Re: Switch

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <Tesla729-at-cs-dot-com>

Hello fellow coilers, 

I've been reading this thread for about a week now and I've 
not seen anyone else mention this, so I thought that I would 
jump in with my $.02 worth. I personnaly don't use the fancy, 
high dollar contactors to switch my 10 kVA pole pig driven 
coil. I simply use a double 50 amp circuit breaker, available 
in the electrical dept. of any home improvement store for 
around $10 to $15, plus the load center box to mount it in 
(I can't remeber the exact cost of the suitable load center 
box, but I think it was less than $25. This setup has served 
me well and I've never had any problems with it. 

Also, I ususally never turn on the main switch to the coil unless 
the voltage input variac to the pig is turned all the way down. 
Once the main circuit breaker switch is turned on, then I slowly 
bring up the variac to the desired power level. This alleviates the 
problem of the contacts arcing under the combined inductive 
load of the pole pig plus the arc welder ballast. BTW, I also 
bring the variac back all the way down before shutting off the main 
circuit breaker switch, unless it's an emergency shut-down. 

Coilin' in Memphis, 
David Rieben