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Re: Primary Ballasts for Pole Pigs
In a message dated 96-11-22 16:47:30 EST, you write:
<< Brad,
I find that resisitance in the primary circuit of the pole pig is a must
have item. However, I tend to mix it with a bit of inductance. This
mixture seems to allow perfect balancing of the system while in
operation.
I would strongly recommend against the use of inductive or resistive
balllasts only! The resisitve ballast alone will dissapate too much
valuable energy and the inductive ballast will be far too finicky to
adjust to run with great smoothness.
I have found that for my system I require about .3-.5 ohms of resistance
and about 3mh of inducatnce. These should be placed in series with the
low voltage side of the pole pig and the power source. I can vary both
values to allow for new capaciotr loading in the tank and or replacement
transformers.
Richard Hull, TCBOR
>>
Richard,
Do you use the resistance in series with the inductive ballast? I had been
using four 2000 W oven elements in parallel and in parallel with my inductive
ballast (which of course is in series with the pole pig primary - actually it
is in series with the incoming AC power to my large variac). This would be
about 4 ohms in parallel with the welder. Since I reconfigured my primary
tank connections, sometimes the gaps will hardly fire with that ballast
configuration and I have found it works better now with the parallel
resistive ballast removed - although not smooth and reliable.
Do you think it might work better with the resistance in series?
Thanks, Ed Sonderman