Re: [TCML] Pig Ballasting...

[Travis Tabbal <travis@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks for the info Joe. I was wondering what you got for current when
running as an air core.? I saw one post last night where someone just used
the spool of wire as it came from Home Depot and it didn't get too hot. I
seem to recall the current being about 20 amps. I'm tempted to try it just
to see what it does.
On Oct 27, 2012 7:53 AM, "Joe Mastroianni" <joe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>
> I did what you are suggesting, only I used 500' of 10GA.   I made a spool
> out of 2" PVC with some flat polycarbonate scraps glued on the ends (but
> not blocking the interior hole of the PVC) to hold on the wire.   The spool
> is about 18" long. Took quite a bit of muscle to wind.
>
> I experimented with different configurations for the core.  I had a couple
> 8' rods of aluminum and steel that I cut up into 2" sections.  Generally
> speaking the forces want to pull the rods into the core, not visa versa.
>  If you do the math you see it doesn't matter which way the current is
> flowing in the solenoid, so it doesn't matter that it's AC, then, either.
>
> The real issue you face is heating of the core materials.  My pig is only
> rated at 5KVA so I rarely pushed it above 10.  And in any case at 6kVA I
> was getting ground strikes so I didn't feel the need for much more.  I was
> measuring the input V and I to the variac, as well as the output, and
> shoving things into and out of the ballast core to get reasonable levels.
> But those interior rods got really hot, probably because I just threw them
> in there, but also probably because the eddies in some of the materials
> were severe.
>
> And the core would stay hot for a long time.  I never melted through the
> PVC, but I was close.   I'm not sure the best way to cool it down as I
> switched to DR coils and didn't experiment much more with that.
>
> Cheers,
> Joe
>
>
> On Oct 26, 2012, at 10:27 AM, Travis Tabbal wrote:
>
> > I've seen a number of options in the archive. I was just wanting to get
> > input on what I wanted to try to make sure I'm not off the deep end
> > somewhere before I mess with it. Piggy is 14.4kV 10kVA.
> >
> > I was thinking of getting a 500' spool of AWG12 THHN wire from Home Depot
> > or similar and winding it around a 2" PVC or similar tube, about 1.5ft
> > winding length. Then getting some ferrous wire from there as well,
> perhaps
> > something like the little yard flags or something from the fencing
> > department for the core. I'd pot the core material inside a smaller tube,
> > even just as a mandrel, with epoxy or similar (Bondo?). With a threaded
> rod
> > at the top of the potting for adjustment. Then just build a frame to hold
> > it together while in operation, seems like the cycling of the magnetic
> > field from the 60Hz AC might want to push the core out otherwise?
>
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