Re: Power Factor Correction

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

Original poster: "Terry Fritz" <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>

Hi CJ,

My 15/60 coil draws about 16 amps without PFC caps plus 5 amps for the sync
motor (21 amps total).  It will not run off 15 amp 120VAC.  However, with
PFC caps (200uF) the coil's current drops to 8 amps and the whole show only
draws about 13 amps and will run off any 120VAC feed.  So PFC is pretty
critical in that case.

I have also noticed that the incoming AC voltage does not droop as much
with lower currents PFC caps provide which appears to give the coil more
power.  This is especially true with cheap 100 foot extension cords ;-)

PFC caps are probably not terribly important on smaller coils that do not
draw a bunch of current anyway, but in cases like mine, they are very useful.

They must be full time "motor run" type caps and not the cheap "motor
start" caps.  They have to be rated to be connected directly across the AC
line indefinitely.  That lowers the values you will find and raises the
cost.  These days, they will have a ton of safety stamps and approvals all
over them...  They can be found very cheap at surplus places...

Cheers,

	Terry


At 12:50 PM 7/19/2001 -0700, you wrote: 
How important is Power Factor Correction? necessary/extra safety/more
efficient? etc...