Re: Welder ballast

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

Original poster: Edward Wingate <ewing7-at-rochester.rr-dot-com> 

Tesla list wrote:
 >
 > Original poster: "steve" <steve_vance-at-cablelynx-dot-com>
 >
 > Yep, that's the welder I have. I was running a Jacobs ladder with the
 > welding leads shorted
 > at the time I took the readings.That is kind of strange though. The welder
 > is suppose to draw 50A max.
 > On the 225 setting it draws 75 When hooked to the pig running a Jacobs
 > ladder. The welder was made in 76.
 > Could be messed up??? Maybe a resistive load across the welding leads would
 > help. I think I'll put a water heater element across them.
 > Also,I'm using a Fluke clamp on meter to take the readings. I've checked it
 > and it works on other stuff.

<snip>

Steve,

The 50 amp welder rating is for full power with a welding arc. Shorting
the welding leads draws significantly more power. The 75 amps you are
reading is about right. I have 2 Lincoln AC-225 welders in parallel
connected to my power cabinet and can easily draw 150 amps from the
line, if necessary, to power my Tesla coil systems. The Jacobs ladder I
run with the same power cabinet is powered by a 22900 volt 15 KVA pole
transformer and pulls 120 amps from the line. The arc that breaks at the
top is quite impressive at slightly over 28 kilowatts.

With one welder turned off and the other set at minimum welding power
the minimum current draw is approximately 10 amps which makes the power
cabinet useful for just about any Tesla system.

A resistive element to further reduce power would be interesting to try,
but not without having it immersed in water.

Ed Wingate RATCB