RE: Ballasting a Pole Pig (Revisited)

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: "Rich" <rdjmgmt@xxxxxxxxxx>

An adjustable ballast can be made by taking a roll of 10ga or 12 ga
wire, look at the hole in the plastic roll, you can most likely make it
larger. Grind it out to max dia with a rotary file or what ever you
have. Next take some welding rods, steel rods, coat hanger wire , elec
fence wire is good and cheap. Make a bunch of cuttings of the steel wire
about 8" long for 12ga , some 10ga's require more length, use as many as
will fit in the hole you made. Wrap one end in duct tape the other with
a hose clamp. The more of the wire that you slip into the roll the more
inductance you will have. I use a large steel washer and an extra hose
clamp for a stop to prevent it going all the way into the roll. It's
cheap and works.

Rich , from Missouri

Subject: Re: Ballasting a Pole Pig (Revisited)

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...
 >
 >
 >
 >