Re: What is a "pole pig"?

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

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

Hi Rick,

A "pole pig" is telephone pole mounted electrical utility transformer:

http://images.google-dot-com/images?q=pole+transformer&hl=en

They have 120-0-120 single phase connections on one side and 14,400 volt
connections on the other.  They are either 5 or 10 kilowatt units.  Some
coilers run them at 240VAC at 100 amps!!

They can be used to transform a house's 240 dryer/stove voltage to 14kV for
Tesla coil use.  Obviously, not a first time coil transformer, but when you
hear of 10 to 20 foot long coil arcs, these are the transformers being
used.  If one get shocked by one of these, it's "bad":

http://hot-streamer-dot-com/TeslaCoils/Misc/sparky_2.doc

Do to the extreme caution needed with these systems, only "really
experienced" folks use them.  Pole pig powered Tesla coils can also start
getting into some serious money (thousands) for the transformer, caps,
variacs, breakers...  You can't run these in your basement :-))

These transformers have no current limiting like a neon sign transformer
does.  If you short the output, something will dramatically explode.  The
"ballast" is either a resistor or inductor placed on the input side that
limits the current into a short circuit.

There are countless types of utility transformers, but these are the ones
that interest us for Tesla coil uses.

Cheers,

	Terry


At 03:09 AM 1/17/2002 -0500, you wrote:
>    I know I'm a beginner and all, but what is a "pole pig"?  Is it a 
>transformer or what. And what is meant by "pole pig ballast"?
>    Thanks
>    Rick Logan
>    klogan2026-at-aol-dot-com
>