Re: Variac as a variable inductor.
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The current limiting must be applied to the secondary or HV side in the fusor. In the Tesla coil world you limit on the primary side of the HV xfrmer.

The best limiter here is a good old fashioned 200 watt 60k ohm wire wound (very, very rare these days). There are other solutions, all more complicated, tedious and expensive.

Scott little used the secondary of a 15kv neon sign transformer as his choke in the HV line. (WARNING!!!)
this is deadly!!! The case of the trasformer is at full potential of the fusor hot lead input!!!!!!!!!

Scott set his on 1" thick plexigass up high over head to where it couldn't be accidentally touched, which would have left him very dead. It worked well for pulsed discharge current limiting and even tolerably for DC limiting, but the insultation would never stand up much beyond 20kv.

Richard Hull


Created on Friday, March 23, 2001 11:07 AM EDT by Richard Hull