Ballasting MOTs

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

Original poster: "Robert Schiemann by way of Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <bobbyrj3d-at-yahoo-dot-com>

Hey All,

      I have been working on a 6 pack MOT for the past few months. I was 
running it without a ballast, and the circuit breaker would blow after only 
a few seconds of arcing. I was hoping to ballast it with a capacitor, 
however that didn't work out so I decided to use one of my spare MOTs as a 
ballast. I have the primary output windings shorted together. I got it set 
up and tested it today, and the ballast worked perfectly. However there was 
one problem... At first the ballast was in open air and it would overheat 
to the point that it was smoking and when touched with a damp sponge the 
sponge would steam. So I decided to submerge it in oil, and now smoke 
bubbles are released after five or so seconds of running (I'm not sure if 
its the oil being vaporized or the ballast smoking) I am pretty sure that 
this isn't normal. Any help would be greatly appreciated. In case its 
important I'm using 110 V input.

Thanks,
Robert