Re: [TCML] How do they ballast BIG coils?

["Carl Noggle" <cn@xxxxx>]

A 220VAC welder (spatterbox) makes a good ballast.  Short the LV welding 
outputs together and the current control will control the current.  The line 
cord leads are the reactor connections.  I've used three of these for 
current control of a large 3-phase DC power supply.  Worked fine.

---Carl






-----Original Message----- 
From: Christoph Bohr
Sent: Friday, September 14, 2012 12:10 AM
To: Tesla Coil Mailing List
Subject: Re: [TCML] How do they ballast BIG coils?

I can't say for sure and I lack the time to read all the
info again right now, but I assumed they slotted the core of the variacs,
thats at least what I would do, however you have to provide some
supports that keep the laminations in place while and after cutting,
otherwise you would end up with some serious "boink" I guess....

Without an airgap it can not work IMHO

A large saturable reactor could be another approach....

I did not know about the ward Leonard thingy, but supports personal
impression of those early days, the had less and menaged quite a lot... ;-)


best regards

Christoph Bohr


> On 9/13/12 6:10 AM, Teslalabor wrote:
> > How is it possible to limit current by the use of a variac? I mean,
> > there is no air gap in the core or such things. Tried it several times
> > in the past on my teslacoils to limit current with a normal variac and I
> > never hat success with that.
>
>
> Perhaps they modified the cores with an air gap..
>
> That's a pretty standard thing, discussed in the list archives, along
> with techniques, warnings, etc.
>
>
> > Stefan
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Christoph Bohr" <cb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > To: "Tesla Coil Mailing List" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
> > Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2012 11:28 AM
> > Subject: Re: [TCML] How do they ballast BIG coils?
> >
> >
> > > It's shown on ther very same site, look for controll
> > > cabinet construction, There is an giant stack of variacs,
> > > two of them to be precise, one for voltage, one for current.
> > > 100KVA isn't that much after all, compared to what other industrial
> > > appliances require....
>
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