Re: mystery variac

["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>

Tesla list wrote:

> Original poster: "Mr Gregory Peters by way of Terry Fritz
<twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <s371034-at-student.uq.edu.au>
>
> Hey guys,
>
> I found a variac at uni. It has no information written on it. The
> actual toroidal core is about 8" long, 6.5" diameter and 1.5" thick. It
> looks well constructed. Anyone got any idea roughly how much current
> this thing could possibly handle? I figure at least 15 amps.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Greg Peters, BSc (Geology) (Hons)
> Department of Earth Sciences,
> University of Queensland
>
> Phone: 0402 841 677

Hi Greg...

a good indication of the amperage handling capacity of a Variac is the size
of the wire used on the core...

normally a wire of
 #18  =  2 - 5 A
 #14  =  5 - 10 A
 #12  = 10 - 15 A
 #10  = 20 - 28A

the lower amp # is rated for 240V and the higher for 120V

example

#18 -at- 2A -at- 240 V  or    #18 -at- 5A -at- 120V

hope this helped ...

Scot D