Re: strange variac problem

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Matthew Smith by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <matt-at-kbc-dot-net.au>

Hi Greg

First thing that I'd do is to check the thing under load; set it to 
240V, check V and I on the input, then on the output.  Compare the ratio 
of the powers to the rated efficiency and see what you get...

Just a thought.

Cheers

Matthew Smith

Tesla list wrote:

> Original poster: "Mr Gregory Peters by way of Terry Fritz
<twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <s371034-at-student.uq.edu.au>
> 
> I was running my small (15kV/90mA) coil yesterday. I hooked up my 10amp 
> variac, which I have tested with my multimeter and shown that it 
> smoothly varies the voltage from 1- 270v. However, even with the full 
> 270v, I needed a very small gap to get reliable firing. I plugged the 
> coil straight into the 240v socket and was able to get reliable firing 
> with very wide gaps. What's going on? It's almost as if the variac is 
> sucking all the power. I could only get 1 foot sparks with the variac 
> hooked up but 4 foot sparks without.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Greg Peters