Re: strange variac problem

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

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


	Random thought:
	In addition to previous suggestions:
	Possible defective (cracked?) brush or slip ring?
	Would read fine if no load tested with multimeter, but
	be unhappy when loaded...

	best
	dwp

> > Original poster: "Mr Gregory Peters by way of Terry Fritz
> <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <s371034-at-student.uq.edu.au>
> >
> > I was running my small (15kV/90mA) coil yesterday. I hooked up my 10amp
> > variac, which I have tested with my multimeter and shown that it
> > smoothly varies the voltage from 1- 270v. However, even with the full
> > 270v, I needed a very small gap to get reliable firing. I plugged the
> > coil straight into the 240v socket and was able to get reliable firing
> > with very wide gaps. What's going on? It's almost as if the variac is
> > sucking all the power. I could only get 1 foot sparks with the variac
> > hooked up but 4 foot sparks without.
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Greg Peters