RE: Simple Ballast for 3kVA Pole Mount Distribution Transformer

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

Original poster: "Lau, Gary by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <Gary.Lau-at-hp-dot-com>

Terry was not using any kind of core in his ballast, it was just a plastic
spool of #12 wire, right off the Home Depot shelf.  In his demo he ran the
coil for maybe (WAG) 4 minutes, and the exterior of the spool was
distinctly warm.  No idea how warm the interior of the spool became, but
the potential for a core meltdown was there.  "I" would have been a little
nervous about that.

I think a soft iron core could have been added, and that would have
permitted fewer turns and less wire w/ better convection cooling to be
used, as well as adjustability.  But if I may speak for him, Terry is a
kind of minimalist coiler, preferring off-the-shelf solutions, and frankly,
it did work without a core.  I don't think that a properly constructed core
would result in an increase in heating.

Regards, Gary Lau
MA, USA


>Original poster: "Mccauley, Daniel H by way of Terry Fritz
<twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <daniel.h.mccauley-at-lmco-dot-com>
>
>I have a small 3kVA polemount distribution transformer and was wondering if
>i could use just a big spool of 12 AWG for a simple ballast for this a coil
>run with this thing.  I know at a recent tesla event Terry Blake was using
>something similar with a similarly sized potential transformer with success,
>although i'm not sure if he had a metal rod inserted as a core - although i
>guess doing so would probably heat up that rod enough to cook the spool of
>wire.
>
>What are your thoughts.
>
>"Captain Corona"
>Formerly Daniel McCauley
>
>Dan