Re: To cut or not to cut

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

Original poster: "BunnyKiller by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <bigfoo39-at-telocity-dot-com>

T> something I'm still trying to understand ( maybe the rest of the tesla

> >  Gurus can help here) why do we
> >  need to have a max voltage and controlled amperage? What does this
produce?
> >  What difference does 240V
> >  in to a variac ( 280Vout) into an inductor that limits the current to 10 A
> >  differ from 140V and 20A
> >  supply??? )
> >  the coil still sees 2800 watts approximatley..........
> >
> >  Scot D
>
> SNIPPERZZZ...

>
> John Freau

Hi John...

maybeee  I should rephrase the situation...

what is the "added value" of having a variable current limiter  ( inductor) ?

If you keep the voltage at lets say 240Vin to the piggie ( or whatever
trannie) and
control the current into the piggie and not vary the voltage, what I would
see is
the cap not getting fully charged and thus decreased streamer output.
Wouldnt the
same effect be produced by keeping the inductor at a constant and varying the
voltage via a variac?  Most variable "inductors" require moving a tapped
line on
the windings  ( ohh  thats right a 100 amp variac ;) ( almost linear
control)  plus
the range has to be very tightly controlled to keep from going into a direct hi
volume current flow (( the end of travel on the variac)) )  but
seriously...  one
has to unhook  a wire and reattach it to the next lug to change the
inductance. OR
we can unbolt the I section of the EI core and shim it up or down a bit to
change
the inductance once again...   seems like a lot of work .....  it would be
nice to
have a multipole switch attached to the different tap points and just
simply flip
the switch to the appropriate setting one wishes but...  not too often do
we see a
ceramic 300V insulated multipole switch rated for 75+ A.

maybe Im biased I like my set inductor and Variac controller for voltage :)  It
allows me to increase streamer length ( up to full operating voltage) from
10" to
12 feet...


Scot D