Re: Ballast Puzzle

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

Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <Rscopper-at-aol-dot-com>

Hey guys, 

You don't even need a core to make a ballast.  My ballasts are just rolls of 
8AWG THHN copper wound on a 1-inch wood rod 8-inches long. For 100 amps I 
have approx. 14 layers of 38 turns each for a total of 6.25-inches in 
diameter.  It weighs in at 30 lbs. For 50 amps use 2. The 8 AWG will get hot 
at 100 amps, however, and cooling time between runs is required.  We violated 
this rule at the Geek's Teslathon, and it stayed hot for an hour afterwards 
(we're probably lucky the insulation didn't melt). 

R. Scott Coppersmith