[Amps] The White Smoke Escaped

[Will Matney]

Hal,
That's a big bummer! The only things that could have happened are two. 
They had the leads mis-labeled or there was a nick or something on the 
primaries winding causing a short. If it was hooked up wrong, you would 
have known it because it would have made a large hum and should have 
kicked a breaker like it did. That would have put the two primary 
windings out of phase and that will show pretty darned quick. It could 
have had a short in the winding too. It should have showed up on a 
burn-in if they do one. Surely, they let one burn in for longer than 
five seconds! I always did a burn-in with and without a load on the 
secondary to assure things were up to snuff for at least an hour with no 
load and with load, what ever the duty cycle demanded. However, I don't 
see it burning out the winding that quick being out of phase without you 
catching it first! This makes a man wonder about some manufacturers 
quality control don't it? Especially for the price they charge, you'd 
think they should be tested for NASA! I'll bet you they'll want you to 
pay for the shipping back on top of it, and shipping transformers aint 
cheap by no means! I do believe I would fight them on any shipping again 
for something their fault.

Will Matney