Original poster: "Gerry Reynolds" <gerryreynolds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Hi Dennis,Most of your questions, I think, have been answered. With a 15/60 NST and no power factor correction, you should be seeing about 14 amps rms. With PFC, this should be around 8 amps. I dont think this is the cause of blowing your 20 amp fuse. The fuse should maybe be a slow blow type cause inrush current can (even with no load on the variac - or the output set to zero) can trip 20 circuit breakers (ask how I know :o)). I always power up the variac with its output set to zero and sometimes the circuit breaker on the variac (20A) trips and sometimes the main circuit breaker (20A) trips, Short of having special turnon circuit, I just reset the which ever breaker trips with the variac plugged in. Once I get beyond powering up the variac, things are normally OK, I have never tripped a breaker with normal operation (even a GFI one) and this is with 15KV/120ma NST.
Gerry R.
Original poster: otmaskin5@xxxxxxxThanks for all the advice on the hazards of indoor coil operation. After hearing from you guys, man am I glad I asked.I've got another technical question if anyone would care to weigh in. My 4" coil is powered by a 15/60 NST. It keeps blowing the 20 amp fuse in my variac. I think this means the coil needs PFC. I'm pretty sure I know what kind of caps would be right, but I'm having trouble determining the proper way (where & how) to hook them up. Could one of you help me out this info?Thanks. Dennis Hopkinton MA