m saying is Peace, my brother but I’m clueless & CTC less & looking for any advice I can get from you or anybody else on the planet to resolve my dilemma.

It looks to me from reading this that the problem is not the power supplied but frequency of the supply.

>The motor has a 1 hour duty cycle. That means it can only be used for one hour at a time.<

The duty cycle will be dependent on the frequency of supply. An A.C. motor will have some inductance in series with some resistance.

http://www.alla boutcircuits.co … /chpt_11/1.html

You can probably lengthen the duty cycle by putting a resistance in series with the supply to the pump. But if you are thinking of doing this you’d really need to know what you are doing.

CTC say this on their website

The answer should be no unless they are willing to provide a motor with a duty cycle of 1 hour on a 110V@60Hz supply.

The maplin supply VR05 doesn’t do frequency conversion. It would probably run computer equipement fine because most of that is transformed again into DC in the computer power supply. What you would need is a supply with varialbe impendence or one that converts the frequency

I suggest you double check all of the info above before relying on it, its a long time since I studied power circuits.

Thanks memento,

Good of you to follow our problem and do your own research. I wish you were indeed an expert on electronics, as you certainly proved you are an expert on technical problems.

I went back to the CTC site myself, and read the section: can it be used in Europe? I don’t recall this being there when I first read the FAQ section, as I was only aware of the need for a converter from following the information here from Fortex and I think if I had I would have waited to place an order when I was satisfied that it would work with a converter.

Perhaps I overlooked this information, but I can’t imagine I would have missed it. Rouss

PS Good to see the Technical Team have sorted the problem with the site, no doubt you were involved.

>I don’t recall this being there when I first read the FAQ section<

It wasn’t. Previous versions of the site show that it was added recently.

>Good to see the Technical Team have sorted the problem with the site, no doubt you were involved.
Yes I caused it.