Re: Ballasting a Pole Pig (Revisited)

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: "J. Aaron Holmes" <jaholmes@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Well, again, if you don't care too much about
efficiency, my "garbage can of water" ballast will
work ok, and is easy to build.  I can post a few
pictures and a parts list if you like.  Only tools
required for assembly are a hacksaw and a drill, and
virtually everything is assembled with zip ties :)

Another super-cheap ballast is the "spool of wire"
ballast.  I've played a bit with this.  I picked up
two 500ft spools of #10 wire from Home Depot.  Two in
series will pass about 20A at 120V.  You could run
this in series with one of the 120V windings of your
pig, and that would certainly do for a fine
medium-power coil.  After a minute or two of
operation, however, the spools do get quite warm, and
will need some time to cool back down.

aaron

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

> Original poster: "C. Sibley" <a37chevy@xxxxxxxxx>
>
> Did the test tonight and had partial success.  With
> 220 into the HV bushings got 3.3V out of the low
> voltage taps.  Hooking the 220V to the low voltage
> inputs with no "coat hangers" on the HV bushings did
> not trip the breakers.  Running with a gap and no
> ballast was able to get a short flash in the gap
> before the breaker tripped.
>
> I do not understand why I did not see anything in a
> similar experiment last night, perhaps bright
> exterior
> lighting masked the arc.
>
> So, it appears the pig is good, but my AC/DC welder
> does not make an adequate ballast.
>
> Thanks for all of the help, and would still
> appreciate
> advice on ballasting this thing.  Going to try to
> get
> my hands on a different welder for a try...
>
> Thanks,
>
> Curt.
>
>
> --- Tesla list <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>  > Original poster: Charles Brush
>  > <cfbrush@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>  >
>  >
>  >
>  > The suggestion to run 120v into the HV bushings
> and
>  > measure the LV
>  > side is a good one.  I fried a 5kVa 14.4kv pole
>  > transformer several
>  > years ago after some strikes to the HV supply
> lines
>  > from my 6" coil
>  > (which was producing 6-7 footers at the time).
> The
>  > pig appeared as a
>  > dead short after that.  Hope this is not
> something
>  > similar.
>  >
>  >
>  > Charles
>  >
>  >
>  > >Original poster: "C. Sibley"
> <a37chevy@xxxxxxxxx>
>  > >
>  > >I am unable to get any arc from the pig, at any
>  > power
>  > >setting...
>  >
>  >
>  >
>  >
>
>
>