[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]

Microwave oven transformers

Well, I went down and plugged in my microwave xformers tonight, and
YES! the little pigs are sucking about 64A from the plug.  I had a 40:1
current tranformer hooked up to monitor the input current, and it maxed
out at about 1.6A before the lights went out.  That turns into 64A input
current so those little puppies can really hum.  This time I was drawing
an arc for about 5 seconds before the 20A breaker tripped.  Once it
caught, the arc held on until it was an inverted-v shape about 8"-9" long
(total arc length).  The only "problem" is that the two 4kV units in series
"only" give 8kV total, so the energy (1/2 * C * V^2) is less than half of
what it would be if they were 12kV, and almost a quarter of the energy
you could store with a 15kV transformer.  If you could find 6kV or 7.5kV
oven transformers, you'd be set for a few kVA!