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[AMPS] mystery xfmr

To: <amps@contesting.com>
Subject: [AMPS] mystery xfmr
From: davek@medphys.ucl.ac.uk (Dave Kirkby)
Date: Tue, 26 May 1998 11:19:25 +0100
Scott Townley wrote:

> Have on hand an HV transformer I acquired many moon ago, looks perfect
> for
> doubler service.
> "GE Transformer for H-6 1000W Capillary Lamp"...whatever the heck a
> capillary lamp is!
> 110VAC in, "1200V 1.4A operating" on the nameplate.
>

A word of warning. I once found a transformer, marked 2.6 kV, 3.15 A. On
it was 'Prime-Arc'. The transformer was *very* heavy. Initial tests
indicated the open circuit voltage was a little over this, and we
eventually welded a steel case for it, added the rectifiers and caps,
meters, etc. etc. The PSU was fully built. Open circuit there was about
3.1 kV DC ( from memory), and all seemed fine. However, on load (pair of
4CX1000A's) the voltage dropped rapidly. At about 10mA above what the
bleeders were taking, the voltage was down to about 10 V. No excessive
heat, just very few volts. I never did find out why, but the device was
scraped. A new transformer (2.4 kV, 2.6A at 50% duty cycle) was wound,
but was a bit bigger than the original 3.15A device.

My advice is to definitely test, at full load, any transformer, before
building a box for it. This is especially relevant here, as the words
Lamp and Arc seem to share some similarity. I hope your transformer is
not intended for the same use as the one I had.

PS The transformer I found was taken from a piece of equipment, put in a
skip, when new owners moved to premises. Hence I don't think the
equipment was scraped due to transformer failure.

G8WRB


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