LIGHT DIMMERS AND IGNITION COILS

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

Original poster: "Ed Phillips by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <evp-at-pacbell-dot-net>

One thing no ones seems to have mentioned (at least I can't remember
it) is that these arrangements, which work just fine, draw really large
spikes of current from the AC line, since the discharge circuit for the
coil and capacitor in series flows in the line itself.  I have measured
a couple of volts drop in the line here when using only a 4 ufd
capacitor.  This won't blow anything up, but might have unexpected
effects on line-connected equipment.  For my experiments I ended up
using a 250 watt line isolation transformer between the line and the
coil circuit, with a 40 ufd power factor correction capacitor in
parallel with the transformer.  Probably not necessary, but....

Ed