Re: Using 240VAC on 140VAC Varic

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

Original poster: Mddeming-at-aol-dot-com 

In a message dated 2/9/04 9:06:32 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
tesla-at-pupman-dot-com writes:
Original poster: DRIEBEN-at-midsouth.rr-dot-com

Dan, all,

That would be me ;^) It starts saturating at around 180 to 200 volts
and at which point the current draw starts to go throught the roof. I
got a couple of ganged 140 volt 30 amp variacs through ebay once and was
lead to think by the add that they were each 280 volt at 30 amp variacs.
Once I got them, I realized that the nomenclature tag stated 140 volts,
not 280 volts. I went ahead and tried hooking them up to another 240/280
volt variac and tried to gradually ramp up the input voltage to the 140
volt variac monitoring the voltage with a DVM. Like I said, at between
180 and 200 volts, the 140 volt variac started saturating, so running
a 140 volt variac on 240 volts would NOT work!

David Rieben

----- Original Message -----
From: Tesla list <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Date: Monday, February 9, 2004 9:03 am
Subject: Using 240VAC on 140VAC Varic

 > Original poster: "Mccauley, Daniel H" <daniel.h.mccauley-at-lmco-dot-com>
 >
 > Has anyone tried running 240VAC on a variac rated for 0-140VAC ?
 > I know there are issues, but just curious if anyone actually tried it.
 >
 > Thanks
 > Dan

Sounds like people have had varying experiences, so  it comes down to this:

If you have adequate ventilation, a handy fire extinguisher, and the money 
to replace a burned out Variac, then go ahead and try it. You might get 
lucky. If you haven't got the resources, then don't.

Matt D.