Re: Ballasting a Pole Pig (Revisited)

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: "C. Sibley" <a37chevy@xxxxxxxxx>

In mulling through the archives, I see that Ed Wingate
uses two welders in parallel to drive a 10KVA pig.
Does it seem reasonable that I need to do the same for
my 10KVA piggie?

Curt.


--- Tesla list <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Original poster: "David Rieben"
> <drieben@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> Curt,
>
> It sounds almost like you have a short circuit
> somewhere,
> as the welder should not be tripping breakers that
> quickly
> under any circumstances. What size is the circuit
> breaker
> that you're on and how big is your welder? I have
> person-
> ally never used an AC/DC welder for ballasting a
> pig, but it seems to
> me that it shouldn't be much different than using a
> straight AC one.
>
> Are you sure that you have the welder in SERIES with
> the in-
> put to the pig's LV inputs? Only 25 volts reaching
> the pig is
> certainly not right. I would definitely suspect
> either the hookup
> connections or the welder itself as the culprit in
> this situtation.
> Try using the 120 volt input winding of an
> MOT with its secondary shorted as a temporary
> ballast and simply feed
> your pig 120 volts and see if you get any
> output at all from the pig in this fashion. You
> could also use
> a 500 ft spool of #12 AWG THNN building wire from
> Home Depot or
> Lowe's as a ballast with 120 volts input to try this
> out. If you do
> get some output with your pig wired up in this
> fashion, then the
> problem is most likely that your welder is bad.
>
> David Rieben
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tesla list"
> <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Sunday, January 08, 2006 10:45 PM
> Subject: Re: Ballasting a Pole Pig (Revisited)
>
>
> >Original poster: "C. Sibley" <a37chevy@xxxxxxxxx>
> >This weekend I did as suggested below and had
> >unsucessful results.  With the pig set up as a
> Jacobs
> >Ladder, and the welder set on the highest power
> >setting, I was unable to get any spark from the pig
> at
> >all.
> >The problem appears to be the welder taking all of
> the
> >power, input voltage to the pig is only 25V with
> the
> >welder on and running.  I do not have an AC
> Ampmeter
> >so am uncertain of the current, but was tripping my
> >bbreakers after only 1-2 seconds.  Setting the
> welder
> >at a lower rating would allow the breakers to
> remain
> >on, but with essentially no voltage to the pig.
> >One posibility, is that my welder is an AC/DC unit,
> >and must have additional circuitry over a basic AC
> >unit.  Perhaps there is some PFC or something
> >interfering?
> >Interested in any advice.
> >Thanks,
> >Curt.
> >
> >--- Tesla list <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > > Original poster: "David Rieben"
> > > <drieben@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > >
> > > Curt,
> > >
> > > You've pretty much got the right idea ;^) I
> assume
> > > that
> > > you have a 240 volt input stick welder, like one
> of
> > > those red Lincoln
> > > 225 amp arc welders? You simply series the input
> > > leads to the low
> > > voltage bushings of the pig with the po-
> > > wer input plug of the welder. For maximum output
> > > current,
> > > you short the welding leads together and turn
> the
> > > amperage
> > > selector switch all the way up to the maximum
> > > amperage setting. Be
> > > sure to the connect the 240 volt input leads
> > > to the two outermost low voltage busings on the
> side
> > > of the
> > > pole pig tank. Leave the center low voltage
> bushing
> > > uncon-
> > > nected as this will be the tank case ground
> > > (assuming your pig is a
> > > single phase, 120/240 volt output unit). This
> setup
> > > will allow you to
> > > draw 50 to 70 amps from the 240 volt ser-
> > > vice with the HV output bushings of the pig
> shorted.
> > >
> > > Good luck,
> > > David
> > >
> > >
> > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tesla list"
> > > <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
> > > To: <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
> > > Sent: Monday, December 19, 2005 3:45 PM
> > > Subject: Ballasting a Pole Pig
> > >
> > >
> > > >Original poster: "C. Sibley"
> <a37chevy@xxxxxxxxx>
> > > >I'm considering making the move to a Pole Pig
> since
> > > >I'm having a hard time finding anything larger
> than
> > > a
> > > >60 mA NST.  I have a old stick welder that I'm
> > > >considering using as a ballast, but am not 100%
> > > sure
> > > >how I should go about hooking it up.  Do I just
> use
> > > >the power inputs and run it in series with the
> pig?
> > > >Do I need to terminate the "welding" output?
> Does
> > > it
> > > >matter what setting the welding output power is
> set
> > > >to?
> > > >Thanks,
> > > >Curt.
> > >
> > >
>
>
>
>