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RE: NO VARIAC USE FOR TUNING?



This question has been asked and answered dozens of times already, what's
the harm with one more?

TRIAC/SCR-BASED LAMP DIMMERS MAY *NOT* BE USED WITH TRANSFORMERS.  NOR MAY
ONE INSERT A DIODE TO DELIVER HALF-POWER.  TRANSFORMERS RUN ON SINE WAVES
ONLY.

And dimmers may not be paralleled regardless of what load is used.  There is
no way to guarantee that the phase angle that each one turns on at will be
the same.

Gary Lau
Waltham, MA USA

		-----Original Message-----
		From:	Tesla List [mailto:tesla-at-pupman-dot-com]
		Sent:	Tuesday, March 14, 2000 7:46 PM
		To:	tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
		Subject:	Re: NO VARIAC USE FOR TUNING?

		Original Poster: "Mike Nolley" <mnolley-at-mail.slc.edu> 

		> > >  Is it possible to use one of those light dimmers you
have on your walls
		> > >  to control the voltage?

		> Dimmer switches can be found at every hardware store for
only a couple
		> bucks.  A
		> standard electrical box is only a few cents.  The
inexpensive light-dimmer
		> switches are generally rate at 600Watts at 120V (5amps).

		    Just a thought; would it be possible to parallel
multiple dimmers for
		higher
		powers?  You would need to insure that they were loaded
equally; for
		example you
		could cut slots in the knobs, insert sufficiently rigid
plates which were all
		connected by hinges to a horizontally moving plate.  Or
somehow attach them
		all to
		a common shaft.  Would this not work?
		        Comments?
		                --Mike